Enterprise Education: Towards the Development of the Heutagogical Learner

Abstract

In recent times we have witnessed attempts to demarcate entrepreneurship education from enterprise education. While there is useful value in further establishing the distinction and similarities between these two forms of education, such work merely scratches the surface of what is required to fully embed entrepreneurship and enterprise education in higher education. What is needed is a repositioning of entrepreneurship and enterprise education. The distinctive university-wide contribution that entrepreneurship and enterprise education is increasingly asked to make globally needs unpacking. No other domain of education is poised to help develop the specific attributes students need to navigate and succeed in the 21^st century. However, much resistance to the embedding of entrepreneurship and enterprise education remains.

This paper builds upon a new and innovative approach to plotting a pathway towards full integration within higher education for entrepreneurship and enterprise education. The key development to be offered for consideration is a new language from which to reposition and explain the role and nature of entrepreneurship and enterprise education. Building on recent works that have promoted the virtues of heutagogical learning for entrepreneurship and enterprise education, the components of a new student-oriented language are presented. This repositioning of entrepreneurship and enterprise education highlights the unique potential of heutagogical learning. This is illustrated by the manner in which this paper seeks to communicate with all educators, all students, and all education managers/policy makers.

The ideas developed in this paper do not represent a simple pathway through which to walk entrepreneurship and enterprise education forward. They do however offer an opportunity to contemplate several pedagogical factors that continue to hold the development of our domain back. It is my hope that as the enquiring minds that consider the ideas developed within this paper will see cause to act. To act as an individual in the best interests of their students. To engage in deeper conversations around the ideas of heutagogy and academagogy. To ultimately act in ways that promotes the individual needs of every student we can assist to prepare for an exciting and challenging world of work.