Scope and Methodology for Effective Promotion of Entrepreneurship in Educational Institutions in India

An assessment of the Scope of entrepreneurship promotion in educational institutions can determine the degree to which it has accomplished its objectives and it justifies the resources committed to it. This research focuses on the effective implementation of Entrepreneurship promotion programmes that can be provided by education institutions on four year basis. This study is based on a survey among alumni of education institutions in Tamil Nadu, India. Who have attended entrepreneurship programmes during their period of education and a group of alumni who have successfully created their own startup ventures immediately after their education? The results presented in this study show clearly that entrepreneurship promotional activities in educational institutes makes a difference. Those who went through entrepreneurial programmes and activities display more entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions, get a job earlier after finishing their studies, can innovate more even as employees in a firm, and start more companies. INTRODUCTION The strategy highlights the need to embed creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship into education and proposes a number of actions to unleash student’s entrepreneurial and innovative capabilities. There is a need to stimulate the entrepreneurial mindsets of young people and to create a more favourable societal climate for entrepreneurship, as the India is not fully exploiting its entrepreneurial potential. Education has an important role to play in improving the entrepreneurial key competence of Indian individuals. ‘Entrepreneurship and a sense of initiative’ is one of eight key competences for lifelong learning which citizens require for their personal fulfilment, social inclusion, active citizenship and employability in a knowledge-based society. Entrepreneurship refers to an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action. It includes creativity, innovation and risk taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage projects in order to achieve objectives. This supports everyone in day-to-day life at home and in society, makes employees more aware of the context of their work and better able to seize opportunities, and it provides a foundation for entrepreneurs to establish a social or commercial activity. The following objectives are to be reached through entrepreneurship education: • Improvement of the entrepreneurship mindset of young people to enable them to be more creative and self-confident in whatever they undertake and to improve their attractiveness for employers. • Encourage innovative business start-ups; • Improvement of their role in society and the economy. The demand for entrepreneurial learning has been and is still steadily increasing. However, there are a number of obstacles hindering the uptake of entrepreneurship education, such as a shortage of human resources and funding for this type of education. In addition, there has been a tendency in academic/teaching communities to perceive entrepreneurship education exclusively with learning how to start and run a business. More insight into the impact of entrepreneurship education can contribute to overcome these obstacles. Better knowledge about the impact of entrepreneurship education is one of the things that Member States are constantly looking for. However, so far there are only a limited number of studies on the effects of entrepreneurship education and many are often from the US and/or project-based. Despite the lack of evidence on the effects of entrepreneurship education, the key role of entrepreneurship education must not be disregarded. In addition to equipping young people with the skills needed for the 21st century, entrepreneurship education is a means to increase social inclusion; it can increase the number of entrepreneurs – social and commercial, and it can be a gateway for a greater integration of the framework for key competences for lifelong learning. An assessment of the impact of entrepreneurship education at the level of educational institutions can determine the degree to which it has accomplished its objectives and it justifies the resources committed to it. In line with the objectives mentioned above, this research focuses on the impact of entrepreneurship education programmes provided by higher education institutions on four dimensions: 1. Impact on the entrepreneurship key competence; 2. Impact on the intentions towards entrepreneurship; 3. Impact on the individual’s employability; 4. Impact on society and the economy. IMPACT ON THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP KEY COMPETENCE Entrepreneurship education seeks to prepare people to be responsible, enterprising individuals who have the attitudes, skills and knowledge necessary to achieve the goals they set for themselves to live a fulfilled life. The entrepreneurship key competence is a composition of an entrepreneurial attitude, entrepreneurial skills and knowledge of entrepreneurship. The study shows that entrepreneurship education has a positive impact on the entrepreneurship key competence of individuals. Attitude An entrepreneurial attitude covers aspects that help individuals to take action including taking responsibility for their own learning, careers and life. The attitude of the alumni is assessed based on the following personal characteristics: sense of initiative, risk propensity, self-efficacy, need for achievement and structural behaviour. Structural behaviour refers to