Entrepreneurship Education: A Historical Review of Concepts and Cross-country Practices

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to review of the concepts and approaches to entrepreneurship education and promotion based on the published literature. It also looks into the practices of entrepreneurship education in university level in some selected countries from North-America, Europe and Asia. This paper puts a special emphasis on the historical development of entrepreneurship education in Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative method was applied for the paper. Existing literature on entrepreneurship education was reviewed to find the kind of entrepreneurship education provided in some selected countries. The websites and primed documents of the leading public and private business schools of Bangladesh were consulted to figure out the historical development in entrepreneurial education.
Findings: The paper found marked difference in the availability of the institutions, diversity of the methodological practices relating to entrepreneurship education in institutes of higher education and the policy framework for entrepreneurship promotions in different countries. The paper has also generated qualitative and analytical insights about. the practice of entrepreneurship education which is simultaneously important for the academia and practice.
Implications: The implication of the finding of the paper is, highly relevant to the universities, policy makers, practitioners, and relevant, agencies’ policy-setting process in the entrepreneurship development context This is because entrepreneurship education in the context of university level has been recognized to have impact on student, group and society. This finding also improves the understanding of donors and development partners about the extent to which quality entrepreneurship education can play a role in economic development. This paper also encourages further research that examines the measurement of role of university education in entrepreneurship development.
Originality/value: This study provides a step towards the comparison of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship development promotion programs in different countries across Europe, Asia and America. The comparison of the entrepreneurship education in different private and public universities in Bangladesh is also done for the first time.