Entrepreneurship Education in UKM: Essential Skills for First-Year Students

Most universities have developed entrepreneurial learning known as academic entrepreneurship (AE) by introducing entrepreneur-related courses for cross-discipline students. In order to increase student's opportunities in developing business skills, Institute of Higher Education (IPT) in Malaysia encourages entrepreneurial program in higher academic institutions. The government supports the effort to reach the vision of Malaysia's Economic Transformation Program (ETP) by 2020 in enhancing entrepreneurship abilities. Moreover, academic entrepreneurship has rooted in many global universities whereby the entrepreneurship subjects are introduced across the board regardless of faculties in order to provide basic entrepreneurial knowledge using adaptable learning pattern. The faculty entrepreneurship concept is applied in the teaching and learning process at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) by providing entrepreneurial courses for first-year students from all faculties. The course comprises Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and was initiated 5 years ago involving 12 faculties in UKM. These papers introduce basic elements of entrepreneurship and related skills to students in different disciplines. Its main objective is to promote and generate business interests and ideas among students by providing fundamental knowledge of entrepreneurship so that a career in entrepreneurship is deemed as a feasible career option. Changing mind sets of students to be a job creator rather than a job seeker is today's challenge that can be overcome by dissemination of invaluable business tools and materials which is the core aspect of this course. Concepts and theories of entrepreneurship including team building, teaming and leadership, strategy and management aptitudes, marketing and market research, financial and legal principles, manufacturing or production processes, and oral presentation skills will be taught. The link between various components of a business will be demonstrated and identified through business simulation games performed by students themselves. Series of periodic seminars and recorded videos displaying experiences of local successful entrepreneurs are presented to inspire students to embrace values and challenges of an entrepreneur. A business pitching and business concept poster competitions are held to assess students' understanding and reflection of the course content translated into these forms of "hands-on" activities.