An Analysis of Academic Experience to Develop Entre preneurial Attributes and Motivation among At-Risk Student

Entrepreneurial potential has a lot to do with the spirit and the will within individuals to start a business. Entrepreneurs usually organize and develop their own businesses. Entrepreneurship has no single canonical discipline attached to it, but it benefits from a range of fields, including various knowledge areas, hands on experience, creative visions and insights, network support, and risk taking. Entrepreneurship education for at-risk children can be defined as a method that develops those attitudes that help students at-risk to take responsibility over their own actions, be creative and innovative, and also to develop their creativity in their lives. The development of entrepreneurial talent is important in sustaining a competitive advantage in a global economy that is brought about by innovation. Thus the role of quality entrepreneurship training to identify and nurture entrepreneurial culture among at-risk students is important. A survey was conducted to analyse the academic experience of at-risk students in developing their entrepreneurial attributes and motivation. Data was collected from 14,110 student respondents using questionnaires. The first part of the questionnaire measure student’s entrepreneurial aspiration, which is based on their interest to start a business and be self-employed; entrepreneurial attributes which is measured by self-perception of personal level of entrepreneurship qualities and their entrepreneurial motivation. The second part of questionnaire measure academic experience constructs which comprised of students’ perceptions towards academic self efficacy, computer assisted learning and curriculum experience. The measurement of items in the questionnaire was based on a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 denoting “Strongly disagree”; and 5 denoting “Strongly agree”. SPSS version 12 was used to analyze the data. On the whole, 54% (n=6,918) of the respondents aspired to start up their own business. Sixty nine percent of MARA Training Centre (MTC) students (n=2,721) were interested in setting up their own business, in comparison to 52% (n=1,277) of students enrolled in vocational subjects, and 46% enrolled in Form 4 elective subjects. The results suggest that MTC programs have successfully imparted relatively higher confidence in their students to pursue their own line of entrepreneurial activities. Findings showed that the mean score of the overall entrepreneurial attributes was moderate for all programs with vocational students (mean = 3.51), Form 4 elective (mean = 3.48) and MTC students (mean = 3.59). The students’ score on entrepreneurial motivation was moderately high. It was found that students from MTC had higher attributes than those in the electives and vocational programs in schools. Chi Square analysis was conducted and it suggests that entrepreneurial aspirations of students from different academic programs is significantly different (X²=81.180, df=1, p<.05). The finding showed that academic experience of students significantly predicts their entrepreneurial attributes and motivation of at-risk students

Preparation and Training Needs of Teachers to Teach Entrepreneurship in Vocational Programmes

The purpose of the study was to identify teachers' perceptions regarding the qualifications and training needs of vocational teachers in relation to teaching entrepreneurial competencies. Subjects were randomly selected from a list of vocational teachers' names and addresses in the State of Illinois, U.S.A., and data were collected by questionnaire. The findings illustrate that educators believe that having a degree in education and having business management knowledge are important qualifications for teaching entrepreneurship. Training is most needed for teaching competencies which are more specialized and require a high level of knowledge. The findings also indicate that teachers who have more business knowledge and more business experience are more likely to emphasize entrepreneurial competencies in their instruction. This study suggests a teacher preparation model that can improve the quality of teacher training in entrepreneurship. Future entrepreneurship teachers should be thoroughly prepared through an effective teacher training curriculum

Entrepreneurship as a career choice: An analysis of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intention of university students

A study was conducted to determine university students’ perceptions on entrepreneurial self- efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. Data were collected via questionnaire. The study utilized a descriptive research design and 1,554 university students participated in it. Each set of research constructs has a reliability value range between .74 and .96. Findings indicate that the students had moderate score on all constructs related to entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the aspects of management, financial and marketing. Moreover, students with positive entrepreneurial aspiration scored higher in entrepreneurship intention and self-efficacy which is significantly different from those who do not have positive aspiration. The students also scored moderately on attitudes towards entrepreneurial career and perceived behavioral control. The findings also indicate that those who perceived entrepreneurship need to be learnt at university have significantly higher mean score on attitudes towards entrepreneurial career as well as perceived behavioral control. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that to improve university students’ entrepreneurial intention and self-efficacy, certain teaching strategies needed to be conducted and university policy makers should add more value to their graduates by incorporating the elements that enhance the development of entrepreneurial intention and self-efficacy in the aspects of management, financial and marketing competencies as a basis to choose entrepreneurship as a career choice

The level of school culture and school innovativeness practiced among national type Tamil primary schools

The purpose of this study is to identify the level of school culture and school innovativeness practiced among Tamil primary schools,in Kuala Langat, Selangor, Malaysia.Nine Tamil primary schools were selected using cluster sampling. All the teachers in the sample schools were selected to participate in the study. A total of 177 teachers from nine Tamil primary schools were selected to participate in the study. Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) was used to measure school culture whereas Public School Entrepreneurship Inventory (PSEI) was used to measure school innovativeness. The instruments give high Cronbach’s Alpha values which is 0.952 and 0.925 for the culture and innovativeness dimensions, respectively. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the primary data gathered through survey method. The result shows that Tamil primary schools, in Kuala Langat, Selangor practice clan culture and show less interest in adhocracy culture. Moreover, Tamil primary schools also implement innovativeness with moderate level

Developing future entrepreneurs: A need to improve science students entrepreneurial participation

The current Malaysian system encourages school students to be involved in entrepreneurial activities. A study based on Theory of Planned Behaviour was conducted to investigate entrepreneurial intention and behaviour between “science” and “art” students in Malaysian secondary schools. Data were collected via questionnaire. A group of one thousand three hundred and fifty seven students participated in the study. Findings illustrate that “art” students following commerce and entrepreneurship subject scored higher means for all construct such as intention, subjective norm, social support and specific entrepreneurial efficacy. The study suggests that students with strong academic background especially in “science” program should be given proper entrepreneurship education and training to improve their active participation in the global economy as future entrepreneurial activities in order to create future entrepreneurial human capital

Role of family and entrepreneurial leadership development of university students.

Family has been identified as the first place that enhances students’ awareness about, attitude toward and capabilities of entrepreneurship. However, little attentions has been directed to how family nurtures entrepreneurial abilities particularly, the competencies to lead entrepreneurial activities in students. This study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of how family develops entrepreneurial leadership competencies of university students. A total of fourteen student entrepreneurial leaders, defined as students who were highly involved in leading university entrepreneurship clubs and projects, was purposefully selected and interviewed. Half of the students had one of their parents as an entrepreneur and the parents of the half were not involved in entrepreneurship. Analysis of the data revealed that parents played an influential role in inspiring students to get involved in entrepreneurial activities, whether or not they themselves were entrepreneurs. Furthermore, lived and continuous involvement in family business developed the students’ self-efficacy in leading entrepreneurial activities. The findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications

Subject matter knowledge of student teachers: how does it affect their ability to teach entrepreneurship

This study investigated 64 UPM student teachers' academic performance and their perception of their ability to teach commerce and entrepreneurship topics in the living skills syllabus. The findings show that (1) there is a significant difference between academic programmes and academic performance of the respondents, (2) entry qualifications influence academic performance of the respondents, and (3) high academic performance results in high ability to teach accounting components. This study suggests that proper selection of vocational teacher trainees should be made to ensure better living skills teachers. Selection should be based on experience in teaching living skills and satisfactory academic achievement. To produce professional teachers, teachers' subject matter knowledge should be increased by enrolling in several related courses

The relationship between school culture and school innovativeness among national type Tamil primary schools, SJK(T)S in Kuala Langat District, Selangor

The purpose of this was study to identify the relationship between school culture and school innovativeness in Tamil primary schools, SJK(T)s in Kuala Langat, Selangor, Malaysia. The study was also carried out to predict which school culture encourages school innovativeness. The sample consists of Tamil primary school teachers in Kuala Langat, Selangor. Nine (9) schools were selected by using cluster random sampling and all the teachers in sample schools were selected to participate in the study. A quantitative approach was used to gather data using two questionnaires which are “Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI)” and “Public School Entrepreneurship Inventory (PSEI)”. The instruments give high cronbach alpha value which is 0.952 and 0.925 for culture and innovativeness respectively. Correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data gathered using survey method. Result shows that Tamil primary schools, SJK(T)s in Kuala Langat, Selangor, highly practiced clan culture whereas innovativeness was practiced in moderate level. The highest correlation was observed between Market culture and innovativeness (r= .512, p<.05) whereas the lowest correlation was observed between Clan culture and innovativeness (r= .267, p<.05). Meanwhile, adhocracy and hierarchy culture have a significant correlation with innovativeness where the correlation coefficient are (r= .469, p<.05) and (r= .362, p<.05) respectively. This research indicates that market culture predicted a greater level of innovativeness than other cultures whereas hierarchy culture does not predict innovativeness in schools

An exploratory study of entrepreneurial leadership development of university students

University entrepreneurship programs play fundamental roles in developing entrepreneurial qualities of students. However, little is known about the contributions of such programs in developing students’ entrepreneurial leadership capabilities. A qualitative research was conducted to explore the roles of entrepreneurship programs of University Putra Malaysia in developing students’ entrepreneurial leadership. Two student entrepreneurial leaders who are actively involved in entrepreneurial leadership activities through holding the leadership positions of the university entrepreneurship clubs and also participated in the university entrepreneurship development courses were purposefully selected as the participants of this study. The semi-structured interview data analysis indicates that the university entrepreneurship development programs facilitate entrepreneurial leadership development of students in many ways including experiential learning, social interaction learning, and opportunity recognition. Moreover, entrepreneurial leadership development occurs in a process of transforming the knowledge acquired from experience and social interaction to identify the opportunities for personal development and business creation. Implication of the findings and suggestions for improving university entrepreneurship programs are presented in the closing section of this paper