The Role of Entrepreneurial Universities within Post-conflict Countries: Case Studies of Rwanda and Northern Ireland

Globalisation and the ever-increasing demands of the knowledge-based economy have caused higher education in most countries around the world to undergo significant transformation to adapt to such changes. This transformation can be seen through the evolutionary roles of universities in the expansion of their traditional missions of teaching and research to add an equivocal third mission - commercialising the results of their research. Therefore, universities are key agents in supporting economic growth and wealth creation within their regions and beyond through engagements with external stakeholders. Entrepreneurial universities have become more socially and economically relevant institutions. In developed contexts, universities play a role in economic development. However, little is known about how entrepreneurial universities operate in a post-conflict situation where there are not the same institutional structures, contexts etc., in place. As an anchor actor, the role of universities may need to evolve to reflect added consideration around social cohesion and peacebuilding. Existing studies of entrepreneurial universities offer a narrow perspective of the third mission as it is more often conceptualised in stable and developed contexts with a strong emphasis on economic contribution. The contemporary literature also indicates that university-based entrepreneurs in societies emerging from the conflict face numerous challenges while engaging in entrepreneurial activities. The study seeks to identify and analyse critical drivers for the development of entrepreneurial universities in post-conflict contexts, examine how entrepreneurial architectures and conditioning factors enable or constrain entrepreneurial universities' development and their contribution to the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the wider social and economic development. The study adds to the existing body of knowledge on the evolution and the development of entrepreneurial universities by extending the third mission role of entrepreneurial universities. Set in the post-conflict countries of Rwanda and Northern Ireland, this study found that non-market factors (nature of the conflict, conflict resolution pathways, economic and social) shape the entrepreneurial university's conceptualisation and development. The study also identifies that in a post-conflict entrepreneurial university, entrepreneurial ecosystem development is constrained and/or enabled by several institutional factors including, structures, strategic partnerships and collaboration, leadership, strategies, and culture. When an entrepreneurial ecosystem system has been destroyed during a national conflict, these institutional and environmental factors present significant challenges to the evolution of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in a post-conflict; however, they act as enablers in developed economies in which conditioning factors are well developed and indirectly impacted by the conflict. The study also outlines the role of the entrepreneurial university in the unique evolution of the post-conflict entrepreneurial ecosystem in Rwanda and Northern Ireland. The study adds to the existing body of studies on entrepreneurial universities that focus on the third mission of entrepreneurial universities to include peacebuilding and social cohesion. The study identifies that when an entrepreneurial ecosystem system has been destroyed during the conflict, these constraints present significant challenges to the evolution of the entrepreneurial ecosystem post-conflict. Second, in a departure from other studies, our findings also outline the role of the entrepreneurial university in the unique evolution of the post-conflict entrepreneurial ecosystem in Rwanda and Northern Ireland. The study further identifies that the entrepreneurial ecosystem evolves through stages, including embryonic, destruction, formation, and capacity building stages. This study provides recommendations for policymakers to take an incremental approach to foster and encourage entrepreneurship through context-specific and targeted policy initiatives by fully understanding the elements that contribute to the success of establishing entrepreneurial universities in a post-conflict context