Latin American perspectives to internationalize undergraduate information technology education

The computing education community expects modern curricular guidelines for information technology (IT) undergraduate degree programs by 2017. The authors of this work focus on eliciting and analyzing Latin American academic and industry perspectives on IT undergraduate education. The objective is to ensure that the IT curricular framework in the IT2017 report articulates the relationship between academic preparation and the work environment of IT graduates in light of current technological and educational trends in Latin America and elsewhere. Activities focus on soliciting and analyzing survey data collected from institutions and consortia in IT education and IT professional and educational societies in Latin America; these activities also include garnering the expertise of the authors. Findings show that IT degree programs are making progress in bridging the academic-industry gap, but more work remains

Entrepreneurship Education in Iranian Higher Education: The Current State and Challenges

Entrepreneurship has long been considered a significant factor for socioeconomic growth and development because it provides millions of job opportunities, offers a variety of consumer goods and services, and generally increases national prosperity and competitiveness. Due to this positive impact of entrepreneurship, recent decades have seen a tremendous rise in entrepreneurship education at various universities and colleges around the globe, including in Iran. In the middle of this expansion remains the challenges and problems of development and changes for entrepreneurship.This paper investigates the state, trends, challenges and solutions in entrepreneurship education in Iran which emerged from an extensive review of literature. The literature reviewed indicates that entrepreneurship education in Iranian higher education faces with economic, political, social, and cultural challenges. Also this article offers some approaches and recommendations for resolving the challenges as well as encouraging and fostering entrepreneurship in higher education. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for policy makers, educators, students and graduate entrepreneurs. Stakeholders could use this study to make better choices in relation to the improvement of entrepreneurship education in Iranian higher education system

Incubators, Economic Development, and Diversification in Developing Countries

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to investigate, analyze, and identify the ratio of performance indicators for each incubator over the years of establishment in developing countries including Kuwait as well as GCC. Design methodology/approach: The methodology of this study is qualitative, consisting of literature review and multi-case studies. This investigation uses three case studies and the data was mainly collected by direct interview with five managers and analysis of organizational documents from Kuwait. The authors’ professional experiences on the topic provide the foundation for the paper. Findings: The findings of this research can help incubator managers, policy makers, and government parties for successful implementation. Also, the findings add new knowledge for academic literature on incubators and economic development. Originality: The authors believe that this paper has proven successful implementation of incubators and economic development. The recommendations will be helpful for both academicians and practitioners who are interested in incubators. Keywords: Economic development, incubators, economic diversification, job creation, entrepreneurship

Attitudes of Higher Education students to new venture creation: a preliminary approach to the Portuguese case

Institutions of higher education have an important role in the generation of high tech ‘entrepreneurial capacity’. Being entrepreneurship in Portugal an emergent phenomenon there is an urgent need to better understand and develop this area not only by analysing the ‘supply side’ (i.e., the courses taught in this field) but also the ‘demand side’, that is, the attitudes of students, future potential entrepreneurs, to new venture creation. Based on 4413 responses of students enrolled in Portuguese higher education institutions, gathered in June-July 2008, we found, using a multivariate model, that students who had already created a firm although, on average, possess larger entrepreneurial experience and knowledge, they do not reveal high risk propensity or creativity. Those students that have taken some steps to create new businesses and, to a larger extent, those foreseeing their future career as owning their business have higher risk and creative profiles. Students who live in an environment which ‘breads’ entrepreneurship have stronger desire to become entrepreneurs. This supports the contention that entrepreneurship is a learned process and that school, teachers, and other institutions and individuals may encourage entrepreneurial behaviours. ‘Role models’ seem indeed to constitute a key factor fostering entrepreneurship among Portuguese higher education students – in the Portuguese case, the entrepreneur and entrepreneurial company references are, respectively, Belmiro de Azevedo and Sonae. Although in a descriptive analysis students enrolled in non-university (e.g., polytechnics) and private higher education institutions reveal higher effective and potential entrepreneurial propensities, when we (simultaneously) control for a vast number of factors which are likely to affect entrepreneurship propensity, such differences cease to be statistically relevant. Students’ personality (risk, creativity) and demographic traits (gender and age), competencies and familiarity with entrepreneurship (entrepreneurial experience, knowledge, awareness, interest), and contextual factors (professional experience, role models) are important determinants of entrepreneurial propensity, whereas the type of higher education institutions (public vs private, non-university vs university), and, to some extent, the degree (postgraduate vs undergraduate), and the scientific area, fail to emerge as key determinants.students; entrepreneurship; attitudes

The Key Successes of Incubators in Developed Countries: Comparative Study

The purpose of this paper is to describe and compare key dimension of the business incubation landscape in the United States. The comparison will focused on the five key dimensions which include incubators services provided by incubators to client firms, strategic goals, incubators’ sponsors, incubators age and incubators focus. The nature of this research is mainly qualitative. This investigation uses two semi-structured interviews based in the United States and organizational documents. The research findings suggest that there are three keys. The authors believe that, this paper presents an added value to the current literature on the key dimension of business incubation in the United States. Also the research will support the academia and practitioner for successful implementations and follow-up. Keywords: Jobs creation, technology commercialization, entrepreneurship, incubators, economic growth