Student and faculty perceptions of entrepreneurship education in technical college programs of study

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative action research study was to investigate views about integrating entrepreneurship education into technical colleges programs of study from the perspective of stakeholders. This study was designed to generate data that once analyzed could assist decision-makers for curricula at a Georgia technical college to consider entrepreneurship education inclusion strategies. Following a review of the demographics collected, two research questions guided the study: First, , are there significant differences in the views between technical college students and faculty about the inclusion of entrepreneurship education? And second, what are the views of technical college students and faculty regarding the types of entrepreneurship skills that should be taught to technical college students?

This quantitative action research study involved surveying stakeholders of a Georgia technical college who were either a student or a full time faculty member of the technical college. The Inclusion of Entrepreneurship Education Survey was presented to participants via the web-based platform, Survey Monkey. Requests for participation were sent to a random sample of students attending the technical college and to all full time faculty members. The email included a web link for direct connection to the survey on the Survey Monkey website. Data was analyzed Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 16.0. Descriptive statistics and a one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were calculated and the results reported.

There were two main findings of the study. The first finding was that there was no significant difference in the views of stakeholders regarding the inclusion of entrepreneurship education in the programs of study for technical college students. The second finding was that stakeholders agreed that technical college students should be taught entrepreneurship skills. Conclusions from the research include recommendations that entrepreneurship skills should be included in curriculum of technical college programs of study and that additional research should be considered to determine community needs related to teaching entrepreneurship skills.