Embedding enterprise in science and engineering departments

Abstract

Purpose -This paper aims to focus on the attempts to implement the challenges of teaching enterprise to science and engineering students by the embedding approach chosen by the White Rose Centre for Enterprise (WRCE), one of the centres formed under the Science Engineering Challenge in the UK. Design/methodology/approach -WRCE's objective was to have departmental science and engineering staff teach enterprise modules as part of their overall departmental teaching and to have such modules integrated into the course provision. The WRCE approach emphasized the value of giving students some real life or simulated "real" experience and of developing a strand or track of enterprise through the years of the course. Findings -The general propositions of WRCE are reviewed in the light of the outcomes in a number of departments, but most specifically within the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sheffield, which would claim to be one of the most successful departmental interventions of WRCE. Whilst good examples of embedded modules exist, the successful results in Mechanical Engineering appear to depend on the appointment of non-traditional staff, the integration of enterprise in a track broader than enterprise and leadership of that track that has the confidence and resource to deliver its agenda in part using external rather than internal teaching. Originality/value -The embedding of enterprise learning into an engineering curriculum and a mechanical engineering degree program in particular, is discussed from the perspective of the programme leadership, the sponsoring body and the implementing instructor.

Entrepreneurship education at Nordic technical higher education institutions: Comparing and contrasting program designs and content

“…On the one side, the program offered by AU is "partly embedded," in a hybrid format where both entrepreneurship center consultants and STEM faculty are involved in the administration and execution of the program. AU fits the general discussion about traditional, broad-based university settings, where scholars call for embedded programs (Gibb, 2005;Handscombe et al, 2008;Hindle, 2007;Shartrand et al, 2010). At DTU the program is embedded in the sense that DTU only offers STEM degrees, and at Aalto the program is embedded as it is part of the Aalto School of Engineering.…”

“…A group of studies report on the first two to five years of experience with formation of new programs (e.g., Bilán, Kisenwether, Rzasa, & Wise, 2005a;Jaszczak, Bouta, & Raber, 2013;Keogh & Galloway, 2004;Oden, O'Malley, Woods, Kraft, & Burke, 2012;Stone, Raber, Sorby, & Plichta, 2005;Uctu & Jafta, 2013), which may qualify them as single-case studies based on their longitudinal properties (Yin, 2009, p.49). Most other discipline-specific studies report on initiatives at single institutions; ranging from across campus (e.g., Parthasarathy et al, 2012;Smith, 2008), across STEM disciplines (Watts & Wray, 2012), and across engineering, law, and business disciplines (Sager, Fernández, & Thursby, 2006;Thursby, 2005), to single programs within STEM (Buijs & Beugels, 2007;Handscombe, Rodriguez-Falcon, & Patterson, 2008). A rare exception is Doboli, Kamberova, Impagliazzo, Fu, & Currie (2010) who compare the same program delivered at two different campuses.…”

La importancia de la educación empresarial y su terminología

“…Por otro lado, y en segundo lugar, en su estudio, Pittaway (2009) -Educación sobre emprendimiento (Handscombe et al, 2008;Kirby, 2007;Pittaway, 2009;Pittaway y Cope, 2007b;Pittaway y Edwards, 2012). El objetivo es crear conciencia sobre el emprendimiento y la creación de empresas.…”

Service learning experiences: a way forward in teaching engineering students?

“…The move to service learning Over the years, this business planning module has evolved from the exploitation of the department's research, through working with external clients on real problems mainly in the area of product development, to finally working with the community (Handscombe et al, 2008). Originally, the module was centred on the development of a business plan for a piece of research undertaken in the Department, an example being a polarising camera for analysing photo-elastic stress analysis results.…”