Teaching science and technology PhD students in entrepreneurship-potential learning opportunities and outcomes

Abstract

Whilst doctoral students comprise a large group of researchers at a university and will potentially play important roles in the utilization and transfer of research results, prior research studies have paid little attention to the effect of entrepreneurship education on PhD students with a science and technology orientation. This paper seeks to address this gap in knowledge and examines four key elements in the design and evolution of good practice in entrepreneurship education for this group of students: (1) learning tools, (2) inspiration, (3) interdisciplinarity, and (4) boundary spanning networks. The paper illustrates the importance of identifying the balance between theory and practice that will attract students from across the spectrum of science and technology fields. It also shows that a hands-on experimental methodology is an effective pedagogical strategy that uses learning by doing as an essential tool in problem solving.