The policy influence on the development of entrepreneurship in higher education: A Swedish perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the foundation of higher education policies that have promoted entrepreneurship in Sweden since the mid-1990s.Design/methodology/approachTo do this, the authors use Bacchi’s (1999) “What’s the problem?” approach. A central assumption of which is that perceptions of a problem affect how its solution looks. Bacchi’s approach is described as a type of discourse analysis.FindingsThe authors show that problem definition within policies regarding the role and importance of entrepreneurship within higher education has explicitly been directed toward equipping individuals to develop action-orientated skills in the field of entrepreneurship. The equipment of action-oriented skills has implicitly been directed to individuals’ personal initiatives to meet explicit social and collective problems, fueling a neoliberal development and fostering an enterprising culture. The authors also show how policy creates a discourse, which may be characterized as “useful, unreflective citizens.”Research limitations/implicationsThe study addresses the implicit steering that is being exercised through policies. This steering needs to be questioned and problematized in order to avoid blindly following the implied course of action.Originality/valueThe study contributes to current understanding of how entrepreneurship in higher education is both governed explicitly and implicitly, by policy, through the creation of new norms in society