Opportunities for Enterprise Education in the IBA Program

Project introduction and background information

My SUTQ project was driven by the desire to explore the opportunities for a revision of enterprise education in the UT’s current International Business Administration (IBA) program. I was basically triggered by the question of what the business world would consider as important enterprise skills for students to develop during their study and the implications for a revision of the current enterprise educational efforts in the IBA, including its pedagogical ramifications regarding assessment practices and coordination.

Objective and expected outcomes

Exploring the opportunities for “practice driven” enterprise education and provide recommendations for enterprise education in the IBA in a pedagogically responsible manner.

1. Which enterprise skills are identified as most important by the business community? 2. How can the identified enterprise skills be translated into measurable learning goals?
2. Which methods related to entrepreneurial/business contexts are considered effective as learning context to learn the enterprise skills identified?
3. How can the identified learning goals effectively be assessed?
4. implications for revising enterprise education in IBA?

Results and learnings

I learned that involving a variety of participants in the research process at the same time is very helpful. My SUTQ research sample consisted of business managers, educators, educational leaders, students, alumni and a member from CELT. While all attending in a creative workshop session, not only fresh ideas could be exchanged but it also lead to the development of novel and solid insights emerging from a fruitful discussion. This highly “engaged” research approach appeared to be efficient and also lead to an amount of commitment for follow up. I believe that this is a nice example of a social constructionist approach to renew educational practices.

Recommendations

• Focus on “low hanging fruit”, expand current assignment with enterprise skills, revise skill line in IBA based on new enterprise skills and align with methods and assessment, revise internship elective in IBA
• Train the trainer (educators on enterprise education practices), establish strong structural industry connections, align mutual benefits and expectations, establish coordination mechanisms within the IBA program and align with ongoing curricula.

Practical outcomes

• A fresh set of practice driven demands about which enterprise skills matter for contemporary businesses, and why
• Ideas on effective learning environments and activities for student centered learning aimed to develop enterprise skills including learning activities and assessment practices

See the attached downloads.