Ten  Steps  to  Improve  Entrepreneurship  Education  

By  Bill  Aulet  (Managing  Director,  MIT  Entrepreneurship  Center  &  Senior  Lecturer,  MIT  Sloan  School  of  Management)  &  Fiona  Murray  (Sarofin  Family  Career  Development  Professor,  MIT  

Sloan  School  of  Management  &  Associate  Director,  MIT  Entrepreneurship  Center)  

(Article/  Short  White  Paper)  

 

Entrepreneurs  and  educators  agree  on  two  fundamental  points.    The  first  is  so  obvious  that  it  hardly  bears  repeating  but  let’s  restate  it  anyway  –  entrepreneurship  is  very,  very  important.    Entrepreneurs  are  the  critical  driver  of  job  creation  and  economic  prosperity.    The  second  is  equally  important  and  often  left  unspoken  and  that  is  that  academic  institutions  can  and  should  play  a  more  central  role  in  improving  the  quality  and  quantity  of  entrepreneurs.  While  many  conversations  we  have  on  this  topic  start  by  someone  asking  whether  entrepreneurship  can  be  taught,  they  typically  end  with  an  impassioned  discussion  on  how  to  improve  entrepreneurship  education  in  the  United  States  and  around  the  world.    Why  not  learn  lessons  from  successful  and  failed  entrepreneurs  and  the  many  entrepreneurial  “experiments”  they  have  undertaken?    To  ignore  this  wealth  of  knowledge  and  expertise,  to  insist  that  entrepreneurship  is  an  art  learned  only  through  experience  is  to  ignore  the  potential  to  develop  systematic  lessons,  to  ignore  the  power  of  analysis  and  to  fail  to  apply  to  tools  of  social  science  to  a  critical  part  of  our  economy.  

We  at  MIT  are  engaged  in  this  process  of  systematizing  the  lessons  from  entrepreneurs  around  the  world  especially  from  those  engaged  in  the  sorts  of  science  and  technology-­‐based  entrepreneurship  that  can  lead  to  high  growth  and  job  creation  in  sectors  as  diverse  as  biotechnology  and  clean  energy.  Recently,  we  were  asked  to  think  more  deeply  about  what  could  be  done  to  improve  Entrepreneurship  Education  based  not  just  on  our  research  and  our  teaching  experience  at  MIT  but  from  what  we  experienced  through  our  involvement  and  dialogue  with  dozens  of  other  institutions  providing  education  experiences  for  students  with  entrepreneurial  aspirations  –  whether  they  hope  to  start  companies  on  graduation,  later  in  their  careers  or  from  inside  large  corporations.      

A  group  of  us  at  MIT  deeply  associated  with  entrepreneurship  education,  after  considerable  discussion,  have  drawn  on  lessons  we  have  learned  at  MIT  and  elsewhere  to  identify  a  list  of  ten  suggestions  for  organizing  education  and  programs  in  this  area  at  university  campuses.    While  at  first,  it  seems  simple,  upon  further  reflection  the  list  of  ten  points  we  agreed  upon  was  anything  but;  it  is  a  mix  of  the  obvious  and  (we  think)  the  not  so  obvious.    We  believe  these  ten  steps,  many  of  them  requiring  educators  to  look  well  beyond  the  walls  of  their  current  classroom,  have  the  potential  to  build  an  educational  experience  that  produces  many  more  successful  high  impact  entrepreneurs.    At  a  minimum,  by  laying  out  our  approach  we  hope  to  engage  in  a  meaningful  dialogue  on  what  should  be  done  in  this  area  in  order  to  meet  the  needs  of  our  increasingly  sophisticated  customers,  students  at  institutions  of  higher  education,  and  to  meet  the  needs  of  our  economy  -­‐  job  creation  and  economic  prosperity.      

 

1. Make  the  Case  Why  Entrepreneurship  is  Important:  High  performance  organizations  aspire  to  make  the  world  a  better  place  rather  than  simply  to  perform  a  task.    Centers  of  Entrepreneurship  Education  must  do  the  same.    Entrepreneurship  is  not  just  another  course  in  the  catalogue;  it  is  something  that  will  have  high  and  positive  impact  on  the  world  we  live  in.    Job  creation,  economic  prosperity  and  improvement  of  social  welfare  are  critical  goals  and  entrepreneurship  is  a  catalyst  on  the  path  to  their  accomplishment.    Educators  must  make  the  case  for  the  importance  of  entrepreneurship  to  cities,  regions,  nations  and  continents.    There  are  plenty  of  reports  and  evidence  to  support  the  case  –  this  does  not  have  to  be  a  statement  of  hope  it  can  be  a  statement  of  fact.    The  Kauffman  Foundation  has  a  great  deal  of  data  to  support  the  case.      Universities  around  the  nation  have  spun  out  companies  from  their  labs  and  created  new  industries  and  new  jobs  –  Google,  Akami,  Biogen,  A123  to  name  a  few.    At  MIT,  we  conducted  our  own  study  released  authored  by  Professor  Edward  Roberts  and  PhD  Student  Charles  Eesley,  which  showed  that  MIT  Alumni  are  entrepreneurs  –  they  create  200-­‐400  new  companies  each  year.    Just  to  put  this  into  perspective,  the  report  calculated  that  the  companies  started  by  MIT  Alumni  who  are  still  alive  and  whose  the  companies  still  exist,  number  over  twenty-­‐five  thousand  -­‐  their  combined  yearly  revenues  total  almost  US$2  trillion  which  if  it  were  a  standalone  economy  would  put  it  just  behind  Brazil  and  neck  and  neck  with  Russia.    Entrepreneurship,  new  venture  creation  and  venture  growth  is  what  we  need  to  get  ensure  future  prosperity.    It  is  also  one  important  way  that  we  translate  the  valuable  research  we  do  here  at  institutions  of  higher  learning  through  our  investments  in  science  and  engineering  to  the  real  world.    This  message  needs  to  be  clearly  communicated  to  all.    ACTION:    Educators  need  to  gather  their  facts  and  make  the    very  compelling  case  of  why  entrepreneurship  is  real,  real  important.    The  educator  must  then  work  to  educate  other  stakeholders  outside  the  classroom  (i.e.,  proselytize)  to  achieve  the  steps  below.  

2. Tone  at  the  Top:    For  any  organization  to  succeed  especially  when  it  seeks  to  change,  support  from  the  top  of  the  organization  is  essential.    It  is  no  different  at  institutions  of  higher  learning.    Probably  the  most  important  person  who  must  believe  in  the  compelling  case  you  develop  in  Step  1  above,  is  the  President  of  your  college  or  university.    Without  their  support  your  impact  will  be  limited.    Therefore  you  must  have  a  plan  to  win  their  support  and  gather  the  necessary  resources  to  build  the  Entrepreneurial  Education  platform  you  need.    The  university  president  does  not  have  to  be  an  entrepreneur,  for  example,  MIT  President  Hockfield  is  not  an  entrepreneur  but  she  understands  the  importance  of  entrepreneurship  as  an  element  of  the  broader  educational  experience.    The  leader  of  the  institution  does  not  have  to  be  actively  involved  but  the  tone  setting  that  this  person  does  is  critical.    University  leadership  may  be  ambivalent    and  this  can  be  crippling.  In  most  universities  (MIT  included)  some  faculty  are  openly  hostile  to  entrepreneurship  regarding  it  as  a  corruption  of  the  pure  mission  of  their  institution  of  higher  learning  –something  unteachable  or  a  set  of  stories  that  don’t  match  the  rigorous  traditional  discipline-­‐based  courses.    Resolution  of  this  issue,  building  an  evidence-­‐based  case  for  the  role  of  entrepreneurship  in  the  economy  and  for  the  rigorous  lessons  we  have  about  entrepreneurship    is  key.    This  is  an  activity  that  requires  faculty  and  practitioners  to  work  together  and  can  be  a  complex  undertaking  but  no  bottom-­‐up  curriculum  effort  will  

overcome  indifference  at  the  top.    ACTION:    Educators  need  to  educate  the  leaders  of  their  institution  about  the  benefits  of  entrepreneurial  education  based  on  real  evidence  and  jointly  develop  a  plan  for  its  role  on  campus.    Outside  resources  (e.g.,  alumni,  other  institutions,  Kauffman  Foundations)  should  be  used  if  helpful  to  help  make  this  case.    Real  and  visible  support  (e.g.,  quote  for  brochures  &  website,  regular  briefings,  support  for  cross-­‐campus  programs,  and  attendance  at  events/programs)  is  essential  for  meaningful  impact  to  be  achieved.  

3. What  Type  of  Entrepreneurship?    The  Need  to  Collaborate  and  Focus:    Each  of  our  institutions  has  finite  resources  and  like  any  entrepreneurial  enterprise,  we  have  to  be  very  intelligent  about  how  we  deploy  them.    Entrepreneurship,  while  very  alluring,  is  an  incredibly  broad  category  and  has  many  different  areas  each  of  which  require  a  substantially  different  educational  focus.    While  it  is  important  to  experiment  with  your  offerings,  you  need  a  strategic  goal  for  your  education.    For  instance  at  MIT,  based  on  our  core  strengths,  we  have  chosen  to  focus  our  efforts  and  resources  on  science  and  technology  enabled  innovation-­‐based  entrepreneurship.    While  we  do  not  do  this  to  the  complete  exclusion  of  brand-­‐centric,  family,  social,  franchise,  retail,  corporate  or  many  other  types  of  entrepreneurship  like  any  business  we  need  to  focus  and  concentrate  our  resources  if  we  want  to  produce  excellence.    Yes  all  of  the  varieties  of  entrepreneurship  should  be  valued  and  many  are  vital  drivers  of  job  creation,  economic  prosperity  and  social  welfare.    But  institutions  must  determine  the  best  fit  for  them  given  their  students,  their  alumni,  the  region  and  its  economic  base  and  the  aspirations  of  institutions.      In  this  model,  the  benefits  of  open  and  honest  dialogue  among  regional  players  to  collaboratively  determine  each  institution’s  focus  within  the  broad  area  of  entrepreneurship  become  abundantly  clear.    ACTION:    Set  up  regional  workgroups  of  entrepreneurial  educators  to  discuss  collaboration  amongst  universities  what  each  institution’s  primary  area  of  expertise  to  avoid  duplication.    Institutions  could  then  concentrate  on  specific  areas  to  develop  deep  expertise  to  benefit  their  students  and  the  region.      

4. Curriculum  Road  Map  Leading  to  Type  and  Industry  Specialization:    Once  the  institution  has  decided  on  the  focus  of  its  entrepreneurial  education,  it  must  determine  the  key  skills  and  critical  industries  of  interest.    This  will  guide  the  educators  in  developing  a  curriculum  that  be  cumulative  –  lessons  from  course  building  on  one  another  to  provide  a  deep  and  enduring  educational  experience.    While  entrepreneurship  may  have  the  perception  of  being  similar  across  many  fields  (and  there  are  common  truths  and  skills),  this  is  not  true  and  become  even  less  so  as  time  progresses.    At  the  base  of  the  curriculum  can  come  a  set  of  general  skills  (specific  to  entrepreneurial  settings)  -­‐entrepreneurial  strategy,  entrepreneurial  product  marketing,  sales  &  communications,  entrepreneurial  finance,  human  resources  for  small  early-­‐stage  organizations  etc.).  But,  to  be  productive  in  the  real  world,  another  layer  of  specialization  must  be  added.    It  is  imperative  to  provide  expertise  relevant  to  your  type  of  entrepreneurship  be  it  social,  family,  franchise,  technology,  B2B,  B2C,  corporate  or  other.    These  have  different  models  and  second  level  fundamentals.    In  addition,  to  be  productive,  the  student  should  have  industry  specific  expertise  to  be  successful  in  areas  like  software,  web,  biotech,  clean  energy,  

water,  retail  to  name  a  few.    The  world  is  much  more  complex  and  building  entrepreneurs  –  actually  teams  of  entrepreneurs  to  be  more  accurate  –  that  have  the  domain  expertise  in  their  specific  type  of  entrepreneurship  and  their  target  industry  makes  them  much  more  effective.    Developing  a  multilevel  curriculum  that  starts  with  introductory  courses  but  allows  the  students  to  advance  into  courses  that  offer  a  deeper  dive  into  specific  skills  and  industries  is  the  formula  we  use  to  make  our  students  more  successful.    ACTION:    Educators  should  develop  a  multilevel  curriculum  that  starts  with  introductory  courses  but  allows  the  students  to  advance  into  courses  that  offer  a  deeper  dive  into  specific  skills  and  industries.    This  is  a  formula  to  make  our  students  more  successful.  

5. Combining  Academics  and  Practitioners  in  the  Class  Room:    The  motto  of  MIT  “Mens  et  Manus”  (literally  translated  meaning  mind  and  hand)  is  omnipresent  in  the  air  at  MITand  is  well  summarized  by  the  iconic  image  of  the  philosopher  and  the  iron  worker  standing  side  by  side  in  the  traditional  MIT  logo.      While  most  universities  building  entrepreneurial  education  cannot  call  upon  such  a  convenient  local  motive  to  remind  them  of  the  power  of  combining  of  academic  rigor  with  the  practical  application,  this  is  nonetheless  critically  important.    While  MIT  has  championed  the  use  of  practitioners  in  the  class  room  with  great  results,  it  is  imperative  to  maintain  a  proper  balance.    Academics  with  social  science  training  in  economics,  management  and  sociology  who  focus  on  understanding  the  drivers  and  consequences  of  entrepreneurship  are  critical  partners  in  entrepreneurial  education  and  are  in  short  supply.    We  greatly  value  our  excellent  practitioners  and  our  strong  academic  instructors.    And,  when  given  equal  standing  in  the  classroom  the  students  benefit  greatly  from  the  dual  perspectives.  Today,  we  have  plenty  of  the  former  and  too  few  of  the  latter.    We  have  a  hard  time  filling  spots  we  have  for  academic  tenure  track  professors  of  entrepreneurship  while  maintaining  our  standards  of  excellence.    To  fill  this  void  with  practitioners  is  sub-­‐optimal.    Data  is  not  the  plural  of  anecdotes  and  while  students  do  like  to  hear  stories,  it  is  our  duty  to  ensure  that  what  the  foundations  of  entrepreneurial  education  are  based  on  rigorous  research  not  simply  anecdotes  from  famous  successful  alumni.    There  are  numerous  examples  of  the  insights  from  serious  research  being  brought  into  the  classroom.    One  is  the  myth  of  the  singular  mercurial  entrepreneur  creating  companies.    Research  shows  that  this  is  not  the  case,  that  in  fact  the  larger  the  team  the  more  likely  the  odds  of  success  in  an  innovation-­‐based  new  venture.    The  factors  influencing  women  to  enter  entrepreneurship  have  also  been  the  subject  of  serious  analysis  that  can  be  brought  to  bear  in  the  classroom.  There  are  countless  more  examples  but  the  point  is  simple  –  we  need  both  academics  who  do  rigorous  research  in  this  entrepreneurship  and  practitioners  who  start,  build  and  fund  entrepreneurial  companies  to  create  the  successful  “mens  et  manus”  educational  balance  we  have  achieved  here  at  MIT.    Towards  this  end,  we  need  to  relook  at  how  we  are  generating  a  pipeline  of  social  scientists  studying  entrepreneurship  and  integrate  them  into  the  educational  process.    ACTION:    Educators  should  recognize  entrepreneurship  as  a  serious  field  of  scholarship  and  ensure  that  research  is  integrated  into  the  curriculum.    A  dual  teaching  approach  to  course  development  and  teaching  that  combines  academics  and  practitioners  should  be  attained  whenever  possible  and  always  sought  after.    To  reduce  the  shortage  of  good  academics  in  this  area,  developing  a  pipeline  of  entrepreneurship  research  and  people  

capable  of  doing  research  and  ultimately  teaching  should  also  be  a  priority  and  such  a  policy  should  be  advocated  within  the  university  as  well  as  in  the  government.  

6. Cross  Campus  Collaboration  to  Produce  Hybrid  Vigor:    Great  entrepreneurship  (at  least  innovation-­‐based  entrepreneurship)  requires  new  thinking  and  this  arises  from  heterogeneous  teams  working  in  complex  environments.    Different  perspectives  on  a  problem  or  opportunity  must  be  sought  and  incorporated.    As  such  it  is  not  surprising  that  successful  entrepreneurial  ventures  most  often  have  a  multidisciplinary  team  at  their  core.    What  does  this  mean  for  entrepreneurial  education?  At  MIT  our  success  comes  in  large  part  from  our  ability  to  create  educational  experiences  for  teams  of  students  from  the  different  schools.    This  is  especially  true  across  the  schools  of  engineering,  science  and  management.    By  bringing  together  the  technologists  (a/k/a  “geeks”)  and  the  business  people  (a/k/a  “suits”)  in  a  setting  that  seeks  to  build    mutual  respect  and  mutual  understanding    -­‐-­‐  a  sort  of  bilingualness  (or  at  least  pigeon)  –  we  better  prepare  our  students  to  operate  effectively  in  entrepreneurial  teams.    This  is  in  fact  is  one  of  the  fundamental  roles  of  the  MIT  Entrepreneurship  Center  -­‐    to  be  the  connective  tissue  between  these  multiple  worlds.      Entrepreneurship  education  needs  to  be  seen  as  cross  disciplinary  and  not  just  the  purview  of  a  single  school  –  otherwise  you  will  end  up  missing  the  incredible  value  of  hybrid  vigor  which  historically  has  been  a  vital  source  of  new  DNA  resulting  in  major  successes  in  this  field.    ACTION:    Courses  should  be  designed  and  marketed  to  draw  students  from  many  different  backgrounds.    At  least  some  of  the  courses  should  have  active  projects  which  require  students  working  together.    Entrepreneurship  Education  should  not  be  seen  as  the  responsibility  of  one  school  for  one  school  but  rather  a  cross  campus  collaborative  initiative.  

7.  Build  an  Ecosystem  of  Experiences  to  Foster  and  Grow  Class  Room  Developed  Skills:    A  class  room  does  not  exist  in  a  vacuum  nor  does  a  university  exist  on  its  own.    The  value  of  an  ecosystem  is  a  vital  part  of  the  promoting  effective  entrepreneurial  education  as  demonstrated  in  the  MIT  and  Kauffman  “Entrepreneurial  Impact:  The  Role  of  MIT”  Report.    This  study  shows  the  enormous  leverage  gained  when  education  in  the  class  room  is  put  to  use  immediately  and  in  an  interactive  way  outside  the  class  room  directly  with  the  real  world.    The  comprehensive  assortment  of  student  clubs,  activities,  ,  conferences,  internships,  alumni  organizations  and  action  learning  opportunities  both  make  the  class  room  learning  real  but  also  motivate  the  student.    This  has  led  to  our  strategy  simply  stated  as  “Educate-­‐Nurture-­‐Network-­‐Celebrate-­‐Research”  -­‐  codified  after  we  realized  that  what  we  were  doing  was  much  more  than  educate.    The  education  really  comes  to  life  in  the  extracurricular  internships,  competitions,  conferences  and  other  activities  which  create  the  vibrant  environment  for  experimenting  with  different  elements  of  entrepreneurship  and  gaining  experience  applying  the  lessons  learned  in  the  class  room.  While  some  of  these  elements  of  the  ecosystem  were  developed  by  faculty  many  are  student  driven  or  have  been  spurred  by  ideas  and  engagement  from  alumni.    ACTION:    Educators  should  design  and  help  develop  an  ecosystem  for  entrepreneurship  on  the  campus  and  within  the  local  community.    Investments  of  time  and  money  should  be  made  to  initially  

create  the  ecosystem  but  students  must  play  a  critical  part  in  its  evolution  and  ongoing  sustainability.      

8. Include  an  Entrepreneurial  Sales  Course  in  the  Curriculum:    While  not  wanting  to  micromanage  your  curriculum,  we  believe  that  it  is  critical  to  teach  sales  as  part  of  an  Entrepreneurship  Education  curriculum.  The  entire  purpose  of  a  business,  particularly  an  entrepreneurial  start-­‐up  with  no  deep  pockets  and  patient  funding  source,  is  to  provide  value  for  a  group  of  customers  and  get  paid  enough  such  that  the  new  venture  makes  money  and  does  so  in  a  sustainable  way.    We  do  not  spend  enough  time  in  Entrepreneurial  Education  teaching  our  students  how  to  understand,  learn  from,  listen  to  and  talk  to  customers  and  ultimately  how  to  close  a  deal  with  them  –  i.e.,  separate  them  from  some  money  –  when  it  comes  to  the  companies  with  novel  products.    This  is  one  of  the  most  fundamental  skills  of  an  entrepreneur  must  possess.    Perhaps  because  it  is  more  manus  than  mens,  it  has  traditionally  had  little  or  no  place  within  the  university.    Today,  this  is  exacerbated  by  the  fact  that  many  of  the  companies  who  used  to  train  young  people  in  this  skill  through  extensive  in-­‐house  programs  no  longer  do  so.    Sales  education  and  training  has  a  poor  perception  amongst  most  academics  and  it  is  believed  to  run  counter  to  what  academic  institutions  what  to  be  associated  with.    But  if  we  ignore  this  critical  skill,  we  are  doing  our  students  a  significant  disservice  to  them  by  not  teaching  it.    When  placed  in  the  context  of  a  broad  and  well-­‐designed  curriculum,  a  sales  course  has  an  important  place  and  can  enable  the  creation  of  truly  comprehensive  entrepreneurship  education.  ACTION:    Teach  entrepreneurial  sales  at  university  level  immediately.    Money  should  be  spent  to  develop  a  curriculum  at  a  national  level  and  then  made  available  to  colleges  and  universities.  

9. Spirit  is  as  Important  as  Skills:    While  we  strive  to  provide  skills  training  in  the  class  room  that  will  fully  prepare  our  students  to  be  successful  entrepreneurs  when  the  time  is  right  in  their  careers,  we  know  that  undertaking  the  challenge  of  an  entrepreneurship-­‐oriented  career  is  a  mindset  as  well.    Since  they  must  do  what  others  have  not  done  before,  we  must  get  them  comfortable  with  experimentation  which  involves  failure  and  most  importantly,  learning  from  failure.    We  must  set  a  tone  that  is  accepting  of  failure  as  an  integral  part  of  the  learning  process.    As  mentioned  above  in  #7  (“Context”),  we  actively  design  an  ecosystem  that  provides  opportunities  for  experimentation  in  the  safety  of  the  educational  institution  with  competitions,  “laboratories”  and  simulations.    Our  range  of  “Action-­‐learning’  entrepreneurial  experiences  include  working  on  projects  to  assess  the  commercial  potential  of  real  ideas  developed  by  leading  science  and  engineering  faculty,  to  working  on  pressing  problems  of  local  entrepreneurs  as  part  of  an  “E(ntrepreneurship)  Laboratory”.    People  who  take  risks  and  learn  in  these  settings  and  in  the  student  run  competitions  and  clubs  in  an  intelligent  manner  are  celebrated  with  awards,  special  assignments,  public  relations  articles  and  exposure  through  the  institutions  digital  communications  platforms  (i.e.,  web  site  and  other  social  media)  in  recognition  of  their  efforts,  milestones  and,  maybe  even,  success.    We  look  to  make  our  entrepreneurs  feel  like  rock  stars  and  encourage  entrepreneurial  behavior  –  and  part  of  our  larger  dynamic  and  growing  community.    ACTION:    Institutions  should  allocate  money  and  resources  to  have  an  active  program  to  celebrate  its  students  who  effectively  apply  the  lessons  learned  in  the  class  room  

whether  they  succeed  or  not.    Encourage  educators  to  include  entrepreneurs  who  have  “failed”  once  but  succeeded  later  to  be  included  in  the  course  and  have  them  talk  frankly  about  the  role  of  failure  and  the  joys  of  success.  

10. Bias  to  Action  and  Practicing  What  We  Preach  -­‐  Experimentation:    Studies  have  shown  that  successful  innovators  and  entrepreneurs  have  a  bias  to  action  and  are  quick  to  experiment  as  the  most  effective  form  of  learning.    It  is  clear  that  over  analysis  stifles  entrepreneurship  and  instead  organizations  would  be  better  off  trying  small  experiments  with  limited  exposure  rather  than  attempting  to  determine  the  perfect  outcome  before  they  act.      So  why  don’t  we  apply  this  to  ourselves  in  Entrepreneurship  Education?    Eleanor  Roosevelt  once  said,  “Do  one  thing  every  day  that  scares  you.”    With  that  in  mind,  each  semester  we  try  an  educational  experiment,  modeling  the  behavior  we  want  to  see  in  our  students.    We  experiment  with  the  market  (which  students),  the  technology  (the  content)  and  the  business  model  (modes  of  delivery).    This  allows  us  to  learn  but  it  can  only  be  a  successful  way  of  learning  if  we  can  be  as  rigorous  in  stopping  as  we  are  in  starting.    These  experiments,  like  the  one  we  launched  to  explore  opportunities  in  natural  gas,  can  be  as  challenging  as  they  are  exciting  but  if  we  until  we  have  all  the  data  about  student  interest  and  intellectual  content  the  window  of  opportunity  would  have  closed.    Some  of  these  experiments  built  on  a  foundation  of  a  rigorous  and  well  designed  curriculum  and  course  roadmap  keep  us  on  our  toes,  make  our  work  exciting  and  show  that  we  are  willing  to  walk  the  talk  when  it  comes  to  experimentation.    ACTION:    Institutions  of  higher  education  set  a  goal  to  have  one  course  each  year  to  experiment  with  a  new  emerging  area  or  skill  –  understanding  that  it  will  be  unlike  the  other  more  well  defined  classes.      

 

Whether  you  agree  or  disagree  with  our  perspective,  we  have  succeeded  if  we  have  convinced  you  that  entrepreneurship  education  is  a  meaningful  activity  and  not  an  oxymoron.    We  will  have  succeeded  if  you  think  a  little  more  carefully  about  how  to  improve  entrepreneurship  education.    And  we  will  have  succeeded  if  you  are  inspired  to  join  this  conversation  with  us.    Any  improvement  in  this  area  will  have  enormous  positive  impact  going  forward  and  while  we  might  debate  the  details  of  the  ten  points  above,  we  can  all  agree  that  the  imperative  to  improve  education  in  this  area  is  as  essential  as  it  is  entrepreneurial.