Evaluation of the Entrepreneurship Education Programme in University: A New Approach

In entrepreneurship education, the development of entrepreneurial thinking and acquiring of relevant knowledge and skills for conducting the tuition process for the development of entrepreneurial initiative are very important. Besides this, it is important to also find different ways to measure the impact of the courses. The evaluation of the educational programme is a complex matter, as the question arises – what are we measuring, what indicators should be used and how should they be measured. The current study is an attempt to develop a new approach in the evaluation of entrepreneurship education programme in university - the assessment of entrepreneurship training results through changes in metacognitive awareness of participants. Students were asked to complete, both at the beginning and at the end of the training course, a cognitive adaptability questionnaire (by Haynie). The extent to which students reflect, think strategically, plan, recognize useful knowledge-skills and analyse/control themselves was uncovered based on the results. For analysing the changes in metacognitive awareness of respondents, both the Likert Scale and Bayesian Dependency Modelling techniques are used. A Comparison of average assessments at the beginning and at the end of the course shows a small rise. Moreover, considering the strengths of the dependencies between the most important statements of thinking process, participants present a trend of growing stronger after the training course.entrepreneurship education, knowledge and skills, metacognitive awareness

Predictive Factors for Morbidity and Mortality in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Paraesophageal Hernia Repair: Age, ASA Score and Operation Type Influence Morbidity

Background: Patients undergoing laparoscopic paraesophageal hernia (PEH) repair risk substantial morbidity. The aim of the present study was to analyze predictive factors for postoperative morbidity and mortality. Methods: A total of 354 laparoscopic PEH repairs were analyzed from the database of the Swiss Association for Laparoscopic and Thoracoscopic Surgery (SALTS). Age (<70 and ≥70years) and risk (low: American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) scores 1+2; high ASA scores 3+4) groups were defined and multivariate logistic regression was conducted. Results: In patients ≥70years of age postoperative morbidity (24.4% versus 10.1%; p=0.001) and mortality (2.4% versus 0%; p=0.045) were significantly higher than in patients <70years of age. In patients with gastropexy, this significant age difference was again present (38.8% versus 10.5%; p=0.001) whereas in patients with fundoplication no difference between age groups occurred (11.9% versus 10.1%; p=0.65). Mortality did not differ. High-risk patients had a significantly higher morbidity (26.0% versus 11.2%; p=0.001) but not mortality (2.1% versus 0.4%; p=0.18). The multivariate logistic regression identified the following variables as influencing postoperative morbidity: Age ≥70years (Odds Ratio [OR] 1.99 [95% CI 1.06 to 3.74], p=0.033); ASA 3+4 (OR 2.29 [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.22 to 4.3]; p=0.010); type of operation (gastropexy) (OR 2.36 [95% CI 1.27 to 4.37]; p=0.006). Conclusions: In patients undergoing laparoscopic paraesophageal hernia repair age, ASA score, and type of operation significantly influence postoperative morbidity and mortality. Morbidity is substantial among elderly patients and those with co-morbidity, questioning the paradigm for surgery in all patients. The indication for surgery must be carefully balanced against the individual patient's co-morbidities, age, and symptoms, and the potentially life threatening complication