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The objective of this chapter is to advocate a relevant and balanced curriculum of European Studies as a discipline that African and European teachers and learners can embrace. This will be achieved through critical documentary analysis of existing curricula on the subject as well as critique of relevant literature. Europe and Africa are the two most contiguous continents that share centuries of relations. Despite the existence of many forms of diplomatic relations, knowledge flows and exchange between the continents have been very minimal at best and apparently unidirectional. The troubled history of relations between the two continents continue to affect way knowledge production and curricular are defined. The gap in knowledge fosters mutual suspicion, distrust, and lack of cooperation. European Studies as a distinct academic discipline has recently made its way in the teaching and learning curricula of universities and research centers around the world. Some institutions in Africa are also introducing European Studies. A key aspect of European Studies vis-á-vis Africa is the content and quality of curriculum. The turn in discourses on decolonization and race relations in the world of the early twenty-first century makes this period a unique opportunity for the review of European Studies curricula in Europe and Africa. The authors find that deepening Euro-African relations will require a new curriculum that would reflect changes that have taken place over the years in Africa.

“Teaching the European Union” is a term as elusive as the notions of “EU Studies” or “European Studies,” both discussed and debated by generations of scholars and practitioners. The case of the EU, and of the art of teaching EU-related content, is one of the most striking examples, where the emphasis on values and principles cannot be passed by indifferently. What is being taught and how it is being taught have a direct impact on the trajectory of the European integration process today and in the years to come. The objective of this introductory chapter is to offer a brief insight into the book’s context and the book’s relevance. Against this backdrop this volume’s content is outlined. A few points for the readers to consider follow.

The relationships among institutions, entrepreneurship, and economic growth are hotly contested topics. The objective of this present study is to conduct a systematic literature review aimed at comprehensively assessing the relationships between institutional pillars, entrepreneurship and economic growth.

Specifically, a comprehensive analysis of 141 empirical publications was carried out using the PRISMA protocol. The reviewed publications were taken from the Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases. Thirty-three articles that met the eligibility criteria of quality, relevance and timeliness of the publications were included in the the study.

Three key lessons emerged from the review. First, it was discovered that entrepreneurship and economic growth are influenced by three institutional pillars at various levels, including the regulatory, cognitive and normative pillars. Second, according to the type of institutional quality, the institutional pillars in a causal framework have a good or negative impact on entrepreneurship. Third, novel enterprise creation, self-employment, citizen employment, poverty alleviation, radical innovation, formalization of the informal sector, promotion of competition in existing and new markets, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and the emergence of new business models that significantly improve quality of life.

The study proposes a conceptual framework for further exploring this important relationship based on solid empirical evidence. By providing a theoretically grounded framework, the paper fills the gaps in the literature and helps to clarify the relationship between institutional foundations, entrepreneurship and economic progress.