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Guidance supporting Europe’s aspiring entrepreneurs
Policy and practice to harness future potential

It is also important to note that this type of ‘entrepreneurial’ teaching and
learning may discourage some students from starting a career as an
entrepreneur, as students experience the negative aspects of entrepreneurial
career paths. In some cases this involves long hours, a heavy workload, and risk
taking. However it is also expected that the knowledge, tools and methods
gained through studies will help them to overcome problems they may encounter
as an entrepreneur. Such experience can also help students to realise that they
can take on any project, such as running their own business, and be able to cope
with it.

Example 21. Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Queen's University is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland ( ). It opened in 1849, and today has
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more than 17 000 students and 3 000 members of staff.
The Queen’s University has developed a pioneering model of entrepreneurship education.
Since 2000, 67 modules on entrepreneurship have been developed in non-business disciplines,
reaching 11 000 students across the university. Initially entrepreneurship was embedded in the
curriculum for science and engineering subjects, but in the academic year 2007-08,
entrepreneurship modules were also made available for all students in humanities and social
sciences.
The main elements of the entrepreneurship modules are as follows. They are:
• practically oriented;
• based on an experiential model of learning;
• tailored to the students’ field of study;
• compulsory, not elective subjects.
To develop the tailored modules on entrepreneurship, academics selected a compulsory
module from each discipline and developed teaching material that was customised to student needs
on the course. Members of staff chose to integrate elements of entrepreneurship into the second
year history module on heritage sites. Students first study the history of heritage sites and then
develop a project which focuses on the commercialisation of heritage sites.
Entrepreneurship modules are compulsory for all undergraduate students. The idea of making
the modules elective was rejected as it was thought to be counterproductive. Compulsory
attendance is based on the idea that entrepreneurship skills can benefit all students, rather than just
those who want to start a business. Also, students often do not consider entrepreneurship as a
career option because they are unaware of the ways it could apply to their field of study.
Compulsory teaching, therefore, gives them a genuine opportunity to explore how they can use their
skills and knowledge in a business context. Once they have this experience they can make an
informed decision regarding whether it is an attractive career option for them. On graduation, all
students who pass the module receive a certificate in entrepreneurship together with their degree.
The model developed at Queen’s University has now been adopted by universities in China,
India, Canada, Sri Lanka and a number of universities throughout the UK.

The Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is an example which has
taken the entrepreneurial dimension to a different and ‘higher’ level than most
other HEIs in Europe. Since 2000, the university has been operating a pioneering
model of entrepreneurship education, which means that an experiential and

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( ) Queen’s University Belfast. Available from Internet: http://www.qub.ac.uk/ [cited 03.9.2010].

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