ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN HIGHER EDUCATION - NEW TEACHING METHOD

The main objective of the entrepreneurship programme at Telemark University College, Faculty of Technology (TUC-FT), is to prepare students to contribute to more innovation and sustainable job creation in new or established enterprises. In three courses at bachelor cycle, the students learn how to use innovative tools and to take a practical approach to writing a realistic business plan. Innovation Camp in the 1st year is mandatory for engineering students and is carried out over two intensive days. The students are organised in teams and are required to prepare proposals for business ideas solving external company challenges. The Innovation Camp ends with a competition judged by a professional jury reviewing the business plans and performances on the stage presentations. Entrepreneurship and Student Enterprise are optional courses in 3rd year with 10 and 20 ECTS, respectively. Since 2004, we have been the examiners for 60 Student Enterprises and the results have been very good. The students from TUC-FT are the most frequent winners in national championships in Norway, and have participated in the European championship "Junior Achievement - Young Enterprise" eight out of ten times. In 2011, the Board of Directors at TUC awarded the Student Enterprise course one of two Best Practice awards at TUC. The students work in teams of 3-6 members and they have to invent and develop their own business ideas. A great deal of responsibility is given to the students and they are expected to seek knowledge and competence from mentors and other networks in the industry. A new teaching model for building entrepreneurial competence and knowledge has proven to be successful at TUC-FT. Less teaching and more learning is achieved by giving the students authority and responsibility more like a real enterprise. Competitions with feedback from professional juries, network building, benchmarking and industrial partners all contributes to entrepreneurial mindsets. The entrepreneurship programmes are continuously developed and improved through a good interaction with students, former students, mentors, non-profit organisations and industrial partners. The paper will also discuss different pedagogical strategies, such as supervising, coaching and mentoring with less focus on textbook curriculum, but more focus on "learning by doing".