3 rd European Conference on the First Year Experience 7 th – 9 th May 2008

1. 3rd European Conference on the First Year Experience 7th – 9th May 2008 Thursday 8 May - Parallel Session 2 Experiential learning activities in undergraduate school: fostering entrepreneurship and employability from the first year Maria de Lurdes Calisto - Estoril Higher School for Tourism and Hotel Studies, Portugal lurdes.calisto@eshte.pt Victor Afonso - Estoril Higher School for Tourism and Hotel Studies, Portugal victor.afonso@eshte.pt

2. Experiential learning activities in undergraduate school:fostering entrepreneurship and employability from the first yearAGENDA Introduction Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs Education policies on entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship in Cascais municipality Entrepreneurship and higher education Entrepreneurship educational project at ESHTE Research: methodology, results, limitations Conclusions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

3. Introduction • Entrepreneurship is of vital importance to the employability of European youngsters. • The education system has a crucial role in providing the competences that individuals need to adapt to change. • Goals • To discuss the theoretical and situational foundations, and the design, of an entrepreneurship educational project developed by ESHTE’s first year students. • To study the perception of students regarding the impact of the activities on their induction, on the acquisition of management and entrepreneurship competences, on their academic success and employability potential. 1

4. Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurs • Process of creating something with value by: • devoting the necessary time and effort, • assuming the accompanying financial, psychic, and social risks, and • receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction and independence’ (Hisrich, 2005). • Interaction of different skills, knowledge, affective factors and personal qualities (European Commission, 2004). 2

5. Education policies on entrepreneurship • Importance of entrepreneurship: • it contributes to job creation and growth; • increases competitiveness; • unlocks personal potential; and, • contributes to society - through eco-efficiency and social cohesion (European Commission, 2003). • February 2006 - a set of recommendations on entrepreneurship education were outlined by the E.C. 3

6. In Portugal the concern with entrepreneurship stretches to local authorities. September 2006: Cascais Municipality created DNA Cascais Agency to develop the ‘DNA Entrepreneur Ecosystem’. Entrepreneurship in Cascais municipality 4

7. Entrepreneurship in Cascais municipality • In its first year the DNA Cascais Agency… • …established contacts with 300 potential entrepreneurs. • 150 projects were presented by entrepreneurs, representing 20 million euros of investment intentions. • 32 new businesses were implemented – • more than 6.7 million euros invested and • 138 new jobs created, most of them in the tourism sector. (Andrez, 2007) 4

8. Entrepreneurship in Cascais municipality • The Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies (ESHTE) has been one of DNA’s partners since the creation of the agency. • ESHTE’s concern with entrepreneurship goes further than this partnership. • In 2006 the theme was included in the curricula of 4 of its 5 undergraduate courses. 4

9. Entrepreneurship and higher education • For some time entrepreneurship was considered un-teachable. • International experience demonstrates that elements of entrepreneurship can be taught and learned (Gottleib and Ross, 1997). • Entrepreneurial skills and behaviours can generally be developed and acquired (Timmons at al., 1985). 5

10. Entrepreneurship and higher education • Entrepreneurship education should not be taught from a traditional lecture-centred perspective (Gibb, 2002). • ‘Experiential education can be defined as immersing students in an activity (ideally, closely related to course material) and then asking for their reflection on the experience’ (Stevens and Richards, 1992). • An experiential activity has some special features.(Anthony et al.,1990) 5

11. The entrepreneurship educational project at ESHTE • It started in 2006 within Business Management. • 4 Courses: • Hotel Management • Cookery and Food Production • Leisure Management and Tourism Entertainment • Tourism Management 6

12. The entrepreneurship educational project at ESHTE • 4 Phases: • 6 hours immersion session on entrepreneurship • 1 week for the start-up of a mini-company • The Entrepreneurship Fair • Reflection and self-evaluation 6

13. The entrepreneurship educational project at ESHTE: students voice “The immersion session before the Fair allowed us to stimulate an ‘entrepreneurial reasoning’ and use it even in non-academic contexts.” Maria L. “On December 19th, I woke up at 5 a.m. joyfully to bake the muffins…” Rodrigo M. “In my opinion the Entrepreneurship Fair was an excellent initiative due to the experience it offered me. It was a rewarding challenge in terms of learning.” Paulo C. 6 “I learnt that being an entrepreneur means getting out of boundaries.” Amélia P.

14. The entrepreneurship educational project at ESHTE: students voice Not only the Fair but all the activities before it, like the immersion session, were of great interest and everyone enjoyed them. It allowed me to learn about the entrepreneurship spirit that must be present in all of us and taught me that if we want to stand out, in any activity or area of our lives, we must think ‘outside the box’. Margarida A. “Undoubtedly a fruitful experience, in terms of discovering and developing an entrepreneurship spirit in this new academic generation.” Matilde M. 6 “I will remember this experience all my life because, on top of having a lot of fun, we did something unique and unforgettable.” Patrícia M.

15. Research methodology • Population: 1st year students of Business Management that participated in the project (December 2007) • Sampling by convenience: 64 from 80 students responded to the questionnaire • Age: 18 to 51 (Mo=20 years old) • Gender: 64% Female and 36% Male • Questionnaire 7

16. Research methodology • Questionnaire: • Applied 1 week after the event • Respondents anonymous • 8 items grouped into 4 categories • Biographical questions (2) • Benefits of the experiential education activity (3) • Importance to students’ induction and academic success (2) • Benefits to career decision making/employability (1) 7

17. Research results 7

18. Research results 7

19. Research limitations • Questionnaire was not sufficiently comprehensive. • Some pertinent questions were not included. • It is not adequate to draw conclusions on the probability of students following the path to entrepreneurship and self-employment. 7

20. Conclusions and implication for future research • The design of the project reflects the goals and features identified as important in the literature review on entrepreneurship education. • Considering students’ perceptions, we concluded that: • Experiential education methodology is considered motivating by undergraduate students; • Entrepreneurship competences are considered important to academic success in other scientific areas, not directly related to management; • Experiential education in entrepreneurship is considered to improve employability. • Results are coincident with the advantages of experiential learning in higher education. 8

21. Conclusions and implication for future research • Future research • Explain possible gender differences in what concerns the results of an entrepreneurship experiential education activity. • Study the impact of such a project in students’ intentions towards self-employment comparatively to students that did not participate in such a project, and comparatively to students from other courses and schools. 8