Success factors of academic entrepreneurship education : a new approach

Discussions about whether entrepreneurship education stimulates entrepreneurial intentions and start-up activities continue due to weak empirical evidence and stagnating start-up rates. Based on the review of extant research in entrepreneurship, we argue that the success of entrepreneurship education largely depends on the contents and teaching methods applied. We propose that teaching the 'right' contents and methods comprises three different factors: a rational component for teaching relevant knowledge and skills, an emotional component for evoking the inspiration of the participants, and a social component for supporting the development of the participants' social networks. We present a number of practical, hands-on recommendations on these topics and develop a proposal for an ideal-typical entrepreneurship education curriculum. This paper is intended for university managers and program developers as a framework for designing successful entrepreneurship education programs