Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China: Responding to Social Change (Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 60) 9811637237, 9789811637230

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Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 60

Xiaozhou Xu

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China Responding to Social Change

Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects Volume 60

Series Editors Rupert Maclean, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Lorraine Pe Symaco, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China Editorial Board Bob Adamson, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Robyn Baker, New Zealand Council for Educational Research, Wellington, New Zealand Michael Crossley, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK Shanti Jagannathan, Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines Yuto Kitamura, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan Colin Power, Graduate School of Education, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia Konai Helu Thaman, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji Advisory Editors Mark Bray, UNESCO Chair, Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Yin Cheong Cheng, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China John Fien, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Pham Lan Huong, International Educational Research Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Chong-Jae Lee, Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), Seoul, Korea (Republic of) Naing Yee Mar, GIZ, Yangon, Myanmar Geoff Masters, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne, Australia Margarita Pavlova, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China Max Walsh, Secondary Education Project, Manila, Philippines Uchita de Zoysa, Global Sustainability Solutions (GLOSS), Colombo, Sri Lanka

The purpose of this Series is to meet the needs of those interested in an in-depth analysis of current developments in education and schooling in the vast and diverse Asia-Pacific Region. The Series will be invaluable for educational researchers, policy makers and practitioners, who want to better understand the major issues, concerns and prospects regarding educational developments in the Asia-Pacific region. The Series complements the Handbook of Educational Research in the Asia-Pacific Region, with the elaboration of specific topics, themes and case studies in greater breadth and depth than is possible in the Handbook. Topics to be covered in the Series include: secondary education reform; reorientation of primary education to achieve education for all; re-engineering education for change; the arts in education; evaluation and assessment; the moral curriculum and values education; technical and vocational education for the world of work; teachers and teaching in society; organisation and management of education; education in rural and remote areas; and, education of the disadvantaged. Although specifically focusing on major educational innovations for development in the Asia-Pacific region, the Series is directed at an international audience. The Series Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, and the Handbook of Educational Research in the Asia-Pacific Region, are both publications of the Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association. Those interested in obtaining more information about the Monograph Series, or who wish to explore the possibility of contributing a manuscript, should (in the first instance) contact the publishers. Please contact Melody Zhang (e-mail: [email protected]) for submitting book proposals for this series.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/5888

Xiaozhou Xu

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China Responding to Social Change

Xiaozhou Xu Zhejiang University Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

ISSN 1573-5397 ISSN 2214-9791 (electronic) Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects ISBN 978-981-16-3723-0 ISBN 978-981-16-3724-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3724-7 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Series Editors’ Introduction

This volume Responding to Social Change: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China edited by Xiaozhou Xu is the latest book to be published in the long-standing Springer Book Series “Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects.” The first volume in this Springer series was published in 2002, with this book by being the 60th volume to be published to date. This book looks at the broad role of innovation and entrepreneurship education (IEE) in China and is a pioneering work in heightening its stance as it responds to social changes in the country. It gives readers a comprehensive look at IEE as manifested in the needs of a rising global economic power, putting into context the needed and desired actualities of the IEE for this purpose. This book also brings in local expert discussions of the topic, giving it a more nuanced approach to the field. Readers will also benefit from the broader discussion of the need for IEE at the global level, alongside the sustained discussion of this in the Chinese context. Policy reorientations in the field as it relates to China make this an invaluable contribution as it marks out the necessity to introduce and embrace innovation and entrepreneurship education in line with development objectives. In terms of the Springer Book Series in which this volume is published, various topics dealt within the series are wide ranging and varied in coverage, with an emphasis on cutting-edge developments, best practices and education innovations for development. Topics examined in the series include: environmental education and education for sustainable development; the interaction between technology and education; the reform of primary, secondary and teacher education; innovative approaches to education assessment; alternative education; most effective ways to achieve quality and highly relevant education for all; active aging through active learning; case studies of education and schooling systems in various countries in the region; cross-country and cross-cultural studies of education and schooling; and the sociology of teachers as an occupational group, to mention just a few. More information about this book series is available at http://www.springer.com/series/ 5888. All volumes in this series aim to meet the interests and priorities of a diverse education audience including researchers, policymakers and practitioners; tertiary students; teachers at all levels within education systems; and members of the public v

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who are interested in better understanding cutting-edge developments in education and schooling in Asia-Pacific. The reason why this book series has been devoted exclusively to examining various aspects of education and schooling in the Asia-Pacific region is that this is a particularly challenging region which is renowned for its size, diversity and complexity, whether it be geographical, socioeconomic, cultural, political or developmental. Education and schooling in countries throughout the region impact on every aspect of people’s lives, including employment, labor force considerations, education and training, cultural orientation, and attitudes and values. Asia and the Pacific is home to some 63% of the world’s population of 7 billion. Countries with the largest populations (China, 1.4 billion; India, 1.3 billion) and the most rapidly growing megacities are to be found in the region, as are countries with relatively small populations (Bhutan, 755,000; the island of Niue, 1600). Levels of economic and sociopolitical development vary widely, with some of the richest countries (such as Japan) and some of the poorest countries on earth (such as Bangladesh). Asia contains the largest number of poor of any region in the world, the incidence of those living below the poverty line remaining as high as 40 percent in some countries in Asia. At the same time, many countries in Asia are experiencing a period of great economic growth and social development. However, inclusive growth remains elusive, as does growth that is sustainable and does not destroy the quality of the environment. The growing prominence of Asian economies and corporations, together with globalization and technological innovation, are leading to long-term changes in trade, business and labor markets, to the sociology of populations within (and between) countries. There is a rebalancing of power, centered on Asia and the Pacific region, with the Asian Development Bank in Manila declaring that the twenty-first century will be “the Century of Asia-Pacific.” We believe this book series makes a useful contribution to knowledge sharing about education and schooling in Asia-Pacific. Any readers of this or other volumes in the series who have an idea for writing their own book (or editing a book) on any aspect of education and/or schooling that is relevant to the region are enthusiastically encouraged to approach the series editors either directly or through Springer to publish their own volume in the series, since we are always willing to assist perspective authors to shape their manuscripts in ways that make them suitable for publication in this series. May 2021

Rupert Maclean School of Education RMIT University Melbourne, Australia Lorraine Pe Symaco College of Education Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China

Preface

Innovation and entrepreneurship education caters to the current economic structural reforms and the diversification of economic components. It is not only an expedient measure to solve the social employment problem at hand, but also a longterm plan to adapt to the demands of the development of the knowledge economy. At present, socioeconomic development is moving toward high-tech information and ecology. The continuous development and utilization of cultural, information and knowledge resources make education a new growth point for economic development. Therefore, innovation and entrepreneurship education directly affects the progress of the entrepreneurial economy. The organic integration between innovation and entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial economy as well as their coordinated development will be a crucial link in the rapid development of China’s economy. Economic resources exist both in the economic field and in social activities. Timmons (2005) pointed out that “entrepreneurship has transcended the traditional concept of starting businesses. And it may appear at any stage of companies and organizations (non-profit organizations and public institutions) in various forms (p. 23).” At the moment, there is still a great dilemma in entrepreneurship education in higher education institutes (HEIs) and college students’ entrepreneurship in China. Mainly, college students have been shown to have a high failure rate after starting a business and a low rate of high-growth entrepreneurship. According to the 2017 Chinese University Student Employment Report, in the past five years, college students who started businesses upon graduation nearly doubled from 1.6% in 2011 to 3.0% in 2017. Based on the total number of 7.95 million new graduates in 2017, the number of undergraduate college students starting business exceeded 200,000. But at the same time, the average success rate of college students’ entrepreneurship is only 5% (MyCOS Research, 2017). According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2017/2018 China Report, more than 60% of entrepreneurial motivations in Chinese entrepreneurs are opportunity-oriented. Most entrepreneurs choose to start a business in the wholesale or retail-oriented customer service industry, with low rate in the high-value-added business services industry. Meanwhile, Chinese entrepreneurs believe that their entrepreneurial ability has declined, and the fear of entrepreneurial failure has increased from 25% in vii

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2002 to 41% in 2017 (Entrepreneurship Research Center on G20 Economies, 2018). From 2002 to 2017, the quality of China’s entrepreneurial activities improved, but still lagged behind the developed countries in the G20 club. It was also below the G20 average in terms of the ability to innovate and the proportion of high-tech entrepreneurship. High-growth entrepreneurship transforms innovation by combining realistic demands based on the frontier innovative outcomes of university laboratories or research institutes. Compared with general entrepreneurial activities, high-growth entrepreneurship has a better pulling effect on economic development. Take, for example, companies founded by graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 25,800 high-tech companies employ about 3.3 million staff and have achieved $2 trillion in annual sales. If these companies were to form an independent country, their income would be equal to the total output value of the 11th economic entity. This shows that high-tech entrepreneurship is of great significance in promoting a country’s economic development. At present, young Chinese entrepreneurs are mainly engaged in Internet start-ups, looking for new applications of traditional industries in the network platform and contributing little to the application transformation of university laboratory research results. In addition to institutional factors, the shortage of entrepreneurial talent is the main factor restricting the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Undergraduates are unique entrepreneurial groups that regard knowledge as the core competitiveness, and they are equipped with irreplaceable innovative entrepreneurship characterized by creativity, knowledge and technology. Therefore, upgrading innovation and entrepreneurship education to cultivate college students’ competence can bridge the gap between university laboratories and market demand, providing entrepreneurial talents for the Chinese innovation-driven economy. This book is one of the important research achievements of the Key Project of the National Social Science Fund of China in Education, “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Research in Economic Transformation and Upgrade” (Project Approval Number: VIA150002). The research team is mainly composed of members from Zhejiang University, Northeast Normal University and Wenzhou University. Based on the systematic analysis of the key characteristics and constraints of China’s economic transformation and upgrading, this study aims to illustrate the strategic appeal of innovation and entrepreneurship education; study the common trends of innovation and entrepreneurship education at a time of economic globalization as well as the experiences of major countries; explore the cultivation model and mechanisms of key innovation and entrepreneurship talents as well as the innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem; and propose new institutional mechanisms. Based on the ecology theory and systems theory, this project puts forward the concept of “global ecology” to explain the complex relationship among various elements in innovation and entrepreneurship education. At present, the concept of “ecology” is not only used to demonstrate the natural succession, competition and metabolism of nature, but also widely used to illustrate the complex relationships

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between society and human systems. It is sufficiently feasible to introduce the ecological analysis perspective into the field of innovation and entrepreneurship education: (1) Innovation and entrepreneurship education itself is a kind of vital organizational activity, which relies on various elements inside and outside the school, and needs to continuously draw on resources for achieving success. (2) The promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship education relies on a specific entrepreneurial environment. Instead of copying or directly transferring, the entrepreneurship education ecosystem must be constructed according to the specific conditions of each country. Policies and normative measures need to be made accordingly, so that these factors can be truly integrated and function. (3) All stakeholders who influence innovation and entrepreneurship education depend on each other, impact each other and develop together. Therefore, researching innovation and entrepreneurship education from the perspective of “ecology” and system theory means that we must design a sustainable system on account of the country’s overall development strategy demand system. This project carries out systematic research from the concept of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China, international comparison, training of key entrepreneurial talents, construction of entrepreneurial ecosystem and institutional guarantee. It has the following characteristics: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Integrate innovation and entrepreneurship education with the needs of entrepreneurial talents in the process of China’s economic transformation and upgrading. International entrepreneurial talents, regional entrepreneurial talents and social entrepreneurial talents are analyzed in terms of the connotation, basic characteristics and growth rules, bringing forward relevant training objectives, training principles and training models. A balance must be struck between business start-ups and social entrepreneurship, emphasizing the improvement of students’ entrepreneurial ability and the cultivation of social responsibility. As college students are the backbone of China’s future development, innovation and entrepreneurship education emphasizes the guidance of the students’ outlook on life and values. This project carries out in-depth studies on the trend of international innovation and entrepreneurship education, and sums up the main experience of international innovation and entrepreneurship education, such as: top-level design, construction of a sound organizational structure and curriculum system, participation of various stakeholders and practice platform construction. Thus, it provides reference and enlightenment for innovation and entrepreneurship education in China’s colleges and universities. This project focuses on exploring an effective ecosystem of entrepreneurship education. Current research on the entrepreneurial education ecosystem only remains within the case introduction and barely touches on the connotation, elements, operational mechanism and key issues of the entrepreneurial education ecosystem. After more than 10 years of progress, the internal practice and external support system of entrepreneurship education in higher education institutes (HEIs) have been constructed in the preliminary. Notwithstanding all that, a large amount of theoretical and practical research is required to further improve

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the internal entrepreneurial education ecosystem and the university’s external entrepreneurship education ecosystem and promote the synergy between the two sub-systems. This project focuses on how China should build an effective entrepreneurial education ecosystem. This project pays close attention to the combination of theory and practice in innovation and entrepreneurship education. It proposes countermeasures and suggestions for innovation and entrepreneurship education in China by means of systematic arrangements of curriculum, teachers, platforms, etc.; research on deep-seated problems such as ideas and systems; and surveys of international and local experiences.

In terms of research methods, the project utilizes a combination of literature analysis, comparative research, case studies, surveys and experiments, reflecting the novelty in the use of these methods. This project uses the knowledge map visualization method in the literature analysis process, drawing a series of knowledge maps and illustrating the literature information of related topics—such as “economic transformation and upgrading,” “innovation and entrepreneurship education,” “social entrepreneurship” and “scientific and technological entrepreneurship.”. In addition, this project comprehensively uses a variety of document analysis tools combined with mathematical statistics, so as to conduct an in-depth study on the historical changes and the current status of innovation and entrepreneurship education at home and abroad. Inspirations for systematically promoting innovation and entrepreneurship education in China will be offered by adopting the comparative method to explore the latest innovation and entrepreneurship policies and technology entrepreneurship experience in the USA, social entrepreneurship in the UK and Japan, and the latest developments in innovation and entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia. This is also done by exploring the common characteristics of international innovation and entrepreneurship as well as the unique characteristics in different social and economic contexts. This project emphasizes diachronic analysis of a single case and comparative analysis among cases, avoiding the simplistic “status description,” and analyzes the case itself from multi-dimensional perspectives. It is of vital significance to uncover the mechanism and mode of innovation and entrepreneurship education and the environmental factors behind it by tapping on firsthand information like browsing foreign official Web sites, contacting case universities, field visits and interviews, and overseas contacts. This project adopts empirical research methods such as questionnaires, interviews and on-site experiments to examine the cognition of different stakeholders on innovation and entrepreneurship education in HEIs, the status quo of innovation and entrepreneurship education, the core elements of the innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem, and the effectiveness of entrepreneurship curriculum. I would like to express sincere thanks to the full support and enthusiastic assistance from the relevant departments and academic colleagues for their contributions, namely Mei Weihui, Meng Ying, Ni Hao, Xin Yueyou, Ye Yinghua, Kan Yue, Zhou Guping, Liu Weiwei and Wu Jingchao. I would like to express sincere appreciation

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to the National Education Planning Office for listing “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Economic Transformation and Upgrade” as the Key Project of the National Social Science Fund of China in Education (VIA150002). I also express my sincere gratitude to UNESCO for their care in academic activities, to the government, universities and enterprises for their help in this project, to the leaders and colleagues of Zhejiang University, to the hard work of the research team and to the publisher.

Hangzhou, China

Xiaozhou Xu

Contents

1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Global Economic Change Needs Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education to Drive Innovative Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 The Global Economic Situation Urgently Requires Innovation and Entrepreneurship to Drive Transformation and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.2 The World Urgently Needs Innovation and Entrepreneurship to Drive Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.3 The Promotion of the Global Innovation Capability is Dependent on the Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 China’s Economic Transformation and Upgrading Need a Deepening Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 From “Relying on Capital” to “Relying on Talents”: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Offers Support for Talent Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 From “Relying on Resources” to “Relying on Innovation”: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Stimulates the Vitality of Scientific and Technological Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.3 The Transition from “Demographic Dividend” to “All Elements”: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Boosts Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.4 The Transition from “Demand Side” to “Supply Side”: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Promotes Supply-Side Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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1.2.5 Transition from “Expanding Domestic Demand” to “Expanding to the World”: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Connects the Global New Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 The Development Trend of International Entrepreneurship Education and the Transformation of Entrepreneurship Education Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.1 New Trends in International Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.2 The Concept Transformation of China’s Entrepreneurship Education Under the Background of Economic Transformation and Upgrading . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Research Progress in Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 Data Sources and Research Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2 Basic Situation Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3 Hot Research Topics of International Entrepreneurship Education Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.4 The Frontiers and Knowledge Base Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research . . . . . 2.1.5 Summary and Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Development Characteristics and Trends of China’s Entrepreneurship Education Research in the Past Decade . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 Types and Scale of Research Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 Basic Distribution Characteristics of Entrepreneurship Education Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3 The Mainstream Research Team and Its Research Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.4 Development Trend Characteristics of Entrepreneurship Education Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.5 The Theme of Entrepreneurship Education Research that Deserves Further Attention in the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Retrospect and Prospect of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.1 Review of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Psychology Research in the Decade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.2 Outlook on the Trend of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Psychology Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Distribution Feature of Entrepreneurship Education Policies . . . . . . 3.1.1 Temporal Distribution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Subject Distribution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 Geographical Distribution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies . . . . . . 3.2.1 Origin of Entrepreneurship Education Policies . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Consistent Guidance on Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . 3.2.3 Multi-sectoral Collaboration of Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.4 Orientation of the Reform Objectives of Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Text Mining of China’s Entrepreneurship Education Policy in the Visual View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 Selection of Research Methods and Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2 Frequency Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.3 Social Network Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Problems and Suggestions for Entrepreneurship Education Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 Problems of Entrepreneurship Education Policies . . . . . . . . . 3.4.2 Suggestions on Entrepreneurship Education Policies . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Construction of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 The View of Ecological Development of Entrepreneurship Education Under GALCHS Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.1 Theoretical Basis: From Ecosystem to Ecological Development of Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.2 Analysis of Concept: The Main Connotation of “GALCHS” Ecological View of Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.3 Path Exploration: Pursuing the Development Path of Entrepreneurship Education Ecology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Concepts and Strategies for the Construction of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem in American Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 The Concept of Constructing Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem in the University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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4.2.2 Multifactor Construction of the Foundation of the University’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.3 Technology Transformation and Network Mechanism to Maintain the Operation of Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in the University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.4 The Diverse Environment Supports the Development of the University’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Construction of Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem in Chinese Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Government: Strengthening Guidance of Strategic Planning, Highlighting the Pertinence and Effectiveness of Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 Universities: Improve the Organizational Model of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.3 Society: Improve Financial Channels and Build Professional Social Service Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.1 Questions Raised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.3 Results Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.4 Conclusions and Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Analyzing Determinants of College Student Decisions of Entrepreneurship or Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 Questions Raised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.3 Results Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.4 Conclusions and Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Course Design for Entrepreneurship Education and Its Efficiency Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.1 Questions Raised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.3 Results Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.4 Results Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

226

229 232 235

237 239 246 248 251 251 251 252 253 263 266 266 269 273 278 280 280 280 284 291 292

6 Training Strategy of Key Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 6.1 Economic Structural Reform and Cultivating Entrepreneurial and Innovative Talents in the Background of Belt and Road Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Contents

6.1.1 Belt and Road Initiative Facilitating the Economic Structural Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.2 Economic Structural Reform Dependent on Triple Driving Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.3 The Analysis of Talents in Countries Along the BRI . . . . . . 6.1.4 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Require Prioritizing Cultivation of Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Economic and Social Transformation and Training of Talents for Social Entrepreneurship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.1 Social Problems Hamper Economic and Social Transformation and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.2 Building an Entrepreneurial Society Requires Inclusive Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.3 The Rise of Social Entrepreneurship and Its Educational Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.4 Countermeasures for Training Social Entrepreneurial Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 Training of Regional Entrepreneurial Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.1 Based on Regional Entrepreneurship, to Cultivate Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.2 Based on the Advantages of Regional Characteristics, Cultivate Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.3 Based on the Adjustment of Regional Economic Structure, Cultivate Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Institutional and Mechanism Guarantee of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Management System of IEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.1 Main Problems of Management System of IEE . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.2 The Organizational Structure and Management Elements of IEE Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Incentive System of IEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.1 Framework of Incentive Mechanism of IEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.2 Improving Students’ Incentive Mechanisms and Meeting Students’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.3 Clarifying Faculty’s Incentive Mechanism and Enhancing Faculty’s Enthusiasm for IEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 Evaluation System of IEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.1 The Necessity of Constructing Evaluation System of IEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.2 Evaluation System of IEE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

xvii

296 299 302 309 312 313 316 319 322 325 325 331

334 338 341 342 342 344 346 346

346 349 351 351 352

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Contents

7.3.3 Characteristics and Principles of IEE Evaluation System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 Constructing “Upgraded Edition” of IEE System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.1 “Full Chain” for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents Cultivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.2 Strengthening the Integration and Synergy of IEE . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Build a New Era Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem for 2050 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 The Theoretical Conception of the Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in the New Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.1 Overall Objective of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.2 The Core Concept of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.3 The Main Contradiction of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.4 The Development Path of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 The Vision for the Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Toward 2050 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.1 2020: Build a Horizontally Interconnected Cooperative System for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . 8.2.2 2025: Build a Vertically Connected School Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.3 2035: Build an Ecosystem of Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.4 2050: Build a Global, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3 Several Strategies for Promoting the Connotation Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . 8.3.1 Encourage Innovation and Release the Vitality of the Institutional Mechanism of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.2 Advocate Reciprocity and Create an Ecological Chain for the Cooperative Development of Universities, Regions and Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.3 Ensure Development and Formulate the Regulations on Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.4 Improve Quality and Take the Road of Connotation Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.5 Go Global and Build a Global Community of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education . . . . . . . . . . .

361 364 364 369 371 375 376 376 377 378 379 379 381 382 383 383 384

384

385

385 386 387

Contents

xix

8.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

About the Author

Prof. Xiaozhou Xu is Qiushi Chair Professor of Zhejiang University, Chang Jiang Scholars Chair Professor of the Ministry of Education (MOE) in China and President of Communication University of Zhejiang. He serves as UNESCO Chair-holder in Entrepreneurship Education at Zhejiang University and President of UNESCO Entrepreneurship Education Network National Chapter of China. He has chaired key projects supported by UNESCO and National Social Science Fund of China, and has published more than ten monographs, including Research on the Construction Strategy of Entrepreneurship Education System in Higher Educational Institutions, Introduction to Entrepreneurship: Methodologies and Practices, Educational Policies and Legislation in China, Perspectives on Higher Education, etc. He was selected into the State Class Persons of “New Century Talent Project,” a New Century Talent Supporting Project of MOE in China. He enjoys the Special Allowance rewarded by the State Council.

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Chapter 1

Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education

In today’s world, the continuous deepening of globalization has brought countries closer together, and the rapid development of knowledge and technology has promoted the transformation and adjustment of the world economy and society. In the rapidly changing period, people are increasingly aware that innovation is the pillar of national transformation. Large-scale, high-level and comprehensive innovation activities have become increasingly prominent in the global adjustment, which established strong development conditions and benign environmental atmosphere. In China, it remains to be known whether the economy can successfully cross the middle-income trap and achieve the strategic goal of building an innovative country. This would depend, to a large extent, on whether the Chinese economy can transform from its traditional over-reliance on cheap labor, excessive dependence on resource consumption and environmental costs and excessive dependence on unbalanced sharing, into a new normal of economic development strategy that relies on scientific and technological progress, the improvement of workers’ quality and the innovation of management systems (Gu et al., 2011). The accelerating of national economic transformation and upgrading requires numerous innovation and entrepreneurship talents, which puts forward the urgent demand for innovation and entrepreneurship education. The progress in innovation and entrepreneurship education serves as the most direct and effective channel and method for the supply of those talents. Opinions of the State Council on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Creating an Upgraded Version (2018) clearly states: “Strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship education and training for university students. The entrepreneurial tutor system shall be promoted among institutions of higher education across the country, innovation and entrepreneurship education and practical courses shall be included in the compulsory course system of institutions of higher education, and university students shall be allowed to apply for academic dissertation defense with entrepreneurial achievements. Institutions of higher education and vocational colleges (including technical schools) shall be supported in deepening the integration of production and education and introducing enterprises to © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 X. Xu, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 60, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3724-7_1

1

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1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

offer productive internship training.” Therefore, innovation and entrepreneurship education has received great attention increasingly, and the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents has become the most powerful support for achieving sustainable economic and social development in a rapidly changing world.

1.1 Global Economic Change Needs Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education to Drive Innovative Development Economic growth has gradually tended to level off in recent years. The global economic development has also evolved from a traditional mode to a modern, hightech and sustainable growth mode. Countries around the world are increasingly affected by the “new economy,” paying more attention to the new economic growth model driven by innovation, science and technology, education, human capital, etc. Therefore, they are solving various economic and social issues by maintaining the stable development of the global economy through new growth drivers and methods. The international community has proposed an initiative to eliminate absolute poverty by 2030 with the common global efforts. Hence, it has become the main task of each country to promote economic growth, expand employment, stabilize the situation and innovate development. Governments and the private sectors around the world are seeking more effective approaches to improve the investment climate, increase competitiveness, promote large-scale and high-value trade and push forward innovation and entrepreneurship, which are key elements in successful economic growth strategies (World Bank, 2015).

1.1.1 The Global Economic Situation Urgently Requires Innovation and Entrepreneurship to Drive Transformation and Development The transition from the traditional economic model to the new economic growth model relies mainly on driving forces such as technology and talent. During the transitional period, on the one hand, technology and innovation are urgently needed to assist the economy in moving to a new stage; on the other hand, insufficient resources and elements weaken the motivation for innovation and entrepreneurship. The contradiction between them is particularly obvious during the transition. Due to the deficiency of innovation support, the overall trend of the global economy has continued to decline in recent years. Governments have stepped up their efforts to issue positive measures to control the rapid economic downturn, making innovation the primary driving force for economic growth.

1.1 Global Economic Change Needs Innovation and Entrepreneurship …

3

Fig. 1.1 Trends in comprehensive leading indicators for OECD countries and China, 2011–2018. Data source OECD DATA: https://data.oecd.org/leadind/composite-leading-indicator-cli.htm#ind icator-chart

1.1.1.1

The Overall Economic Development Trend of OECD Countries and China

At present, the global economy is generally in a downward or slow growth stage. The composite leading indicator1 for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and China is as follows (Fig. 1.1). Since 2011, OECD countries have experienced a sharp economic decline. In 2012, the economic situation was improved by means of positive initiatives and achieved the most obvious outcomes from 2013 to 2014. After 2014, it moved to the downward trend, and the world is once again facing various pressures brought by the economic downturn. As for China, the beginning of 2014 to the end of 2015 was a crucial grace period in which the country accelerated innovation and promoted economic restructuring. Consequently, the economic downturn was inevitable. In 2016, China’s economic adjustment was effective, but it fell sharply in 2017 and did not rise until 2018. It is obvious that the economies of China and OECD countries have undergone volatility in the past decade, indicating that innovative development cannot be achieved overnight. Instead, it requires a process of experimentation and change regarding the various ups and downs. To accelerate the development of various innovation and entrepreneurship activities, it is necessary to vigorously promote innovation and entrepreneurship education, treating it as a key task in the education reform strategy (especially in developing countries). 1

Composite leading indicator refers to the composite construction of indicator data in various fields of national economy in accordance with certain standards. It is a leading indicator reflecting a country’s macroeconomic development cycle.

4

1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

Fig. 1.2 Business confidence index trend chart for OECD countries and China, 2011–2018. Data source OECD DATA: https://data.oecd.org/leadind/business-confidence-index-bci.htm#indicatorchart

1.1.1.2

Confidence in the Economic Development of Enterprise Entities in OECD Countries and China

In recent years, attitudes toward the global economic market were pessimistic in all areas of business. The OECD countries’ and China’s business confidence indexes2 (Fig. 1.2) show that, since 2011, business communities have begun to weaken their positive attitude toward the main market players’ development and economic trends (taking 100 as the equilibrium mean) and reached a trough at the end of 2011. After a rebound, the indexes fell again to the bottom by the end of 2012. From 2013 to the end of 2014, they saw a large increase, while experiencing another decline from 2015 to the end of 2016. Since then, the OECD countries have gradually upgraded their indexes. However, China’s index has remained low and further weakened until it reached the lowest value in the past five years at the end of 2015. Then, the momentum of growth appeared after 2018. Obviously, faced by the influence and challenges of global economic and social changes, enterprises need to accelerate structural adjustment, transformation of business methods and innovation reform. Therefore, innovation and entrepreneurship education has also become an important foundation for enterprises to acquire entrepreneurial knowledge and innovative technologies to promote enterprise transformation, upgrading, reform and innovation.

2

The business confidence index is a basic estimate of economic conditions made by companies, and a negative reading indicates that most companies are not optimistic about their country’s economic outlook.

1.1 Global Economic Change Needs Innovation and Entrepreneurship …

5

Fig. 1.3 OECD countries’ and China’s business confidence index trend chart, 2011–2018. Data source OECD data: https://data.oecd.org/leadind/composite-leading-indicator-cli.htm#indicatorchart

1.1.1.3

OECD Countries’ and the Chinese People’ Attitude to Economic Trends and Consumption

The OECD countries’ and China’s consumer confidence indexes3 (Fig. 1.3) (taking 100 as the equilibrium mean) show that, from 2011 to 2016, the OECD countries and China’s population as a whole were not satisfied with the global economy and consumption levels, with the index of the OECD countries being flat, and the index of China fluctuating greatly. The public lacked enthusiasm for various types of consumption, demonstrating insufficient confidence in the overall economic and social development. After 2016, China’s consumer confidence index rose sharply, illustrating the role of the state-driven innovation and entrepreneurship in recent years to stimulate economic growth and build public confidence.

1.1.2 The World Urgently Needs Innovation and Entrepreneurship to Drive Employment The world has undergone changes and restructuring, and the way of economic and social development has been constantly changing with the innovation of science and technology. The contradiction between economic development and employment has become a prominent problem for maintaining economic growth and social stability. 3

Consumer confidence index is an indicator that reflects the strength of consumer confidence. It is a leading indicator that comprehensively reflects and quantifies consumers’ assessment of the current economic situation, their subjective feelings about economic prospects, income levels, income expectations and consumer psychology and predicts economic trends and consumption trends.

6

1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

The mechanism of innovation and entrepreneurship to promote employment has been widely recognized by all countries.

1.1.2.1

Innovative Entrepreneurship Drives Employment to Promote Global Poverty Alleviation

Stable employment is one of the key factors for economic growth and an effective approach to alleviate poverty. In recent years, the grim global employment situation has brought challenges to poverty alleviation. There are two main reasons for this: On the one hand, with the rapid development of science and technology, robots continue to replace skilled workers; on the other hand, the newly cultivated talents are not well adapted to the needs of economic and social changes. According to the 2015 World Bank Report (2015), economic growth does not automatically lead to corresponding employment growth, but employment is undoubtedly the core of achieving the goal of sustainable poverty eradication and shared prosperity. It is also the main approach for poor and vulnerable groups to achieve poverty alleviation. The Sustainable Development Goals—17 global development goals formulated by the United Nations, which will continue to guide the global development work in 2015–2030 after the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals from 2000 to 2015—clearly state that countries are encouraged to eradicate poverty, promote sustainable socioeconomic development, promote the formulation of new strategies, so as to improve their governance to a greater extent, enabling the poor to have more opportunities for success (World Bank, 2015).

1.1.2.2

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Promote Employment and Maintain Social Stability

The global social situation is harmonious and stable. In addition to poverty alleviation, employment is also seen as an important basis for maintaining social stability. At present, there are still more than 1 billion working-age people, mostly women, who have not become formal workers. Notwithstanding all that, they are often in informal, less protected, lowly paid industries, and they also need to engage in unpaid care work. In addition, 200 million people around the world are still unemployed, including 75 million young people. It is expected that, by 2030, there will be an additional 600 million jobs needed to ensure a stable employment rate and meet the needs of population growth (World Bank, 2015). High unemployment is a sign of social instability in any country. The World Bank has begun to promote employment through a new “holistic government approach.” Close cooperation with the private sector is also undertaken to help design and implement a comprehensive, integrated employment strategy covering all relevant areas of the client countries and to assist all countries to master the most effective policies and actions that can create better jobs. In the first place, the World Bank (2015)

1.1 Global Economic Change Needs Innovation and Entrepreneurship …

7

developed and piloted the cross-sectorial employment diagnostic tool that identifies employment constraints and opportunities in 15 countries. It is expected to help decision-makers, civil society and the private sector acquire relevant knowledge and seize opportunities to create more, better and more inclusive jobs. Secondly, in collaboration with other partners, the World Bank set up the Youth Employment Alliance to fight youth unemployment. Finally, the World Bank advocates that the government can promote inclusive economic growth driven by the private sector by streamlining administration, delegating power and eliminating legal barriers. The most important thing is to motivate policymakers to create a favorable environment for job creation and entrepreneurship. The World Bank has adopted a series of measures to ameliorate employment status, especially to solve the issue of youth unemployment, optimize the environment for innovation and entrepreneurship, increase the success rate of innovation and entrepreneurship and maintain stability.

1.1.2.3

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Drive Employment to Ensure Economic Growth

In accordance with the statistical analysis on the relationship between economic growth and employment by the World Labor Organization (WLO), since the world economic crisis of 2008–2009, the economy has gradually regained its vitality, but it is still at a low-growth stage. The G20 countries’ economic growth rate in the past three years is only 3.1%, slightly lower than 4.1% growth rate before the economic crisis from 2000 to 2007 (Fig. 1.4). From the economic trends of the G20 countries in the past decade, economic growth has weakened in recent years. In the developed economies of the G20 countries, the growth rate in the past three years (1.4%) is weaker than that before the economic crisis (2.6%). The growth rate of the emerging economies of the G20 countries in the past three years (5.4%) is also weaker than that

Fig. 1.4 GDP and employment growth in G20 countries. Data source Quote from September (2015). G20 labor markets in 2015: Strengthening the link between growth and employment

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1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

before the economic crisis (6.9%). Figure 1.4 shows that the economic growth rate is roughly positively related to the employment rate. To a certain extent, economic growth can promote employment, vice versa. Therefore, it is imperative to promote innovation and accelerate the process of entrepreneurship. Governments worldwide have introduced policies to secure innovation and entrepreneurship. At the same time, the demand and development of innovation and entrepreneurship provide a realistic basis and historical opportunity for their accelerated progress. At present, mass entrepreneurship and innovation strategy and technological innovation-driven development initiative deal with the international and domestic economic environment. The role and status of innovation and entrepreneurship education are also highlighted by the introduction of relevant supporting policies.

1.1.3 The Promotion of the Global Innovation Capability is Dependent on the Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Innovation and entrepreneurship education has received much attention in countries around the world, not only because it can promote employment and business development, but also because it is capable of cultivating the country’s innovative competence and enhancing the level of innovation.

1.1.3.1

Innovation Drive is no Longer Exclusive to Developed Countries Alone

In the field of innovation, developed countries have always been at the forefront of the world. However, with the rapid rise of economic and social development in developing countries, the concept of innovation drive has become increasingly popular. Judging from the ranking of the global innovation index, innovation-driven development is not only exclusive to developed countries, but also to developing countries. The top five countries in the 2018 global innovation capacity ranking (Table 1.1) are Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and Singapore. At the same time, China, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam have exceeded other countries at the same level of development in innovative competence.

1.1.3.2

Synergistic Development of Innovation Ability and Entrepreneurship Education

In terms of the top 50 countries in the global innovation index (Table 1.1), “highincome” countries account for 39, and most of them are developed countries in Europe and America. At the same time, innovation and entrepreneurship education in these

57.19

56.79

56.63

54.95

54.62

54.53

54.36

Ireland

Israel

Korea

Japan

Hong Kong

Luxembourg

France

59.81

America

58.03

59.83

Singapore

Germany

60.13

England

59.63

63.08

Sweden

58.39

63.32

Netherlands

Denmark

68.40

Switzerland

Finland

Score (0–100)

Country (or region)

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Global ranking

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

Income group

Table 1.1 Index ranking of global innovation, 2018

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Income ranking

Europe

Europe

Southeast Asia and Oceania

Southeast Asia and Oceania

Southeast Asia and Oceania

West Asia and North Africa

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

North America

Southeast Asia and Oceania

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

10

9

4

3

2

1

8

7

6

5

1

1

4

2

2

1

Affiliating area Region ranking

0.72

0.94

0.64

0.68

0.79

0.81

0.81

0.83

0.73

0.76

0.76

0.61

0.77

0.82

0.91

0.96

Efficiency ratio (M = 0.61)

32

2

54

44

20

14

13

9

29

24

22

63

21

10

4

1

(continued)

Efficiency ratio ranking

1.1 Global Economic Change Needs Innovation and Entrepreneurship … 9

45.71

44.94

Hungary

48.75

Czech Republic

Portugal

50.29

Malta

46.32

50.5

Belgium

46.87

50.51

Estonia

Italy

51.24

Iceland

Slovenia

New Zealand 51.29

48.68

51.32

Austria

47.83

23

51.98

Australia

Cyprus

22

52.63

Norway

Spain

21

52.98

Canada

33

32

31

30

29

28

27

26

25

24

20

19

18

17

53.06

China

Global ranking

Score (0–100)

Country (or region)

Table 1.1 (continued)

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

High income

Upper-middle income

Income group

32

31

30

29

28

27

26

25

24

23

22

21

20

19

18

17

1

Income ranking

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

West Asia and North Africa

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

Southeast Asia and Oceania

Europe

Southeast Asia and Oceania

Europe

North America

Southeast Asia and Oceania

22

21

20

19

2

18

17

16

15

14

13

7

12

6

11

2

5

Affiliating area Region ranking

0.84

0.71

0.7

0.74

0.79

0.7

0.8

0.84

0.7

0.82

0.76

0.62

0.64

0.58

0.64

0.61

0.92

Efficiency ratio (M = 0.61)

8

34

35

27

18

36

17

7

38

12

23

59

53

76

52

61

3

(continued)

Efficiency ratio ranking

10 1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

43.18

43.16

42.88

42.65

42.58

41.67

41.19

40.73

38.93

38.52

38

37.94

37.9

Latvia

Malaysia

Slovakia

Bulgaria

United Arab Emirates

Poland

Republic of Lithuania

Croatia

Greece

Ukraine

Thailand

Vietnam

Russia

Score (0–100)

Country (or region)

Table 1.1 (continued)

46

45

44

43

42

41

40

39

38

37

36

35

34

Global ranking

Upper-middle income

Low and middle income

Upper-middle income

Low and middle income

High income

Upper-middle income

High income

High income

High income

Upper-middle income

High income

Upper-middle income

High income

Income group

6

2

5

1

38

4

37

36

35

3

34

2

33

Income ranking

9

30

29

28

27

26

3

25

24

8

23

Europe

31

Southeast Asia 10 and Oceania

Southeast Asia and Oceania

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

Europe

West Asia and North Africa

Europe

Europe

Southeast Asia and Oceania

Europe

Affiliating area Region ranking

0.58

0.8

0.71

0.9

0.59

0.7

0.63

0.69

0.5

0.79

0.74

0.66

0.69

Efficiency ratio (M = 0.61)

77

16

33

5

74

37

58

42

95

19

28

48

39

(continued)

Efficiency ratio ranking

1.1 Global Economic Change Needs Innovation and Entrepreneurship … 11

37.79

37.63

37.59

37.42

Chile

Moldova

Romania

Turkey

50

49

48

47

Global ranking

Upper-middle income

Upper-middle income

Low and middle income

High income

Income group

8

7

3

39

Income ranking

West Asia and north Africa

Europe

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

4

33

32

1

Affiliating area Region ranking

0.75

0.66

0.89

0.6

Efficiency ratio (M = 0.61)

Data source Cornell University, INSEAD, WIPO. Global Innovation Index 2018. https://www.wipo.int/publications/en/details.jsp?id=4330

Score (0–100)

Country (or region)

Table 1.1 (continued)

25

47

6

68

Efficiency ratio ranking

12 1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

1.1 Global Economic Change Needs Innovation and Entrepreneurship …

13

developed countries with strong innovation capabilities is large in scale and high in quality. For example, Switzerland, the USA, the UK, Finland and other countries have a relatively comprehensive institutional system and curriculum system from primary school to postgraduate and have established a superior innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem. The high investment in human capital and innovative facilities has generally improved the level of innovation competence and the quality of entrepreneurship education. In particular, the top ten countries in the innovation index, such as the USA, the UK and Switzerland, have always maintained world-leading positions in many innovative fields. For example, they are strong in information exchange technology and enterprise maturity, including enterprise management, linkages, attractions and various innovative products and services. Besides, they emphasize innovation quality in the pursuit of innovative products and services (Soumitra et al., 2015). In the high-income countries, the USA ranks the first in the quality of innovation, followed by the UK, Japan, Germany and Switzerland, through measurement and evaluation of university ranking performance, the level of academic research and international patent application dimensions. The gap in innovation quality in middle-income countries is gradually bridging due to the innovative development of higher education quality, with China ranking first, followed by Brazil and India (Soumitra et al., 2015). Obviously, it is feasible to further improve innovative competence and the quality of innovative talents through the reform of education and the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education. In this way, the gap in innovation capacity between developed and developing countries can be gradually and effectively narrowed.

1.1.3.3

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education is Crucial for Developing Countries to Improve Social Issues

The current world situation is complex and fast moving. The economy and society are undergoing transformation and reconstruction, thus a new round of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education in a larger scale and higher level will play an important role in the adjustment of social structure (Xu, 2014). For emerging economies or developing countries, which have relatively weak basic conditions, innovation and entrepreneurship are even more urgent and significant. Innovation is regarded as the golden key to solve current social issues such as pollution, health problems, poverty and unemployment. The role and significance of innovation have transcended the value brought by economic success (Soumitra et al., 2015). Innovation reflects the development of “inclusiveness,” because it is conducive for solving problems like poverty and weak health care. It also demonstrates the sustainable development of the environment due to its competence in dealing with issues such as pollution and energy supply. Therefore, emerging economies or developing countries should be more committed to knowledge and technological innovation, improve the system and framework of innovation and entrepreneurship, and build appropriate political, economic and social innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems, in order to stimulate the development of innovation and entrepreneurship. Government, society and

14

1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

schools should improve the quality and attractiveness of various types of education such as vocational education, higher education, innovation and entrepreneurship education with diligent care, as well as integrate the concept and methods of innovation and entrepreneurship throughout the entire education system. Besides, they should also design an innovation and entrepreneurship education curriculum system that is more conducive to promoting its development, improve the relevant faculty and facilities conditions, strengthen the public–private partnership (PPP) between the public and the private sectors and accelerate the reform and development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in an all-round, multi-dimensional and multi-angle manner.

1.2 China’s Economic Transformation and Upgrading Need a Deepening Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education The development level of higher education primarily marks a country’s development level and potential and serves as a crucial groundwork for cultivating high-quality graduates that are required for economic transformation, upgrading and innovation. General Secretary Xi (2016) pointed out: “Our need for higher education is more urgent than ever, and the desire for scientific knowledge and talents is stronger than ever.” In the process of promoting the transformation and upgrading of the new economy, the reform and progress of innovation and entrepreneurship education will become an important approach for the coordinated development of higher education and economic society. Innovative and entrepreneurship education has become one of the crucial components of Chinese higher education in the new era. In 1998, Tsinghua University introduced the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) entrepreneurial competition model for the first time and successfully hosted the first domestic entrepreneurial competition. To this day, innovation and entrepreneurship education has been included in China’s higher education system for 20 years. These two decades have witnessed the greatest changes in China’s economic and social history, with the traditional model of economic development gradually transiting to a new one characterized by knowledge innovation and technological innovation. Education reform is imperative, in line with the global economic development, to promote the transformation and upgrading of national economy and to seize the commanding heights of economic growth driven by knowledge and technology innovation. Accordingly, innovation and entrepreneurship education can undoubtedly contribute to the cultivation of talents and technologies needed to drive economic transformation and development.

1.2 China’s Economic Transformation and Upgrading Need a Deepening …

15

1.2.1 From “Relying on Capital” to “Relying on Talents”: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Offers Support for Talent Resources Traditional economy is characterized by its reliance on large-scale inputs in exchange for large-scale output, namely increasing investment as a way to stimulate the economy. In the past, “capital for growth” holds the key in traditional economic development process, but it directly impacts on the opportunity for the economy to transform to the high end. A more harmonious development mode in the transformation and upgrading is expected to exchange for efficient economic growth and seek greater benefits on the basis of “human capital.” Therefore, this measure needs to be more considered and strengthened from “funding” to “talent.” Judging from the experience of innovation and entrepreneurship education in various developed countries worldwide, innovation and entrepreneurship education is an important approach to economic transformation and development and the cultivation of high-end innovative talents. In that way, it is capable of providing a strong talent resource guarantee. As the world economic power and a world power of higher education and innovation and entrepreneurship education, the USA cannot achieve the strong economic strength and comprehensive competitiveness in the absence of its solid innovation and entrepreneurship education and the strength of higher education. Judging from the gross enrollment rate of higher education (Table 1.2), the number in the USA reached 68.1% in 2000 and 85.8% in 2015, achieving the highest record of 96.3% in 2011. It can be seen that the extremely high gross enrollment rate of higher education is supported by the supply of high-quality innovative and entrepreneurial talent resources that are requisite for economic development. In other developed countries such as the UK and Japan, the rate in the past decade has also remained at an average of 59 and 56%, providing stable support for its economic development. China’s economy in the past decade has been able to attain rapid development and achieve the status of being the second largest in the world. This is closely related to the rapid development of China’s higher education, the emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship education and the cultivation of high-level innovative Table 1.2 Gross enrollment ratio of higher education in several major countries in the world Country/year China

2000

2005

2010

2015

7.7

19.3

23.9

45.4

58.5

59.0

59.1

57.3

India

9.5

10.7

17.9

26.9

Japan

48.7

55.0

58.1

63.2

America

68.1

82.1

94.2

85.8

Korea

76.7

91.7

102.8

93.3

England

Data source World Bank. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR

16

1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

and entrepreneurial talents that meet the needs of economic growth. Since the expansion of the enrollment scale of higher education in 2000, China has achieved great development, with the gross enrollment rate of higher education rising from 7.7% in 2000 to 45.4% in 2015, an increase of 37.7% in 15 years. However, in terms of international comparisons, there is still a huge gap between China and Western developed countries in the quality of higher education and the popularity of innovation and entrepreneurship education. Higher education gross enrollment rate in China in 2015 is only two-thirds of that in the USA in 2000. There is still much room for development in China’s higher education and innovation and entrepreneurship education in terms of quantity and quality to make it more feasible for providing human resources for economic transformation and upgrading.

1.2.1.1

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Provides Support and Guidance for College Students’ Venture Activities

Distortion in supply and demand in China’s labor market has existed for many years. On the one hand, high-tech enterprises lack talents with advanced scientific and technological capabilities and innovative venture competences. On the other hand, it is still difficult for laid-off workers to be recruited due to the enterprise transformation and the many college graduates. The contradiction between supply and demand is brought by the accelerated transformation and upgrading of economic development and the failure of education in cultivating high-quality innovative and entrepreneurial talents. The Chinese government prioritizes employment and entrepreneurship, regarding them as important tasks for stabilizing society and improving the people’s livelihoods. The Opinions (2015) of the State Council on Further Efforts Relating to Employment and Business Startup under the New Conditions pointed out: “Employment is significant to economic development and people’s livelihood. Facing increasing employment pressure, we must work to cultivate new engines for mass entrepreneurship and innovation, implement more active employment policies, and integrate entrepreneurship and employment, promote employment driven by innovation and entrepreneurship, and energize economic and social harmony and stability. We will encourage scientific research institutions, colleges and universities, vocational colleges established with fiscal funds to preferentially transfer scientific and technological achievements to small and micro enterprises created by college graduates, by means of implementing, transferring, licensing and investment.” Table 1.3 illustrates that new jobs in China’s labor market remain at a high level of more than 13 million people. The number of urban re-employment of laid-off workers increased by more than 5 million people per year. Besides, there are also residents experiencing employment difficulties. Therefore, the total number accounted for nearly 20 million. College students are the key groups among the new employment population. In the past decade, China has witnessed the progressive increase of college graduates far exceeding the new social jobs. College graduates (Fig. 1.5)

1.2 China’s Economic Transformation and Upgrading Need a Deepening …

17

Table 1.3 Employment and re-employment data in China, 2013–2017 Year

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

1322

1312

1314

1351

566

551

567

554

558

Ten thousand

180

177

173

169

177

Unemployment rate of the end of the urban registered

%

4.05

4.09

4.05

4.02

3.9

New number of technicians and senior technicians

Ten thousand

50.0

62.3

55.3

47

43

Number

Statistical index

Units

Quantity

1

New created jobs in urban areas

Ten thousand

1310

2

Number of re-employment of urban unemployed people

Ten thousand

3

Number of people with difficulty in finding jobs

4

5

Data source Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China. Statistical Bulletin on the Development of Human Resources and Social Security in the Year. http://www.mohrss.gov.cn/SYr lzyhshbzb/zwgk/szrs/tjgb/2014-2018.html

Fig. 1.5 Trend chart of the number of graduates in China. Resources Organized by Ministry of Education released data

increased from 1.14 million in 2001 to 8.2 million in 2018, with an average annual growth rate of 10.7%. In 2018, it reached a record high, 7.2 times of that in 2001. Facing continuous downward economic pressure and increased employment pressure, the Chinese government pins hopes on innovation to drive the vitality of economic growth and social development. Innovation and entrepreneurship have shown an unprecedented status and role in this special period. Government at all levels have successively formulated a series of policies related to innovation, entrepreneurship and employment, making entrepreneurship a unanimous measure to promote employment. Innovation and entrepreneurship education, as the main

18

1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

source of students’ entrepreneurship guidance and entrepreneurial awareness, has attracted the attention of the state and society. It plays an important role in guiding and cultivating college students’ innovative and entrepreneurship skills and fostering the innovative spirit and entrepreneurship ability of social members. Furthermore, innovation and entrepreneurship education needs to optimize the discipline structure in HEIs, accelerate the development of a modern vocational education, carry out vocational training on a large scale and strengthen entrepreneurship training. These are for the purpose of complying with the needs of the industrial structure to move toward the middle- and high-end levels and ease the structural contradictions of employment. By utilizing various types of entrepreneurship training resources, we will develop targeted entrepreneurship training programs for different groups and stages and incorporate innovative and entrepreneurship courses into the national education system (Li, 2015a, 2015b). At present, driven by innovation and entrepreneurship policies and education, the Chinese society has strengthened the recognition for entrepreneurship, with favorable circumstances and alleviated employment pressure. For example, in 2015, the number of newly registered enterprises increased by 21.6%, with an average of 12,000 new households per day. The Chinese government has further increased internal governance reforms and has intensified the promotion of decentralization, integration and service reform. Moreover, China has canceled and decentralized 311 administrative examination and approval items and 123 professional qualifications and identification matters, putting an end to non-administrative licensing approval. The preapproval of industrial and commercial registration was reduced by 85%, and the “three in one” (integrating the business license, the organization code certificate and the certificate of taxation registration into one document) was fully implemented. The post-event supervision is consolidated, and public service processes are optimized. Consequently, it is more convenient for the masses and enterprises. And, the enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and innovation in the whole society is increasingly seeing an upsurge (Li, 2016a, 2016b).

1.2.1.2

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Nurtures the Soft Environment for High-Level Talents

While encouraging employment-oriented entrepreneurship, China attaches great importance to the development of high-tech innovation and entrepreneurship and knowledge entrepreneurship in light of the background of innovation-driven economic growth. In order to attract overseas high-tech talents to join the domestic venture craze, China has formulated a loose and favorable policy for students returning from overseas and created a relaxed entrepreneurial atmosphere from the institutional and innovation and entrepreneurship environment, to stimulate technology entrepreneurship and knowledge entrepreneurship. Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Efficiently Managing Self-employment of Returned Overseas Students (2015) points out that returning students who have

1.2 China’s Economic Transformation and Upgrading Need a Deepening …

19

received higher education and obtained academic credentials above undergraduate in foreign countries enjoy the same preferential policies as domestic college graduates. Moreover, those who return to study in accordance with the policies and regulations may register at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security with their foreign academic qualifications and the foreign academic degree certificate of the Ministry of Education. In this way, they can enjoy various services and policy concessions, such as entrepreneurship guidance, entrepreneurship training, business registration, financing services, tax and fee reduction, site support, personnel agency, file custody, job title evaluation, social insurance management and continuation. Notwithstanding all that, the entrepreneurship enthusiasm of college students (including returned overseas students) needs to be further enhanced. In 2015, the number of returned overseas students was 409,100, with 75% of them working in the eastern coastal cities (including 49.34% in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen), 15% in the central region and only 7% in the western region. Most of these “overseas returnees” chose to join the enterprise. Only 3.32% of them started businesses (Xinhua News Agency, 2016). By 2017, the number of returned overseas students had reached 480,900, a record high, providing a strong impetus for the supply of innovative and entrepreneurial talents. Judging from universities with high domestic entrepreneurship rates, there is still room for boosting entrepreneurship rate and entrepreneurship success rate. For instance, Zhejiang University is one of the universities with a preferable entrepreneurship education and a strong atmosphere of knowledge-based entrepreneurship and technology-based entrepreneurship. Its entrepreneurship rate, only about 4%, tops the list. Therefore, innovation and entrepreneurship education in China still has a long way to go. It is an urgent issue on the development of China’s innovation and entrepreneurship education to solve the questions of “how to further cultivate innovative and entrepreneurial talents,” “how to serve college students’ entrepreneurship,” “how to build an effective entrepreneurship curriculum model” and “how to cultivate a large number of high-quality entrepreneurship tutors.”

1.2.1.3

The Policy Mechanism of Innovation and Entrepreneurship is Gradually Improving

As a special group that masters advanced knowledge and technology, college students are the representative of youth vitality and the main force of knowledge innovation and entrepreneurship, technological innovation and entrepreneurship. Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Systems and Mechanisms to Accelerate the Implementation of Innovation-driven Development Strategies (2015) points out: “Adhering to talents first, we must regard talents as the first resource for innovation, pay more attention to cultivating, using, attracting diverse talents, promote a reasonable flow of talents and their optimal allocation, and innovate the talent training mode. Much emphasis must be placed on strengthening incentive mechanism as well as giving scientific and technological personnel more benefits and spiritual encouragement. Moreover, we must give the

20

1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

innovative role of entrepreneurs and technical talents sufficiently stimulating innovation activities of the whole society.” The Chinese government decisively makes innovative talents as a breakthrough to strengthen the reform and development of innovation and entrepreneurship, aiming at driving economic and social innovation through innovative and entrepreneurial talents. Governments at all levels unanimously agree to rely on innovative and entrepreneurial talents to promote the innovative vitality and to stimulate venture activities in the whole society. At the same time, China also put forward specific reform opinions on innovation and entrepreneurship education. Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Expanding Maker Space and Promoting Innovation and Business Startups by the General Public (2015) states: “Encouraging scientific and technological personnel and college students to start businesses. We shall promote the implementation of the plan for guiding college students’ business startups. Institutions of higher learning shall be encouraged to develop and start courses regarding innovation and business startups, establish specialized institutions that provide guidance services for business startups by college students, strengthen business startup training for college students, conduct the integrated development of the national and provincial funds for employment and business startups of college graduates, provide college students with premises, public services, and financial support for business startups, and create jobs through business startups.” In recent years, there have been more and more scientific and technological innovation and entrepreneurship policies for college students and HEIs, and the policy environment that supports college students through knowledge innovation and technological innovation has also been greatly optimized. Judging from the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in HEIs, guidance and support of policies have played a strong role.

1.2.2 From “Relying on Resources” to “Relying on Innovation”: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Stimulates the Vitality of Scientific and Technological Innovation Economic transformation and upgrading also mean creating higher-value-added products to reflect the technology and knowledge by means of improving the production and manufacturing methods and adopting emerging materials. The traditional development approach, an unsustainable development mode, is to consume natural resources in exchange for economic growth, which has brought numerous damages to the natural environment. The transformation and upgrading of the economy need to be separated from the vicious circle of relying on large-scale consumption of resources for GDP growth, swerving to rely on knowledge, technological innovation, developing emerging industries, and gaining value growth through innovation.

1.2 China’s Economic Transformation and Upgrading Need a Deepening …

21

University is the primary site for the implementation of innovation and entrepreneurship education, which undertakes the main tasks of cultivating innovative talents and promoting technological innovation. At the same time, innovation and entrepreneurship education will also promote the upgrading and development of national science and technology innovation.

1.2.2.1

Scientific and Technological Innovation in HEIs Promotes the Cultivation of Entrepreneurial Talents

In accordance with the analysis on the three national science and technology awards obtained by Chinese universities in recent years (Table 1.4), the proportion of colleges and universities that won the three major national awards (natural science award, science and technology invention award, science and technology progress award) increased year-on-year from 68.8% in 2012 to 77.8% in 2016. Among them, the proportion of colleges and universities that received the National “Natural Science Award” in 2016 was 66.7%, accounting for two-thirds. The proportions of recipients of the “Technology Invention Award” and “Science and Technology Progress Award,” which symbolize technological innovation and achievement transformation, were even higher, reaching 80.9% and 80.3%, respectively. Undoubtedly, HEIs in China have become the main force promoting scientific and technological innovation and entrepreneurship education. At the same time, they have also driven the technological innovation of enterprises, thus profoundly affecting the transformation and upgrading of China’s economy. The number of national science and technology awards is positively correlated with the quality of innovation and entrepreneurship training. Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University and Peking University ranked among the top three (Table 1.5) that obtained awards. They are also at the forefront of domestic universities in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship education. Tsinghua University pioneered the entrepreneurship education curriculum. The entrepreneurship rate of college students in Zhejiang University is 4%, ranking first among domestic universities.

1.2.2.2

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Stimulate Efficiency Improvement in China’s Economy and Industry

It is universally acknowledged that innovation and entrepreneurship are the driving force for economic growth, accelerating economic restructuring and promoting industrial transformation. In recent years, China has picked up pace in economic restructuring, moving from low-end industries and services to high-end technology industries and technical services. Based on improving the innovation and entrepreneurship ability of the entire country and nation, China is committed to transforming “Made in China” into “Created in China.” However, the current transition period of economic and social transformation and upgrading will certainly bring

Technological invention award

Science and technology progress award

Total of the three science and technology awards

54

46

42

42

35

2014 27

2015 34

2016 28

2017 24

68.60

66.70

81.00

58.70

66.70

58.50

33

38

32

38

38

45

49

47

50

54

55

63

67.30

80.90

64.00

70.40

69.10

71.40

100

106

108

115

95

114

132

132

141

154

137

162

75.80

80.30

76.60

74.70

69.30

70.40

157

172

174

180

169

183

216

221

233

254

246

266

72.69

77.80

74.70

70.90

68.70

68.80

Note 1. The data in this table only counts general items and is sorted according to the total number of winning items. It is for reference only. 2. The natural science award and the technical invention award only count the unit of the first person who completed, and the scientific and technological progress award counts all completed units Data source Science and Technology Development Center, Ministry of Education State science and technology awards awarded to universities from 2012 to 2018: http://www.cutech.edu.cn/cn/kjjl/gjkjjl/sjxm/2013/01/1387996414344630.htm

41

2013 36

The The total Proportion Award The total Proportion The The total Proportion The The total Proportion number of number of (%) number number of (%) number of number of (%) number of number of ( %) awards awards awards awards awards awards awards

Natural science award

2012 24

year

Table 1.4 Statistics of the three national science and technology awards won by universities, 2012–2017

22 1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

1.2 China’s Economic Transformation and Upgrading Need a Deepening …

23

Table 1.5 Statistical table of the university as the first unit to complete the national science and technology award (general project), 2012–2017 Rank

University

Total (item)

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

1

Tsinghua University

50

11

7

8

6

7

11

2

Zhejiang University

39

4

9

4

5

11

6

3

Peking University

31

6

6

6

3

5

5

4

Xi’an Jiaotong University

27

7

4

5

1

5

5

5

Huazhong University of Science and Technology

24

3

4

3

6

4

4

6

Shanghai Jiaotong University

23

5

4

5

3

3

3

7

Southeast University

18

4

3

0

5

4

2

7

Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

18

7

2

2

2

4

1

9

Harbin Institute of Technology

16

3

2

4

4

1

2

10

China Agricultural University

15

2

2

5

1

3

2

Data source Science and Technology Development Center, Ministry of Education State science and technology awards awarded to universities from 2012 to 2017: http://www.cut ech.edu.cn/cn/kjjl/gjkjjl/sjxm/2013-2018/01.htm

many temporary negative effects to the Chinese society, such as continued economic downturn, rising unemployment rate, imbalance of social supply and demand, overcapacity, extensive corporate failures and so on. The economic growth of China from 2010 to 2017 (Fig. 1.6) illustrates that, although the total GDP increased year by year, the growth rate decreased successively, showing the slowing down in the

domestic GDP (100 million)

GDP growth rate (%)

Fig. 1.6 China’s domestic GDP growth, 2010–2017. Data source The Web site of China’s National Bureau of Statistics http://data.stats.gov.cn/ks.htm?cn=C01

24

1 Strategic Appeal and Value Reconstruction of Innovation …

speed of economic development, weakening in economic vitality and retarding in social development speed. These phenomena reflect the characteristics of economic development during the period of economic transformation and upgrading. The rise and expansion of innovation and entrepreneurship in China will effectively activate enterprises to continuously innovate and improve the level and quality of their products and services, so as to accelerate the adjustment and transformation of China’s industrial structure and move toward high-end innovative countries.

1.2.3 The Transition from “Demographic Dividend” to “All Elements”: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Boosts Productivity Since the reform and opening up, China’s traditional production factors such as labor, capital and land have contributed a lot to productivity growth, while improvements in knowledge accumulation, education and training, technology support, and organizational management are insufficient. At this stage, China’s demographic dividend has gradually disappeared, accompanied by the weakening in the traditional source of economic growth. Therefore, the demand for technological advancement to form a “technical dividend” has become increasingly prominent. The data shows that labor productivity in China rose by 9.5% per year from 2007 to 2012, but it continued to decline from 2012 (Wang & Wen, 2016: 68). At present, economic growth needs to shift to productivity that depends on total factor productivity, especially the technological progress (Cai, 2013). The total factor is not only the advancement of science and technology, but also the factors that are difficult to measure such as the improvement of factor allocation efficiency and the transformation of the structure of state governance and government functions. It is the core of effective supplyside reforms to enhance the efficiency brought by these factors and the additional economic growth. During the process of moving toward total factor economic development, innovation and entrepreneurship education can lift the level of “labor productivity,” the most crucial element in the total factor. By providing high-quality innovation and entrepreneurship education, higher education has changed from reforming the labor force increment to the labor force stock, which is conducive to helping promote technological progress and innovation, facilitate the re-allocation of social resources and boost the formation of new sources of economic growth. The rational growth of the economy and the construction of a reasonable development mode should be the integration of multiple factors to maximize the benefits. The traditional economic model is not fully integrated and relies only on the improvement of individual factors such as knowledge, education, technical training, economies of scale and organizational management. Nowadays, under the new economic background of science and technology, the strength of China’s demographic dividend has gradually disappeared. Therefore, high-quality economic development should

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promote transformation and upgrading in the direction of all factors to gear up the sound operation of the economy. The innovation and entrepreneurship education promoted by HEIs, acting as the main promoter of industry, academia and research, can integrate knowledge, technology and scientific and technological achievements and form a benign interaction with the enterprises. On the other hand, innovation and entrepreneurship education is the most important “labor productivity” level in the promotion of all-factor content. The university promotes enterprises by cultivating innovative and entrepreneurial talents, utilizing its own high-quality resources to train employees, strengthening cooperation with enterprises in technological innovation, etc. In these ways, labor productivity in production and development could be enhanced. It is the strong quality of higher education and the level of innovation and entrepreneurship education in developed countries that maintain high levels of labor productivity among the people and employees. Higher labor productivity in developed countries such as the UK and the USA is the key to preserve a smooth transition of economy and the leading core competitiveness. Even though China’s labor productivity is at a relatively high level in the BRICS countries, it is still far from that of the USA. In the manufacturing sector, China’s labor productivity in 2000 was higher than that in India, but lower than that in Russia, Indonesia and Brazil, only 5% of the US labor productivity at the time. By the end of 2011, China’s manufacturing productivity far exceeds that of India, Russia and Indonesia, and it is narrowing the gap with Brazil. However, this value only accounts for about 8% of that in the USA. In the tertiary sector, China’s labor productivity in 2000 is basically the same as that of India and Indonesia, lower than that of Russia and Brazil. Nevertheless, it exceeded that of India and Indonesia by the end of 2011, almost the same as Russia. And the gap with Brazil gradually narrowed, but it is still only about 8% of the US productivity level. During 2000–2011, China’s higher education and innovation and entrepreneurship education ushered in rapid development. The gross enrollment rate of higher education increased from 7.7 to 24.9%. Aimed at promoting labor productivity, the quality of workers has been improved by continuously strengthening the technical quality of training of laborers and enhancing the ability of scientific and technological innovation. In terms of the growth rate of labor productivity, the past decade has witnessed China surpassing Indian, Brazilian and Indonesian manufacturing, service labor productivity and service total factor productivity, reflecting the good momentum. However, there is still a huge gap between China and western developed countries. This shows that low-level labor productivity is one of the main obstacles in promoting economic transformation and upgrading. Innovation and entrepreneurship education is available in enhancing the productivity of all laborers through innovative thinking concepts, entrepreneurship approaches and methods and innovative technological means.

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1.2.4 The Transition from “Demand Side” to “Supply Side”: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Promotes Supply-Side Reform It is an eternal topic in the development of education that education reform promotes quality. China’s education offers guarantee of human resources for economic and social development. In the past, demand-oriented talent cultivation was the main trend. Facing the rapid changes in China’s society, it requires the nation, society and HEIs to think and act on how to cultivate innovative and entrepreneurial talents for economic and social development.

1.2.4.1

The Motivation and Reason for the Reform of the Supply Side of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education

China’s traditional industrial technology level, mainly engaging in manufacturing, lags behind that of developed countries. The growth of GDP is built on large-scale consumption of resources, and technological innovation has limited ability to stimulate economic growth. At present, China proposes a “supply”-oriented economic transformation model. At the 11th meeting of the Central Finance and Economics Leading Group, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that, while moderately expanding aggregate demand, efforts should be made to strengthen supply-side structural reforms, focus on improving the quality and efficiency of the supply system, enhance the sustained growth momentum of the economy, with the aim of achieving an overall leap in social productivity. Jia Kang, one of the experts of the 13th FiveYear Plan, believes that the core connotation of the “supply-side” reform is to liberate the productive forces (Jia, 2015). In the process of optimizing the environmental mechanism, he emphasizes that the efficient system supply and the open market space are needed to stimulate the potential of the microeconomic agents in innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity, so as to build, shape and strengthen the new dynamics of China’s long-term stable economic development. The core of “supplyside” reform is the need to rely on innovation and entrepreneurship to create higherquality products and services and to improve the quality of economic development and growth. Supply-side structural reforms are not only applicable to economic and industrial development, but also to new quality requirements and development directions for education reform. Therefore, the reform of education should also be guided by “supply,” namely the continuous improvement of the quality and innovation ability of personnel cultivation. Innovation and entrepreneurship education is proposed on the premise that education development cannot adapt to rapid economic and social changes. It is an effective attempt to reform the development concept and model of the schools. It is dedicated to fostering an innovative and entrepreneurial atmosphere, competence, intention and values through education and teaching in universities, vocational colleges and primary and secondary schools (Greene et al.,

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2015). By means of cultivating innovative and entrepreneurial talents, innovation and entrepreneurship education intends to enhance the quality of talents to meet the supply of economic and social development. It is essential to rely on innovative talents for realizing the supply-side reform driven by technological innovation. In other words, innovation and entrepreneurship education will become one of the decisive factors directly related to the structural reform of the supply side of the economic industry.

1.2.4.2

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education is the Main Task in Higher Education’s Supply-Side Reform

Years of development in higher education have witnessed the great breakthroughs of China’s higher education in terms of scale and quality. In accordance with the Ministry of Education report, China’s higher education has the largest “mass volume” in the world, which greatly satisfies the strong desire of attending university. Talent training provides a strong foundation for all walks of life. Since the new century, China’s higher education has achieved leap-forward development. In 2016, the total number of students enrolled in higher education reached 36.99 million, with 42.7% of gross enrollment rate. However, the lack of innovative education, reflected in “Qian Xuesen’s question,” is still not solved. Besides, the quality of higher education has not met the needs of China’s economic and social transformation and upgrading. Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the State Council for Deepening Reform on Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Universities and Colleges indicates that deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in HEIs is imperative for implementing innovation-driven development strategies, in order to promote the economic upgrading of quality and efficiency. It is also an important measure to promote the comprehensive reform of higher education and the higher-quality entrepreneurship and employment for college graduates. Therefore, as a kind of innovative education, innovation and entrepreneurship education has been brought to the cusp of impending reform, and it will also become a vital content and task of the supply-side reform of higher education. The supply-side reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education mainly solves the institutional obstacles, creating a vitalizing ecosystem that stimulates innovation and entrepreneurship. This supporting system covers various aspects such as institutional mechanism, finance, taxation and public services. In the field of higher education, Opinions of the State Council on Several Policies and Measures for Vigorously Advancing the Popular Entrepreneurship and Innovation stresses: “The entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship quality education should be incorporated into the national education system to realize institutionalization and systemization of the whole society in entrepreneurship education and training” and “Guiding and promoting the incubation of entrepreneurship with the transfer of technological achievements in universities and research institutes, and improving technical support services.” Therefore, taking the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education as a breakthrough, higher education needs to explore the system and

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mechanism construction of innovative talent training, as well as find the curriculum reform, teacher guarantee approaches and educational governance models that are conducive to the development of innovative education.

1.2.4.3

Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Focus on Talent Cultivation

In the course of innovation and entrepreneurship development in China, there has never been the same focus on innovation and entrepreneurship as there is now. In particular, the central and local governments have issued many policies in the past five years and have formulated specific and effective measures, to encourage mass entrepreneurship and innovation. Aimed at innovation and entrepreneurship education, the comprehensive reform of education is committed to serving the transformation of the economy and the construction of an innovative society. Notice of the State Council on Issuing the Overall Plan for Coordinately Advancing the Construction of World First-class Universities and First-class Disciplines (2015) proposes: “HEIs should cultivate innovative, application-oriented and interdisciplinary talents with innovative spirits and practical competences. Innovation and entrepreneurship education should be strengthened to vigorously promote individualized training, overall improving students’ comprehensive quality, international vision, scientific spirit and entrepreneurial awareness, as well as creative ability. HEIs should reasonably improve the proportion of college graduates to start businesses, and guide college graduates to actively participate in mass entrepreneurship and innovation.” The traditional education in training students for employment will also be replaced by innovation and entrepreneurship education. In short, the reform and development of innovation and entrepreneurship education are not only located within entrepreneurship curriculum, teaching, faculties and environmental ecology, but also in the reform of the education system and mechanism. In that way, innovation and entrepreneurship education could be more dynamic, attractive and innovative.

1.2.5 Transition from “Expanding Domestic Demand” to “Expanding to the World”: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Connects the Global New Economy China’s economic transformation has also shifted from the “promote by internal demand” approach, which was dominated by self-support in the past, to the “global economic co-governance model” that is integrated into the world economy. From China joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 to the official implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2015, China has gradually upgraded itself, along with the Western countries, to the inclusive economic development mode of “community

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of shared destiny.” China has also constantly elevated its right to speak in the process of world economic growth and development. The Belt and Road Initiative aims to encourage countries to deepen cooperation in various fields, strengthen exchanges and mutual learning among various civilizations and achieve common prosperity and development. Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and Twenty-First-Century Maritime Silk Road, issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments (2015), clearly points out: “People-topeople bond provides the public support for implementing the initiative. We should also increase personnel exchange and cooperation between countries along the Belt and Road. (pp. 2–12)” Talents are the fulcrum and key to the construction of the “Belt and Road.” The deepening of the strategic framework is inseparable from the strong talent guarantee for all walks of life provided by higher education and innovation and entrepreneurship education. Innovation and entrepreneurship education will also be a significant part of the “people-to-people bond,” connecting international economic market.

1.2.5.1

The Promotion of Economic Strategy Needs to Prioritize “Investment” in Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents

Across the world, many great powers, during the process of implementing the national strategy, are supported by strong international high-tech talents, senior management talents, innovative and entrepreneurial talents. The USA has the highest proportion of international students in the world, most of whom choose to stay in the USA and work in the STEM field (National Research Council of the National Academies, 2012: 35). These international high-tech innovative and entrepreneurial talents have laid a significant intellectual foundation for the prosperity and strength of the USA. The cooperation between universities and enterprises in the Silicon Valley has created a “high-tech holy place” that symbolizes American technological civilization, with high-tech innovative and entrepreneurial talents being the core elements. Due to the lack of high-tech talents, senior management talents and high-end innovation and entrepreneurial talents, China’s high-end technology, enterprises, infrastructure and other fields are often limited. A variety of innovative talents with outstanding capabilities are needed in promoting the initiatives, in terms of infrastructure construction, such as engineering construction, design and construction, quality control; international trade including property rights transactions, electronic logistics, international procurement; and other aspects of innovation and entrepreneurship such as technology transformation, business negotiation and trade flow (Xin & Ni, 2016). The implementation of major strategies in all countries is aimed at promoting economic development. Notwithstanding all that, the formulation and implementation of strategies also mean trying to innovate in emerging directions and fields. Therefore, innovation and entrepreneurship education to train high-end talents is the main guarantee to ensure the benign outcomes of major strategies. In addition to strengthen economic and trade exchanges, the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative attaches more importance to sharing innovative technologies, ideas and

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methods with countries along the routes under the premise of mutual understanding and achieving a win–win situation, rather than simply strengthening economy and trade. The success of enterprises’ “going out” strategy depends not only on the investment environment, capital and technology, but also on the guarantee of a large number of innovative and entrepreneurial talents.

1.2.5.2

Cooperation in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Promotes People-To-People Bond Among Belt and Road Countries

Innovative and entrepreneurial opportunities and challenges coexist in Belt and Road countries. On the one hand, the expansion of broad market requires it to be driven by entrepreneurship. On the other hand, the environment and policy system for innovation and entrepreneurship have not been consummated. Belt and Road countries need to strengthen cooperation and exchanges in innovation and entrepreneurship, especially the sharing of experience, so as to achieve mutual benefit and common development. Innovation and entrepreneurship education, as the main education mode for cultivating innovative and entrepreneurial talents, should also foster targeted talents and strengthen training in accordance with the requirements of the Belt and Road Initiative. More importantly, the strengthening of international cooperation and exchanges of innovation and entrepreneurship education are dedicated to deepen the path of training innovative and entrepreneurial talents and realize the people-topeople bond in the Belt and Road countries. The Outline of the National Medium- and Long-term Programme for Education Reform and Development (2010–2020) (2010) clearly states: “International exchanges and cooperation shall be strengthened to carry out multilevel and wide-ranging educational exchanges and cooperation, improving China’s education internationalization, adapting to the requirement for the openingup in national economy and society, and training a large number of international talents who have global vision, know global rules, and are capable of participating in foreign affairs and competitions.” Therefore, it is requisite to promote cooperation between China and countries along the routes in innovation and entrepreneurship education to consolidate the training of various talents, promote the reform of crossborder education, set up relevant government scholarships and increase the innovative and entrepreneurial talents and exchange opportunities of college students in the Belt and Road countries. In these ways, builders and leaders who are in line with the needs of the Belt and Road Initiative could be trained as soon as possible.

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1.3 The Development Trend of International Entrepreneurship Education and the Transformation of Entrepreneurship Education Concept As the global pattern is changing continually, the economic development mode is constantly challenged by globalization or reverse globalization. Interactions between the new economic growth model and the Fourth Industrial Revolution will offer new opportunities to the global economy. Innovation and entrepreneurship education has become more important in promoting innovative economic growth, so countries around the world are accelerating the relevant reform and development to this end. European and American countries have accumulated abundant policies and practical experience in entrepreneurship education and have begun to show the development trend of strategization, globalization, lifelong process, nationalization and systematization. In the new era, it is imperative for China to learn from international advanced experience in conducting entrepreneurship education reform, realizing the transformation of entrepreneurship education concepts, promoting the healthy and sustainable development and facilitating the construction of an innovative and entrepreneurial country.

1.3.1 New Trends in International Entrepreneurship Education 1.3.1.1

Strategization of Entrepreneurship Education

The strategization of entrepreneurship education—placing entrepreneurship education at a key position in the development of the country and the region—is dedicated to comprehensively promoting entrepreneurship education by formulating development strategies relating to entrepreneurship education, so as to be linked to the future development of the nation. Since the end of the last century, the European Union has promulgated a number of super-national-level entrepreneurship education policies, such as Educating European Entrepreneurship: The Priority of the Future, issued in 1998. In 2000, the European Union proposed in the Lisbon Strategy that entrepreneurship education is an important approach to cultivate young entrepreneurs’ spirit, so as to enhance the economic vitality and overall competitiveness of the EU. After entering the twenty-first century, the EU has issued a number of landmark policies, ranging from themes of entrepreneurial spirits, entrepreneurship education faculties, to schoolwide entrepreneurship education, in a bid to step up efforts in improving the strategic process (Table 1.6). The understanding of entrepreneurship education by governments has also changed from a simple education or economic proposition to a complex strategic issue. In accordance with the research report, many countries in Europe have formulated special entrepreneurship education development strategies that have been

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Table 1.6 EU representative policy on entrepreneurship education Time Landmark policies

Main contents

2003 European Green Paper on Entrepreneurship It is the first European action plan on entrepreneurship, which made education a key element to achieve the process 2006 Oslo Agenda for Entrepreneurship Education in Europe

It proposed a series of measures to promote entrepreneurship education through systematic and effective actions at the EU, national, regional and institutional levels

Recommendations on Key Competencies for Lifelong Learning

It made “innovation and entrepreneurship” as one of the eight key competencies

Entrepreneurship Education in Europe: Strengthening Entrepreneurship through Education and Learning

It proposed that entrepreneurship education be widely implemented in primary and secondary higher education

2008 Entrepreneurship Education in Colleges and Universities: Especially in the Non-business Field

It promoted entrepreneurship education in non-business areas in colleges and universities

2010 Entrepreneurship Education toward More Collaborative and Consistent

It studied the systematic strategy of entrepreneurship education and put forward the development model

2011 Make the Teacher a Key Success Factor

It aimed to raise the level of teachers in entrepreneurship education

2012 Action Plan of Entrepreneurship in 2020

Entrepreneurship education is clearly identified as one of the three pillars supporting entrepreneurship in Europe

Entrepreneurship Education in European Schools

The policy and practice of integrating entrepreneurship education into compulsory education are analyzed

2014 Summary Report of the Thematic Working Group on Education

European countries and regional governments developed and implemented an entrepreneurship education strategy

2015 Entrepreneurship Education: The Road to Success

A compilation of experiences on the impact of entrepreneurial education strategies and initiatives

Programmer of the European Parliament on Calls on the council of Europe to support Promoting Youth Entrepreneurship through entrepreneurship skills development and Education and Training calls on member states to invest in entrepreneurship skills development

implemented for many years (Fig. 1.7). For example, Finland’s Ministry of Education issued the Guide to Entrepreneurship Education, the Netherlands, published the National Action Plan for Entrepreneurship Education: 2007–2012, and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, in conjunction with the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, jointly launched Action Plan: Entrepreneurship Education and Training— From Basic Education to Higher Education. Up to 2015, 29 of the 38 countries

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Fig. 1.7 Implementation trends of multi-national entrepreneurship education strategy in Europe, 2002–2015 Data source European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice. Entrepreneurship Education at School in Europe. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2016

and regions surveyed had developed strategies related to entrepreneurship education. Eleven of them formulated directly relevant strategies, and the remaining 18 countries developed indirect ones (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2016). These entrepreneurship education strategies, having direct ties to national innovation strategies and economic development reforms, not only involve education and training, but are also closely linked to lifelong learning strategies and youth development strategies. Since 2009, the USA has issued three national innovation strategies in succession in order to give innovation and entrepreneurship full play to drive economic and social development, stimulate private sector innovation, empower national innovators and ensure continuous leadership of the global innovation economy. In 2011, the Obama administration also released the first national plan pertaining to entrepreneurship, which puts particular stress on the cultivation of entrepreneurial engineering talents, the development of entrepreneurship education in community college and the business plan competition serving the country’s priority developing areas. The United States Department of Commerce stated in the report, Innovation and Entrepreneurship University, that HEIs should encourage students and faculties to innovate and start their own businesses, actively support the transformation of university scientific and technological achievements and enhance the cooperation between schools and enterprises. In addition, entrepreneurial universities should make the best use of their own merits to achieve coordinated progress between university technology and business industry. They should also construct regional innovation and an entrepreneurship ecosystem with high quality by participating in regional and local economic development. In addition, entrepreneurial universities should make full use of their own advantages to realize the coordinated development of the university’s technology

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and business industry. By participating in regional and local economic development and building a high-quality regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, so as to achieve sustained growth of the national and local economy (Zhao & Zhuo, 2015), obviously, it is increasingly accepted to regard entrepreneurship education as a national, global, long-term and strategic overall plan.

1.3.1.2

Globalization of Entrepreneurship Education

In the open world economy, human interests are highly integrated and interdependent. People have already become a community with a shared future. Entrepreneurship education has also stepped into a crucial project shared by all countries. The globalization of entrepreneurship education not only requires all countries to be actively involved in entrepreneurship education, seeking cooperation and common development, but also indicates that entrepreneurship education should cultivate entrepreneurial talents with global vision and competence to grasp international entrepreneurial opportunities. In the first place, global cooperation in entrepreneurship education is increasingly interconnected, which distinctively symbolizes entrepreneurship education in the era of globalization. It is mainly manifested in three aspects: project research cooperation, staff training cooperation and curriculum development cooperation. Instead of acting blindly, entrepreneurship education research is required to ensure scientificity and universality of the outcomes by means of international cooperation. Global and regional reports, published by GEM annually through international collaborative research, are significant references for the development of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Education Bureau initiated the UNESCO EE-Net in 2015 and launched the project “A Supportive Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship Education in Universities” to promote international collaboration of major projects research on the basis of the regional educational research network. The shortage of qualified teachers is an obstacle for entrepreneurship education in all countries. The cooperation of international entrepreneurship education teacher training is conducive to the integration and optimization of global resources to meet the needs in various countries. The Harvard Business School, in collaboration with the European Entrepreneurship Research Foundation, formed the European Entrepreneurship Colloquium for Participant-Centered Learning to cultivate teachers from 25 European countries. Since 1984, Babson Business School has trained 3200 academic researchers and entrepreneurs from 750 institutions in 68 countries and has taught entrepreneurial theory and practice to millions of trainers every year (Babson College, 2013). The entrepreneurial training model of Babson Business School has been recognized by many institutions and is promoted in entrepreneurship education institutions in countries such as Brazil, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The development of entrepreneurship programs for international cooperation is also imperative in response to global challenges. Looking within universities, the MIT founded G-Lab and cooperated with entrepreneurs around the world to offer students internship opportunities at international entrepreneurial companies and to build a

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second classroom for entrepreneurship education (MIT Sloan School of Management, 2016). Outside of the university, the International Labor Organization (ILO) developed the Know About Business (KAB) and Found and Improve Your Business (SIYB) courses, which have been adopted by more than 30 countries around the world to promote entrepreneurship education. In the second place, entrepreneurship education focuses on global issues. With the development of globalization, opportunities for entrepreneurship are not limited to one region or one country. International entrepreneurship has also been widely selected by entrepreneurs. According to the 2015 GEM report (2016), one-fifth of entrepreneurs in Europe and North America have practical international trade behaviors, among which the level of internationalization of innovation-driven entrepreneurial activities is particularly prominent. At the same time, facing the global economic crisis, the world’s environmental problems and the changing international situation, entrepreneurs must be equipped with an international perspective and the competence to cope with global challenges. Entrepreneurship education activities at world-renowned universities also present this trend: Stanford University offers a number of entrepreneurial education curricula that focus on global markets, such as Global Entrepreneurship Market set up by the School of Engineering and Research Design for Global Health Issues offered by the Graduate School of Education. Besides, there are other activities to encourage students to eliminate or mitigate the global urgent obstacles that hinder the progress of society in the form of venture activities, covering energy cleanliness, education equity, affordable health care—for instance, Harvard University’s “Challenge from the Principal Challenge” Entrepreneurship Competition, Social Entrepreneurship Competition by New York University’s Stern Business School and Tufts’ $100,000 Social Entrepreneurship Competition.

1.3.1.3

Lifelong Cultivation of Entrepreneurship Education

Many scholars reckon that the ideal stages for acquiring basic knowledge of entrepreneurship and cultivating a positive attitude toward entrepreneurship lie in childhood and adolescence (Filion, 1994). European and American countries proactively integrate entrepreneurship education into all stages of talent cultivation. The EU’s Education and Training 2020 (2016) clearly proposes the integration of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship into all phases of school curricula and training activities. In the primary school stage, about half of European countries or regions adopt an interdisciplinary approach to carry out entrepreneurship education, emphasizing the realization of teaching objectives through the horizontal cross of different disciplines. In the junior high school level, 21 European countries employ an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship education model. Moreover, 17 countries either took entrepreneurship education as a compulsory course, make it a separate curriculum or integrated it with other compulsory courses. Entrepreneurship education during high school, compared with the first two stages, has a greater coverage. In 18 European countries or regions, entrepreneurship education is deemed

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compulsory or a part of the curriculum. There are 23 countries or regions that make it an elective course or integrate it into other optional courses (Li, 2016a, 2016b). In the early twenty-first century, the EU launched the “mini company” project for secondary education, which provides entrepreneurship practice opportunities for more than 200,000 secondary school students in the EU-25 and Norway (European Commission, 2005). The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education proposes an entrepreneurial lifelong learning model consisting of five stages: basic cognitive stage, ability awareness stage, innovation application stage, entrepreneurial practice stage and growth stage, which advocates the forward and follow-up of entrepreneurial education stage. According to Junior Achievement (2015), there are 42 states in the USA that have set up standards, guidance and proficiency requirements for entrepreneurship education from kindergarten to high school (K-12). In addition, high schools in 18 states are required to provide courses relating to entrepreneurship education. Taking Massachusetts as an example, entrepreneurs’ knowledge is taught in the fifth and seventh grades, as well as in high school courses relevant to American history and economics. In addition, “management and entrepreneurial skills” are included in the vocational and technical education framework. They involve the establishment of enterprises, management companies, financial knowledge applications, legal, ethical and social responsibility and other specific content (Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education, 2014).

1.3.1.4

Entrepreneurship Education for All

Entrepreneurship education is no longer limited to college students, but is gradually open to all members of society, for all social groups at any stage of life. Developed countries in Europe and America promote entrepreneurship education for all through the establishment of online courses, serving the socially disadvantaged groups. Primarily, entrepreneurship education online curriculum is set up. Developed countries in Europe and America continue to open their doors to all members of society through online courses and many other forms. The popularity of online education offers more opportunities for citizens to receive entrepreneurship education. Among them, there are more than 100 entrepreneurship education courses available on the Coursera Web site, covering entrepreneurship training, basic entrepreneurial skills, technology entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. In the Stanford Innovation and Entrepreneurship certificate online course project, jointly produced by Stanford University Business School and Engineering College, learners can select eight courses and study independently online. After passing the certification, they can obtain the Stanford-related qualification certificate. With the Internet, citizens from all walks of life can break through the limitations of time and space to conduct entrepreneurial learning and even customize personalized entrepreneurship curriculum. Secondly, entrepreneurship training is conducted for vulnerable groups. Opening to all members of society, entrepreneurship education is dedicated to creating

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opportunities and environments for marginal groups such as women, refugees and the unemployed. At present, the Netherlands has designed entrepreneurial education activities targeted at refugees. By endowing them the skills of employment and entrepreneurship, it has realized the transition from “economic assistance” to “viable capacity training” and from “rescue” to “self-help.” The School of Social Entrepreneurship, established by the Japanese government, provides university-level courses to young people and housewives, providing the opportunities to relearn and to participate in social entrepreneurship. With the rise of women’s status and the increase in women’s entrepreneurship, governments have begun paying attention to helping women open up new horizons in the field of entrepreneurship. There are more than 100 Women’s Business Centers under the Office of Women’s Business Ownership of the Small Business Administration providing comprehensive training and information services across the country to help them start businesses. Since 2009, the Small Business Administration, partnered with the Women’s Business Center and the Small Business Development Center, has empowered more than 3 million women and encouraged them to make huge impacts in the business world. The EU promotes the development of women’s entrepreneurship by building a supporting network consisting of the European Women’s Entrepreneurship Promotion Association, the European Women’s Entrepreneurship Ambassador Network and the European Women Entrepreneurs Mentor Network (2016). Since 2016, the European Women’s Entrepreneur Portal has been put into use, offering women entrepreneurs with one-stop services, including entrepreneurial mentoring and entrepreneurship education training.

1.3.1.5

Systematization of Entrepreneurship Education

The GEM report (2016) shows that the entrepreneurship education system covers a variety of complex elements, comprising environmental elements such as society, culture, policy and economy as well as cultural factors like social value and individual attitudes. The systematization of entrepreneurship education is to play the overall function of entrepreneurship education by means of activating key elements and forming an interactive system. Entrepreneurship education in European and American countries has shown obvious systematic characteristics. The EU actively advocates that different subjects play crucial roles in the entrepreneurial collaboration network and regard universities as the key character in the collaborative network. The report “Development Model for Promoting Harmony and Cooperation in Entrepreneurship Education” sets the conceptual framework for priority actions, clarifying the correct positions of different stakeholders, with national strategies and frameworks, teachers, schools, private companies and nonprofits institutions being the main elements (DG Enterprise and Industry & European Commission, 2010). The USA tries to coordinate the social roles of the government, foundations and professional groups to promote college students’ entrepreneurship, through the establishment of entrepreneurship education cooperation systems. In addition to the $1

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billion early innovation fund set up by the Entrepreneurial America Program, the US federal government also boosts the links between university entrepreneurs and mentors, reduces entrepreneurial barriers, accelerates the transformation of technological innovation from the laboratory to the market and further releases market opportunities in industries such as health care, clean energy and education. The Kauffman Foundation’s Kauffman Campus Program and the Coleman Foundation’s Teacher Entrepreneurship Program provide substantial funding to support universities in expanding entrepreneurship education to different disciplines, so as to develop schoolwide entrepreneurship education programs. Moreover, American inventors and VentureWell subsidize teachers in developing technology entrepreneurship projects. In numerous HEIs, entrepreneurship education and training are no longer concentrated in business schools. Instead, an entrepreneurship ecosystem consisting of dozens of project organizations or centers throughout the school is formed. Many entrepreneurial universities have begun to prioritize the construction of high-quality entrepreneurship ecosystems. The University of Southern California has established a Technology Commercialization Center and a Technology Licensing Office. In addition, the School of Engineering, the School of Medicine and the Entrepreneurship Research Center have also founded institutions for promoting innovation and entrepreneurship among teachers and students. Moreover, it has formed benign cooperation relationships with the Los Angeles Business Technology Incubation Center, Angels and Risk Investment institutions, etc. (Fetters et al., 2010). The Aalto University in Finland has an Entrepreneurship Center to support innovation and entrepreneurship activities in the school. It has launched abundant entrepreneurship courses and organized relevant associations. Its well-known projects—Startup Sauna, Start-up Life and Slush—attracted the participation of both internal and external forces. In 2015, for instance, Slush attracted 1,700 start-ups from more than 100 countries, more than 800 venture capitalists and 630 media representatives. At the school level, it owns entrepreneurship associations, incubators, development and innovation buildings, media factories, design factories, etc. It has also established extensive cooperation with Microsoft, Nokia and Stanford University.

1.3.2 The Concept Transformation of China’s Entrepreneurship Education Under the Background of Economic Transformation and Upgrading Since the reform and opening up, China has made significant progress in economic system transformation and structure optimization, with economic growth at a remarkable rate. This is especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative and established a new type of international relations with cooperation and win–win as the core, making China an advocate,

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practitioner and forerunner of promoting a new phase of globalization. At present, China’s economy is in a critical period of replacement of old growth drivers with new ones and upgrading that is led by innovation. Innovation is the first driving force for development. In order to make full play of innovative ideas, we need to develop a new economy, cultivate new kinetic energy and promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation. In this process, entrepreneurship education plays a significant role. In 1998, the Action Plan for Education Revitalization Toward the Twenty-First Century was introduced to carry out entrepreneurship education in HEIs. Over the past 20 years, China has successively issued dozens of entrepreneurship education promotion policies and regulations, gradually forming the strategic trend. Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Systems and Mechanisms to Accelerate the Implementation of Innovation-driven Development Strategies put forward the specific requirements for the innovation of institutions and mechanisms. The Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the State Council for Deepening Education Reform on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Universities and Colleges proposed the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in HEIs from 2017 to 2020 in China and clarified the nine tasks that needed to be taken to achieve this strategic goal. China’s emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship education is not only impacted by the international background, but also reflects the urgent need for innovation and entrepreneurship education in economic transformation and upgrading. However, there is still a huge gap in China’s entrepreneurship education compared with the strategic layout, systematic advancement and global participation of European and American countries, as well as the horizontal and vertical expansion of lifelong learning and education for all. It is urgently in need of transformation in the value, goal, positioning, organization, process, talent, teacher and development concepts of entrepreneurship education.

1.3.2.1

Values of Entrepreneurship Education: From Starting a Business to Overall Entrepreneurship

At present, there are two tendencies in the understanding of entrepreneurship education among many colleges and entrepreneurship education practitioners. The first regards entrepreneurship education as lectures, e-commerce activities, competitions and seeking venture capital. The other is keen to establish business parks and incubators, set up entrepreneurship classes, launch entrepreneurship degree certificate programs and issue business project certificates. The former is a kind of shallow and generalized entrepreneurship education that is limited to the employment of college students, while the latter narrowly equates entrepreneurship education with the education of establishing an enterprise, sticking to an elite education line of “cultivating a small number of entrepreneurs.” These two tendencies are essentially misunderstandings that are contrary to the policy requirements of “making innovation and entrepreneurship education throughout the whole process of talent

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cultivation” and are inconsistent with the demand for diversified innovation and entrepreneurship talents in entrepreneurial economic development. The transformation of China’s entrepreneurship education needs to establish a comprehensive concept that is universal, global and lifelong.

Entrepreneurship Education Must Be Accessible to All Instead of being limited to college students, entrepreneurship education should gradually open to all social groups and try to be accepted at any life stage. Therefore, entrepreneurship education covering all individuals is an inevitable trend. On the one hand, we must stand at a new height to re-examine the vital practical value of comprehensively accelerating entrepreneurship education. We must fully understand and comprehensively facilitate entrepreneurship education to serve the construction of innovative countries and cultivate innovative talents, standing at the height of the country’s implementation of innovation-driven development strategy and promotion of economic upgrading and upgrading of efficiency. On the other hand, from the perspective of the development of entrepreneurship education itself, it is a new educational concept and model. As an educational concept, entrepreneurship education is an echo of modern educational concepts such as freedom, democracy and justice. Nevertheless, as an educational model, entrepreneurship education is a dialectical negation of the traditional education model. The talents cultivated in entrepreneurship education are more in line with the demands of social development. Entrepreneurial talents are distributed in all walks of life, resulting from the objective needs. In addition to pure business entrepreneurship, innovative entrepreneurs are desperately in need in all kinds of social entrepreneurship, technology entrepreneurship, art entrepreneurship, political entrepreneurship, green entrepreneurship and post-entrepreneurship. Therefore, HEIs should provide diversified entrepreneurship education opportunities for all through a combination of formal and informal education, traditional teaching and online courses, classroom teaching and extracurricular practice. In particular, we must pay attention to vulnerable groups. Entrepreneurship education is required to create opportunities and environments for marginal entrepreneurs such as women, the unemployed and veterans, so as to achieve the shift from “economic assistance” to “viable capacity training” and from “rescue” to “self-assistance.”

Entrepreneurship Education Must Be Globally Oriented With the development of globalization, opportunities for entrepreneurship are not limited to one region or country, and international entrepreneurship has become a significant choice for entrepreneurs. Therefore, China’s entrepreneurship education should adapt to this globalization trend and continue changing with the trends and the times. Specifically, China has gradually integrated into the global trading system over the past 30 years and is playing an increasingly important role in the

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world economy. The new development concept—including innovation, coordination, greenness, openness and sharing—guides China’s development practice and contributes to world economic cooperation. In recent years particularly, the world is full of complicated factors and uncertainties, and the “anti-globalization” trend is surging. The series of new ideas put forward by China have attracted worldwide attention, such as creating the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and boosting Belt and Road Initiatives, building an open world economy, proposing a global economic governance concept of building, communicating and sharing, and advocating an economic globalization that is open, inclusive, balanced and win–win, etc. Many developing countries have turned from learning from the West to exploring the East. In this context, according to the development strategy of great powers, entrepreneurial education is urgently required to cultivate high-quality innovative and entrepreneurial talents with the international vision for China’s economic transformation and upgrading. Therefore, entrepreneurship education must be equipped with a global perspective. Furthermore, as the developing of global entrepreneurship education, HEIs in China must actively carry out cooperation and exchanges with international organizations, voluntarily build a global entrepreneurship education network to promote the development of international entrepreneurship education and enhance China’s influence in the global innovation and entrepreneurship system. On the other hand, as the Chinese saying goes, “A public spirit will rule all under the heaven when the great way prevails,” the community of shared destiny is already formed in the open world economy for the high integration and mutual existence. Entrepreneurship education has also developed into an extremely significant work sharing by all countries. China is taking on the mission of building a nation of human destiny with practical actions. In recent years, President Xi Jinping advocated “sharing the responsibility of the times and promoting global development” at the annual World Economic Forum. He made an address at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, mentioning the Latin inscription, “All for one, one for all.” Moreover, the words “human, global, world and international” frequently appear in reports of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. All this shows that China is taking concrete actions to fulfill its mission of building a community with a shared future for mankind. The idea of building a community of shared human destiny has been written into UN resolutions and Security Council resolutions, highlighting the important contribution of the China to global governance. Correspondingly, China’s entrepreneurship education should also concentrate on the global issues that plague human development, so as to cultivate students’ global entrepreneurial awareness and competences and make practical contributions to human society.

Entrepreneurship Education Must Build a Lifelong System For the process of lifelong learning, China needs to accurately grasp two footholds in building the system. On the one hand, entrepreneurship education needs to move forward. Middle school students, primary school students and even preschool children should accept certain forms of entrepreneurship education, including but

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not limited to financial literacy, entrepreneurial simulation, flea market, volunteer services, role playing and so on. Affected by Chinese traditional culture, the concept in which most Chinese people are deeply rooted is “He who excels in study can follow an official career” rather than “He who is an official can be an entrepreneur.” With this cultural background, entrepreneurship education in China lacks the scientific connection among university, secondary and primary schools. The lack of foundation and preparation for enlightenment education has made it necessary for HEIs to enrich the curriculum in primary and secondary schools. Compared with the national entrepreneurship education in primary schools in the USA, entrepreneurship education in Chinese HEIs was quickly launched under the huge pressure of employment. Therefore, it is necessary to break away from the shackles of traditional ideas, emancipate the mind and gradually form a culture of learning and creating excellence. Moreover, it is imperative to treat start-up and starting a career the same and bury the seeds of entrepreneurship, setting the “entrepreneurial genetic code.” We look forward to witnessing a large number of outstanding graduates embarking on the road of entrepreneurship and becoming a new force in innovation and entrepreneurship. On the other hand, entrepreneurship education needs to continue. Entrepreneurship education, springing up in colleges and universities, must constantly cover the entire society and integrate into the lifelong learning process of every social citizen. For instance, countries in Europe and American provide opportunities for more citizens to receive entrepreneurship education through online courses. Among them, just the Coursera Web site for online courses provides more than 100 entrepreneurship education courses, including entrepreneurship training, basic entrepreneurial skills, technology entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. In the Stanford Innovation and Entrepreneurship certificate online course project, jointly produced by Stanford University Business School and Engineering College, learners can choose eight courses and learn independently on the Internet. After passing the assessment, they can obtain the Stanford-related qualification certificate. Therefore, entrepreneurship education must be longitudinally continuous, covering the whole process of lifelong learning in a complete and systematic entrepreneurship education system framework. In other words, except for cultivating students, entrepreneurship education also needs to provide imperative guidance and resource support for graduates. In addition, all the communities should work together to create an entrepreneurial learning environment that offers resources and platforms for adults outside the school education system. Continuing educational institutions should supply various forms of entrepreneurship training and attach great importance to makerspaces and business incubators, run by functional government departments or other organizations.

1.3.2.2

The Concept of Entrepreneurship Education Goals: From Driving Employment to Improving Quality

Entrepreneurship education in HEIs in China was born of the popularization of higher education. From 2014 to 2018, the number of college graduates in China reached 7.27 million, 7.49 million, 7.56 million, 7.95 million and 8.2 million, respectively,

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breaking the record in successive years. Thus, entrepreneurship education is seen as an “effective medicine” to ease employment pressure. In fact, this is a logical misunderstanding of China’s entrepreneurship education concept. Indeed, entrepreneurship can drive employment to a certain extent, but entrepreneurship education is not only a tool to alleviate employment pressure, but also a qualified approach that includes improving recruitment competence. If entrepreneurship education is narrowly regarded as a shortcut to employment, it will inevitably lead to a wrong path. This kind of entrepreneurship education, guided by utilitarianism, is often limited to offering several venture practice courses, which are imbued with a strong skills training feature. This kind of education regards the number of college students to start enterprises and the value of production as the exclusive standard for assessing entrepreneurship education in HEIs. It ignores the fundamental tenet of people orientation and neglects the scientific and technological value, cultural value and social mission of college students’ venture activities. We must clearly understand that the logical starting point of entrepreneurship education is cultivating people rather than making money. It is no doubt that entrepreneurship education must achieve the goals of relieving employment pressure, increasing entrepreneurship and creating economic wealth. However, just as with other types of education, it should stick to human development. Entrepreneurship education should lay stress on the improvement of the educators’ quality and pay attention to the development of students’ knowledge, ability and personality. Hence, entrepreneurship education must be integrated into the personnel training system in HEIs and combine innovation and entrepreneurship into the whole process of talent cultivation. Starting from the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents in China, entrepreneurship education should work to build a three-tiered progressive course of Entrepreneurship Generalization, Professional Entrepreneurship and Deepening Entrepreneurship, forming an entrepreneurship education curriculum system that covers all communities in diversified levels and phases. This kind of curriculum system is hierarchical in terms of training objectives, integrated in content and orderly in organizational implementation. By means of fully integrating general education, professional education and entrepreneurship education, this system embodies the talent cultivation concept of “for all the people on the basis of professionalism to realize comprehensive improvement and keep individuality as well,” effectively promoting students’ all-round development and growth. Among them, the Entrepreneurship Generalization curriculum, which is for all students in the school, is a 2–4 credits compulsory course that aims to stimulate employment and entrepreneurship awareness, emphasize the foundation of knowledge and competence and cultivate the general quality and ability of employment and entrepreneurship. The Professional Entrepreneurship curriculum is a professional integration course for students of all majors. It intends to establish employment and entrepreneurship awareness among students of various majors. This highlights the cultivation of interdisciplinary talents with professional knowledge who can match with occupations and obtain comprehensive entrepreneurial qualities and abilities. Deepening Entrepreneurship is a kind of practical experience course that teaches entrepreneurial deepening theory for a special group. It is designed to invigorate

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the innovative and pioneering spirit of a small number of students with specific entrepreneurial will and empower them to master the knowledge and skills of business and management. Consequently, it is conducive to enhancing professional literacy and competence relating to entrepreneurship and cultivating professional entrepreneurial talents. Judging from the curriculum objectives, the diversification of training goals exists among students in different majors and various stages. Regarding the professional affiliation, basic majors, such as history, literature, philosophy and chemistry, give priority to the cultivation of innovation and entrepreneurship awareness, while application-oriented majors, such as editorial publishing, art, design, agricultural resources and the environment, pay more attention to the fostering of entrepreneurial planning and practical ability. Considering the phase of studying, the lower-level entrepreneurship education curriculum aims to stimulate entrepreneurial awareness and guide them to form a correct entrepreneurial concept. Nevertheless, senior entrepreneurship education curriculum tends to help students master the core knowledge and skills of entrepreneurship and enhance the comprehensive quality and competence of entrepreneurship.

1.3.2.3

The Orientation of Entrepreneurship Education: From Expediency to Long-Term Planning

In recent years, governments at all levels in China have issued a number of promotion policies that have accelerated the rapid development of entrepreneurship education practice activities. However, there are many practical issues that need to be solved in the current reform and development of entrepreneurship education in China. It is imperative to combine the resolution of short-term problems with long-term planning when planning for the development of entrepreneurship education in the year 2030 and even in 2050. The orientation of China’s entrepreneurship education must be transformed from a temporary expedient to a long-term plan, taking the scientific, legal and strategic path. At the outset, the top-level design of entrepreneurship education must be strengthened. It is necessary to lay out the role, content and standards of entrepreneurship education in economic transformation and upgrading and in the construction of innovative countries from a higher strategic level. The strategization of entrepreneurship education—placing entrepreneurship education at a key position in the development of the country and the region—should be committed to comprehensively promote entrepreneurship education and relate the future between the citizen and the country by formulating corresponding development strategies. European and American countries are at the forefront in the strategic layout and legalization of entrepreneurship education. Since the end of the twentieth century, the EU has promulgated a number of super-national entrepreneurship education policies. In 2000, the European Union proposed in the “Lisbon Strategy” that entrepreneurship education is an important approach to cultivate the spirit of young entrepreneurs, thereby boosting the economic vitality and overall competitiveness of the EU. Since the twenty-first century, the EU has issued numerous landmark policies pertaining to the entrepreneurship spirit,

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entrepreneurship faculties and entrepreneurship education throughout the school, accompanied by the continuous advancing of strategic process. The Minnesota Education Act states that “a youth entrepreneurship education program must be established to improve students’ academic achievement and entrepreneurship skills, and to help them transfer from school to entrepreneurship.” Illinois requires its Entrepreneurship Education Association to “facilitate and support the development of innovative materials and methods of entrepreneurship education.” The California Education Code requires entrepreneurship education to be implemented at the K-12 level. We should note that entrepreneurship education in China is not an expedient measure. Instead, it aims to plot the vision, concept, goals and tasks of China’s medium- and long-term entrepreneurship education through scientific planning and legalization, promoting economic transformation and upgrading and the construction of an innovative country with high-quality innovative and entrepreneurial talents. Secondly, the scientific and professional development of entrepreneurship education needs to be propelled. Entrepreneurship education, a major strategic demand for the development of the country in the present and the future, is an interdisciplinary subject and emerging discipline for educating talents that needs to be strongly supported. The barriers of traditional disciplines and professions not only restrain the enthusiasm of excellent teachers to participate in entrepreneurship education, but also go against improving the efficiency and scientific development of entrepreneurship education. It is necessary to deeply guide the scientific development of entrepreneurship education, strengthen the curriculum construction, teaching materials, teaching faculties and establish the goals, outlines and contents of entrepreneurship education at all levels to build a quality assurance system. Conditions permitting China’s entrepreneurship education shall be constituted to lay a solid foundation and deepen research in principles, history, methods and comparisons. First of all, we must summarize the essence, purpose and value of entrepreneurship education as well as the methods and evaluation from the principle level. Secondly, we should sort out the history related to entrepreneurship education. That is to say, we need to longitudinally comb China’s creative education, innovative education, entrepreneurship education, innovation and entrepreneurship education, so as to study their relationship with each other. Furthermore, it is the methodology research of entrepreneurship education to solve the essential problem of how entrepreneurship education is taught.

1.3.2.4

Organizational View of Entrepreneurship Education: From School-Based Education to Ecological System

The essential property of entrepreneurship determines that it is not isolated. According to the GEM report, the entrepreneurship education system covers a variety of complex elements, including environmental elements such as society, culture, policy and economy, as well as cultural factors like the social value and individual attitudes. The systematic trend of entrepreneurship education is to play the overall function by invigorating key elements and forming an interactive system. However, at present, China’s entrepreneurship education is basically “school-based.” HEIs

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play a leading role in curriculum setting, practical arrangement, fund investment, etc. The external strength is weak in supporting entrepreneurship education. China’s HEIs should actively build a high-quality entrepreneurship education ecosystem and explore a diversified entrepreneurship education organization model. Schools, enterprises, governments, foundations, social groups, alumni associations, etc., should work together to create a community of shared entrepreneurship education interests and form an entrepreneurship collaboration network with an orderly, symbiotic and co-prosperous entity, such as executor, responsibility subject and supplying subject. The entrepreneurship education ecosystem of HEIs should not only provide experiential learning places and maker spaces to create an entrepreneurial environment, it should also pay attention to the substantive cooperation among stakeholders to realize the sharing of benefits, continue to effectively promote the entrepreneurship of college students and bring together innovation and entrepreneurship. We will work together to consummate the entrepreneurship education that is needed by society and desired by the students. The construction of an entrepreneurship education ecosystem requires adherence to the principles of complementarity, integrity and sustainability. The most significant stakeholders comprise governments, universities and enterprises. The government is the main body for formulating innovative and entrepreneurial education planning, perfecting the corresponding education system and cultivating the innovative and entrepreneurial culture. The university is the principal part for constructing and implementing specific entrepreneurship education programs, training entrepreneurial faculties, researching theories and developing evaluation tools. Enterprises, through various projects participating in college entrepreneurship education, provide entrepreneurial funds and entrepreneurial internship opportunities and serve as a mentor for entrepreneurship practice. The entrepreneurship education ecosystem is a whole that includes the internal and external ecosystems of the school. The in-school ecosystem covers curriculum, extracurricular activities, practice platforms, scientific research, etc. The off-school ecosystem involves cultural and social norms, entrepreneurial resources, financial support, research and development transfer and entrepreneurial infrastructure. In the concept of ecosystem, the transformation and development of college entrepreneurship education need to be considered from the overall perspective. For instance, how to integrate resources within the system and how to give full play to the coupling between different elements within the system are of great importance for the future development to maintain the openness of entrepreneurship education ecosystem to the external environment. Therefore, HEIs should carry out thorough transformation from concept, organization and system, making entrepreneurship the core concept of a university and cultivating university culture with entrepreneurship as the main body. In these ways, HEIs can combine the internal reform of colleges and universities and the practice of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial activities. Moreover, HEIs must strengthen school–enterprise cooperation and school–region cooperation. The sustainability of the entrepreneurship education ecosystem depends on the internal resource aggregation mechanism, value exchange mechanism and balance adjustment mechanism. This would ensure that the constituents inside and outside the

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ecosystem can obtain the necessary nutrients (resources) and form the spillover effect. Knowledge and innovation would be considered as the main medium and shape the back-feeding effect with capital, experience and opportunity as the primary vector. These actions promote a virtuous circle and the sustainable development of the innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem.

1.3.2.5

The Concept of Entrepreneurial Education Process: From the Opposite to the Two-Way Integration

The concept of open integration is the key to the development of entrepreneurship education both in scope and in depth. This is specifically reflected in the two-way integration of the two pairs in the process of entrepreneurship education. The first is to integrate theory and practice. Entrepreneurship education should not only pay attention to theory teaching, but also adhere to practical orientation, which cannot be separated. The practical orientation of the entrepreneurship education process can be summarized into two aspects: practicalization of educational content and practicalization of teaching methods. The former one means that teaching content should be closely bonded with entrepreneurial practice and should add entrepreneurial practice. While increasing entrepreneurial practice, theoretical knowledge should not be weakened. Practicalization of entrepreneurial education content does not equal “de-theorization.” And, we cannot set theory against practice. The practicalization of teaching methods refers to the comprehensive application of open, interactive, seminar, case-based and other practice-oriented teaching methods. In addition, it should be noted that the teaching method is just an approach. What is more important is what kind of purpose it aims to achieve. The practice-oriented teaching method should focus on the subjective position of students, which encourages and instructs students to start business by guiding them to make self-conscious decisions and creative experiments. Entrepreneurship education should also be merged with professional education, which is conducive to both. With a lack of support in disciplines and professional knowledge, entrepreneurship education is just like water without a source, unable to attract the attention and participation of college students. Professional education reflects the cutting-edge knowledge of the subject, the frontier information of related interdisciplinary subjects and the advanced achievements of relevant industries and industrial development, which are conducive to the progress of entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship education covers some helpful knowledge, such as encouragement of innovation, risk-taking, grasping opportunities, identification of entrepreneurial opportunities, acquiring and allocating entrepreneurial resources, selection of entrepreneurial teams, entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial laws and regulations. All of these assist students to think about how to combine the latest knowledge and practice in the professional field, how to better apply what they have learned to the society and how to effectively transform knowledge into actual innovation results. Therefore, HEIs should abandon the thought of quick success in

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carrying out entrepreneurship education. They should take a long-term perspective and stand at the height of serving China’s innovation-driven development strategy, adhering to and facilitating the conventional talent training system. Moreover, HEIs need to integrate entrepreneurship education into the whole process of disciplinary specialty education and pay more attention to improve the major setup and knowledge imparting process to help students build a complete, solid and complex knowledge system. The key to the integration of entrepreneurship education and professional education lies in heightening students’ ability to learn useful knowledge, discover actual problems, conduct practical research and present insightful opinions. In the teaching process especially, it is required to emphasize on guiding students to integrate, internalize and apply knowledge as well as learn independently and on the students’ ability to continuously search, discover and innovate knowledge.

1.3.2.6

Entrepreneurship Education’s Outlook on Talents: From Cultivating Entrepreneurs to Fostering Innovators

The diversified development of entrepreneurship education determines that the goal of talent cultivation is not limited to enterprisers and entrepreneurs, but should also focus on cultivating innovators. On the one hand, from the perspective of international trends, it has become a general consensus among entrepreneurship education researchers and practitioners to prioritize post-entrepreneurship and internal entrepreneurship. One of the essences of entrepreneurship education is to stimulate students’ innovative spirit and entrepreneurial awareness. Data released by the Ministry of Education shows that the success rate of self-employment of college graduates in China is only about 3%. The average success rate in European and American countries, where entrepreneurship education is relatively mature, is about 10%. In this regard, there contain certain limitations in entrepreneurship education regarding cultivating entrepreneurs as the outlook and in terms of the realization of individual comprehensive innovation ability. In the past, the entrepreneurship education that the government, society and colleges upheld was narrowly nurturing students into enterprisers, which weakened the basic functions of entrepreneurship education in boosting the cultivation of national innovative talents and neglected the abilities to conduct creative work or service, think creatively or solve problems of college students in future careers. Therefore, it is necessary to change the concept of entrepreneurship education in personnel training, link entrepreneurship education with people’s lifelong development and connect it with the growth of individual and career, so as to enhance the connotation and level of entrepreneurship education and enrich entrepreneurship education both in form and content. On the other hand, the cultivation of innovative talents is particularly significant in China’s economic transformation and upgrading. General Secretary Xi Jinping once pointed out that innovation sustains the progress of a nation. It is an inexhaustible motivating force for the prosperity of a country and the source of the eternal vitality of a political party. In the fierce international competition, only the innovators can

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make progress, be strong and achieve victory. All these can be counted as innovation, such as revealing a law, proposing a doctrine, clarifying a truth and creating a solution. Innovation has become the idea, direction and focus in all aspects of development in China at present and in the longer term. In 2010, the concept of innovation and entrepreneurship education was used in a statement in China for the first time. As a matter of fact, this action inherently defined the application attributes of innovation. It is innovation that aims at entrepreneurship, emphasizing the marketization and commercialization of innovation outcomes. Emphasizing innovation in entrepreneurship education actually guides the direction of venture in an all-round manner. It is intended to highlight the use of innovative outcomes to start a business as well as encourage and support innovators to conduct venture activities, particularly the innovative, opportunity-based and high-growth entrepreneurship, improving the level and quality. In a broad sense, innovation and entrepreneurship are like twins. Although they are not equal, successful entrepreneurship is inseparable from innovation. Correspondingly, triumphant innovation is often generated during the entrepreneurial process. Moreover, entrepreneurship in a broad sense is not just about building a new business, but has economic, political and social significance. Entrepreneurship in the economic sense, breaking through the narrow scope of starting a new enterprise, incorporates entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship into the field of entrepreneurship research. As a result, entrepreneurial talents, instructed by entrepreneurship education, are not specific to entrepreneurs, but to innovators with innovative and entrepreneurial temperament.

1.3.2.7

Teacher View of Entrepreneurship Education: From Specialist Type to “Triangle-Quality” Teachers

It is a difficult issue for entrepreneurship education in all countries, especially in China, that qualified teachers are insufficient. The growth of the pool of teaching staff, as the key link of the entrepreneurship education system, guarantees the improvement of entrepreneurship education quality. At present, entrepreneurship education teachers in colleges and universities in China still lag behind in terms of quantity, quality, structure and team stability. The contradiction between the rising demand for innovation and entrepreneurship education in the national construction and economic development and the lag of the construction of the entrepreneurship education team in colleges and universities have become the core issue that restricts the in-depth development of entrepreneurship education in China. Therefore, it is necessary to change the teachers view in entrepreneurship education and build a “triangle-quality” entrepreneurship faculty, so as to fundamentally solve this bottleneck problem. A “triangle-quality” entrepreneurial faculty team, on the one hand, attaches great importance to the construction and improvement of the “three types” of entrepreneurship education faculty on the basis of the current development in entrepreneurship education in HEIs and the actual demands of students. The first theoretical type indicates full-time teachers in schools, placing extra emphasis on general theoretical knowledge. The second is comprehensive part-time teachers inside and outside the

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school, focusing on targeted counseling and guidance on students’ entrepreneurial confusion. And the last type is practical, social part-time teachers who prioritize the enhancement of students’ entrepreneurial experience and the acquisition of entrepreneurial resources, transforming knowledge into competence and turn theory to practice. The key to the construction of the three types of teachers is to set clear educational goals and tasks, in combination with coordination and cooperation, so as to jointly build an entrepreneurship education system that integrates inside and outside the school, connects in-class and extracurricular activities and combines the educational practice to serve students’ entrepreneurial quality and ability. The teaching faculties are also capable of leading the current theoretical research and practical innovation of entrepreneurship education. At the same time, we must adhere to the basic construction ideas of “coming in” or “going out,” and fully consolidate the resources inside and outside the school to form a synergy of education on the basis of building a professional and specialized team. On the other hand, the “triangle-quality” entrepreneurial faculty team refers to the three qualities that must be possessed by teachers for entrepreneurship education in HEIs on microscopic levels. The first quality is the competence to give lectures. They need to be equipped with wide and deep professional knowledge and can theoretically offer students scientific, reasonable and accurate knowledge, so as to attract students’ attention and improving their acceptance of entrepreneurship education. The second quality is the practical skills of consultation. This kind of teachers can provide skill training and experience reference of the detailed procedures and problems in innovation and entrepreneurship education. The last quality is actual exercise. Being equipped with rich and strong entrepreneurial experience and innovative ability, teachers are required to be fully proficient in the actual operation of the enterprise and provide enlightenment for entrepreneurship education. Teachers are not only fully proficient in the actual operation of enterprises, but can also develop typical cases of innovation and entrepreneurship combined with a specific link in the process of innovation and entrepreneurship, so as to provide enlightenment and reference for entrepreneurship education. Therefore, the quality requirements of entrepreneurship education teachers in HEIs should emphasize the strengthening of the ability standard. They must have the same comprehensive cultural quality and theoretical level as other teachers and have strong teaching and research abilities. Besides, they also have to obtain abundant practice and proficient skills to guide students to innovate and start a business.

1.3.2.8

The Development Outlook of Entrepreneurship Education: From Coverage of Quantity to Improvement of Quality

In recent years, under the promotion and guidance of the party and the state, all colleges and universities have adapted to local conditions and actively implemented entrepreneurship education. One of the major points for the development

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of entrepreneurship education in China in the future should be shifted from massification in quantity to improvement in quality, namely how to improve the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. Under the guidance of the comprehensive quality concept, all colleges and universities should scientifically evaluate, monitor and improve the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education to obtain the improvement in quality. The comprehensive quality concept, incorporating many perspectives on the quality of entrepreneurship education, adopts a full range of dimensions to evaluate and monitor the quality of entrepreneurship education. Specifically, it includes the following dimensions: firstly, the quality evaluation of entrepreneurship education’s goal, involving its rationality, the consistency of entrepreneurship education objective in HEIs, the level and the characteristics of running school. The second dimension indicates its quality, covering professional curriculum setup, teaching implementation methods, the structure and academic level of the teaching faculties, entrepreneurship education management, practice opportunities, etc. Then, the quality of support environment for entrepreneurship education consists of the creation of entrepreneurship education platforms, institutional settings, completeness and modernization of venue facilities, the modernization of education and teaching methods, the campus culture atmosphere, academic conferences, periodicals, etc. The fourth aspect lies in the quality of entrepreneurship education products, incorporating students’ entrepreneurial awareness, entrepreneurial knowledge, entrepreneurial competence, comprehensive cultural cultivation, overall quality, career structure and income, social impact, etc. The last one is the individualization of entrepreneurship education. Mainly based on the practice and characteristics of its own development, this dimension makes individual characteristics the entry point for development in virtue of the tradition and advantages of a certain aspect. It is unique, optimized and stable.

References Babson College. (2013). Price-Babson symposium for entrepreneurship educators: teaching online. Retrieved from http://www.babson.edu/enterprise-education-programs/education-educat ors/Pages/default.aspx Cai, F. (2013). How will China’s economic growth be driven by total factor productivity. Chinese Social Sciences, 1, 56–71. DG Enterprise and Industry, European Commission. (2010). Towards greater cooperation and coherence in entrepreneurship education: Report and evaluation of the pilot action high level reflection panels on entrepreneurship education initiated by DG Enterprise and Industry and DG Education and Culture. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/promotingentrepreneurship/education-training-entrepreneurship/reflection-panels/files/entr_education_ panel_en.pdf European Commission. (2005). Best procedure project: Mini-companies in secondary education. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/2233/attachments/1/translations/ en/renditions/pdf European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice. (2016). Entrepreneurship education at school in Europe. Publications Office of the European Union.

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Fetters, M. L., Greene, P. G., Rice, M. P., & Butler, J. S. (Eds.). (2010). The development of university-based entrepreneurship ecosystems: Global practices. Edward Elgar Publishing. Filion, L. J. (1994). Ten steps to entrepreneurial teaching. Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 11(3), 68–78. GEM. (2016). 2015/2016 global report. Retrieved from http://www.gemconsortium.org/report Greene, P. G., Brush, C. G., Eisenman, E. J., Neck, H., & Perkins, S. (2015). Entrepreneurship education: A global consideration from practice to policy around the world. Retrieved from https://www.wise-qatar.org/app/uploads/2019/04/appli-babson_2016-03-03_0.pdf Gu, S. Z., Ma, J. W., & Wang, M. (2011). Strategic thinking on promoting economic transformation during the 12th five-year plan period. Economic Review Journal, 4, 11–17. Jia, K. (2015). The core connotation of the supply-side reform is to liberate the productive forces. Retrieved from http://www.chinanews.com/cj/2015/12-22/7682301.shtml Junior Achievement USA. (2015). The states of entrepreneurship education in America. Retrieved from https://www.juniorachievement.org/documents/20009/20652/Entrepreneurship+ standards+by+state.pdf/494b5b34-42a2-4662-8270-55d306381e64 Li, Y. X. (2015). Social enterprise: The new paradigm of undergraduate entrepreneur education. Journal of Higher Education, 36(3), 78–83. Li, K. Q. (2015). Charting a new course for growth: A speech given at the opening ceremony of the 9th annual meeting of the New Champions. Retrieved from http://china.org.cn/chinese/2015-09/ 14/content_36580496.htm Li, K. Q. (2016). 2016 government work report. Xinhua Net. Retrieved from http://www.news.cn/ Li, Z. Y. (2016). European entrepreneurship education is integrated into the school curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.cssn.cn/jyx/jyx_gjjy/201609/t20160916_3203102.shtml Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (2014). Vocational technical education framework. Retrieved from https://www.doe.mass.edu/ccte/cvte/frameworks/ear lyeducationcare.pdf MIT Sloan School of Management. (2016). MIT Sloan action learning. Retrieved from http://mit sloan.mit.edu/actionlearning/labs/g-lab.php National Research Council of the National Academies. (2012). Research universities and the future of America: Ten breakthrough actions vital to our nation’s prosperity and security. National Academies Press. Soumitra, D., Bruno, L., & Sacha, W. V. (2015). The global innovation index 2015 effective innovation policies for development. Retrieved from World Intellectual Property Organization website, http://www.wipo.int/econ_stat/en/economics/gii/ Wang, X. Q., & Wen, D. F. (2016). Supply-side structural reform: China’s economic transformation and revolution under the new normal. China Economic Press. World Bank. (2015). Annual report 2015. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/ann ual-report-2015 Xi, J. P. (2016). Adhere to their own path of higher education development. Retrieved from http:// politics.people.com.cn/n1/2016/1209/c1001-28937153.html Xin, Y. Y., & Ni, H. (2016). International talents connect the “belt and road initiative”: Roles, demands and strategies. Journal of Higher Education Management, 4, 79–84. Xinhua News Agency. (2016). Chart: Big data depicts the employment roadmap of “overseas returnees”—The ministry of education released the Blue Book of Employment of China Students Studying abroad and Returning to China in 2015. Retrieved from http://education.news.cn/201603/25/c_1118447776.htm Xu, X. Z., et al. (2014). A strategic study on the development of college students’ entrepreneurship skills. Zhejiang University Press. Zhao, Z. J., & Zhuo, Z. L. (2015). Research on the path of American research universities in the national innovation and entrepreneurship system—Based on the interpretation and analysis of the report “innovation and entrepreneurship university” issued by the US department of commerce. Global Education, 8, 41–54.

Chapter 2

Research Progress in Entrepreneurship Education

In the past two decades, as the management economy transformed into an entrepreneurial economy, entrepreneurship education has been recognized by all countries in reserving human resources for economic development and has become the common practice of most HEIs in the world. At a time when entrepreneurship education gradually becomes the focus of attention of countries and international organizations around the world, it is necessary to systematically sort out the progress of research on entrepreneurship education at home and abroad, review the hotspots and frontiers of research, analyze the trend of entrepreneurship education research and clearly develop the reform direction of entrepreneurship education in China.

2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research The frontiers and trends of international entrepreneurship education research are essential references for China. This research has conducted quantitative study and analysis of the distribution of journals, core authors, classic literature and research focuses of international entrepreneurship education research by utilizing bibliometric methods and information visualization software, in order to show the global picture of entrepreneurship education research.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 X. Xu, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 60, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3724-7_2

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2.1.1 Data Sources and Research Methods 2.1.1.1

Data Source

Bibliometrics is a quantitative method of literature research. Bibliometrics, via data mining and graph analysis, investigates the hotspots and frontiers of entrepreneurial education research so as to reveal the research evolution characteristics of the field in an objective, quantitative, direct and visual way. By doing so, the subjectivity of traditional literature research methods that tend toward inductive reasoning can be effectively avoided. By using the core collection of Web of Science1 developed by Thomson Reuters as the search source, this research conducted retrieval according to the customized search: TS = (entrepreneurship or entrepreneurial) near education within the limited year (1998–2017), the limited language (English) and the qualified document type (Article). A total of 898 documents were obtained.2 The authors recorded 898 articles, which were downloaded and saved in text format.

2.1.1.2

Research Methods

Common software for drawing scientific knowledge maps include Ucinet, Pajek, Histcite, VOSviewer, etc. CiteSpace, developed by Dr. Chen Chaomei from Drexel University in Philadelphia, USA, is a visualization software of co-word network and citation network on the basis of co-occurrence analysis and co-citation analysis. It has become the most distinctive and influential visual information software in recent years (Hou & Chen, 2007). The knowledge map visualization analysis of the collected 898 documents is conducive to teasing out important information from the massive data, and grasping the current situation and frontier trends of the field. This study mainly analyzes the authors, research institutions, keywords and cited literatures of 898 articles, in terms of the basic characteristics of the papers (journal distribution, core authors, leading countries, etc.), research focus and trend in international entrepreneurship education and knowledge base.3 At the same time, this study also obtained some research data by using Web of Science to analyze the online search results and creation of citation reports. 1

Web of Science™ focuses on the Web of Science™ Core Collection (the three famous citation indexes include Science Citation Index® , Social Sciences Citation Index® , Arts & Humanities Citation Index® ). It effectively integrates academic journals, invention patents, chemical reactions, academic monographs and many other important academic information resources. Chen et al. (2014). 2 The retrieval was performed on September 7, 2017, and the time period of the literature was from 1998 to 2017. 3 Specific operations are as follows: The collected data will be imported into the CiteSpace 5.1 software, with a time span of 1998–2017 and two-year interval. Keyword, Institute, Author, Category and Cited Reference are selected as the analysis objects respectively, and the literature selection criteria are selected. CiteSpace is then used to analyze the analysis objects by conducting keyword co-occurrence analysis, discipline co-occurrence analysis, institutional cooperation analysis, author cooperation analysis, literature co-citation analysis, etc., and generate corresponding maps and data.

2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research

55

Fig. 2.1 Annual quantity of articles and their trends

2.1.2 Basic Situation Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research 2.1.2.1

Distribution of Publishing Year and Journal

Annual Article’s Quantity Judging from the quantity of the 898 retrieved papers (Fig. 2.1), the publication of research papers on entrepreneurship education has been growing year by year. The increasing trend is relatively stable before the year 2010, but accelerated after 2010. It went straight up from 2014 to 2016. After reaching its peak in 2016, it fell back and remained at a higher level. The change in the annual article’s quantity of research papers on entrepreneurship education is consistent with the development of global entrepreneurship education, which reflects and embodies the progress of entrepreneurship education. Distribution of Core Journals The 898 papers are classified by source publication, and in total there are 400 source publications. Table 2.1 presents the publications with more than 10 papers. At present, core journals that focus on the research outcomes of entrepreneurship education have not been established yet. Most of those papers are distributed in journals of other research fields (higher education, entrepreneurship management, small business economy).

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2 Research Progress in Entrepreneurship Education

Table 2.1 Distribution of major publications of entrepreneurship education research (≥10 articles) Name of publication

Five-year journal impact factor

Number of papers

percentage

Times cited

Education and Training

–

63

7.02

88

Small Business Economics

3.414

27

3.01

635

Journal of Small Business Management

4.342

23

2.56

666

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior Research

–

23

2.56

80

Academy of Management Learning & Education

3.796

21

2.34

708

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal

1.935

19

2.12

240

International Journal of Engineering Education

0.609

19

2.12

67

Journal of Business Venturing

8.284

17

1.89

2031

International Small Business Journal

4.651

15

1.67

193

Entrepreneurship and Regional Development

3.56

14

1.56

160

Entrepreneurship Research Journal

0.821

13

1.45

26

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice

7.626

11

1.23

1009

Higher Education

2.248

10

1.11

157

2.1.2.2

Distribution and Cluster Characteristics of the Authors

The core author serves as the backbone that promotes academic innovation and discipline development, and contributes to enhancing the academic influence and competitiveness of journals. In humanities and social sciences, the construction of the academic discourse system is inseparable from the guidance of the core author group (Hao, 2016). Those who make greater contributions to the development of the discipline are considered to be the core authors. They in turn gather to form the core author group (Qiu & Lou, 2013). Core authors are significant in discipline development, such as guiding the future development direction, condensing forces to form the core authors group and intangible impact on the research activities of non-core personnel. In order to better understand the research capabilities and cluster distribution of researchers in entrepreneurship education, this study conducted statistics and analysis on representative authors engaged in entrepreneurship education research. Core Author Distribution Table 2.2 shows a total of 14 authors who have published more than four articles. They are from 12 universities (three of them from the University of Eastern Finland), and in total published 78 articles. Mirjam van Praag from the University of Amsterdam owns the most outcomes, up to seven articles. Professor Jerome Katz from St. Louis University in the USA has the highest frequency of edition. The article, “The Development and Thought Track of American Entrepreneurship Education (1876–1999)”,

2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research

57

Table 2.2 Leading author in entrepreneurship education research (papers > 4) Name of author

Organization

Number of papers

Percentage (%)

h-index4

Times cited

Mirjam van Praag

University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

7

0.78

11

166

Vegard Johansen

Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

6

0.67

3

9

Jerome Katz

Saint Louis University, USA

6

0.67

6

281

Katri Komulainen

University of Eastern Finland, Finland

6

0.67

4

20

Thomas Lans

Wageningen University, 6 Netherlands

0.67

8

33

Alex Maritz

Swinburne University of 6 Technology, Australia

0.67

4

4

Hannu Raty

University of Eastern Finland, Finland

6

0.67

9

20

Alain Fayolle

Emlyon Business School, France

5

0.56

9

45

Rainer Harms

University of Twente, Netherlands

5

0.56

31

12

Maija Korhonen

University of Eastern Finland, Finland

5

0.56

3

20

Piers Thompson

Nottingham Trent University, UK

5

0.56

3

17

David Urbano

The Autonomous 5 University of Barcelona, Spain

0.56

16

10

Urve Venesaar

Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia

5

0.56

2

7

Miri Yemini

Tel Aviv University, Israel

5

0.56

14

10

published in the Journal of Business Risk, has the maximum of 281 citations. It is followed by “Effects of Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurial Skills and Entrepreneurial Motivation”, published in the European Economic Review by Mirjam van Praag. It was cited 166 times. Figure 2.2 presents the cooperation of authors in the field of entrepreneurship education research. It can be found that the authors are scattered, without a very core group. Notwithstanding all that, there are still several cooperative teams of a certain scale, including the team formed by Martin Obschonka, from the University of 4

If a person is cited at least N times in all of his academic papers, his H index is N.

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2 Research Progress in Entrepreneurship Education

Fig. 2.2 Knowledge map of author cooperation

Saarland, Germany, with researchers from other universities as well as the cooperative group established by Katri Komulainen and colleagues from the University of Eastern Finland and Alain Fayolle, from the Lyon Business School. Distribution of Country or Region of the Authors The 898 articles are from 79 countries/regions, and the top 19% of them accounted for 90% of the total number of papers. The phenomenon of concentration in a few countries is comparatively obvious (Table 2.3). Among them, the USA and the UK have the most research papers, accounting for 26.84% and 11.92%, respectively. China accounted for 3.68%. The main domestic institutions publishing relevant articles include Zhejiang University, Tongji University, Central University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in the mainland, and Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University of Education in Hong Kong. The papers from different countries not only vary in quantity but also in quality. Considering the maximum citation, the USA, the UK, Germany, Australia and Canada are ranked high, while that of China, Denmark and Finland are found to be low. Figure 2.3 presents the knowledge map of cooperation among countries in the field of entrepreneurship education. The USA and the UK are the most crucial research countries in the field. The sub-core countries include Australia, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Spain, Canada, etc. In terms of cooperation among countries, the various countries have conducted relatively extensive complicated cooperation. From the current knowledge map, Saudi Arabia, Latvia, Egypt and other countries (regions) are away from the core district.

2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research

59

Table 2.3 Major countries in the field of entrepreneurship education research (top 13) No.

Country

Centrality

Number of papers

Percentage (%)

Maximum citation frequency

1

USA

0.25

241

26.84

563

2

UK

0.4

107

11.92

356

3

Spain

0.35

57

6.35

62

4

Germany

0.09

43

4.79

356

5

Netherlands

0.2

40

4.45

166

6

Finland

0.02

39

4.34

22

7

Australia

0.14

38

4.23

323

8

Canada

0.08

38

4.23

193

9

Sweden

0.02

36

4.01

96

10

China

0.01

33

3.68

7

11

Norway

0.03

26

2.90

100

12

South Africa

0.07

25

2.78

38

13

Denmark

0

25

2.78

11

Fig. 2.3 Knowledge map of country/regional cooperation

Distribution of Core Research Institutions The 898 articles involve 500 research institutions, of which 202 research institutes published only one paper, and 71 institutions published four and above. Although a prominent core institutional group of entrepreneurial education research has not yet formed, there are also a small number of research institutions that contribute a lot in publications, such as Erasmus University in the Netherlands, Copenhagen Business School in Denmark and University of Toronto in Canada. Table 2.4 shows that the main research institutions are currently distributed in Europe and North

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2 Research Progress in Entrepreneurship Education

Table 2.4 Main research institutions in entrepreneurship education research (top 14) Research Institute

Country

Number of papers

Research Institute

Country

Number of papers

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Netherlands

8

University of Amsterdam

Netherlands

7

Copenhagen Business School

Denmark

8

Manchester Metropolitan University

UK

6

University of Toronto

Canada

8

University of Turku

Finland

6

Stanford University

USA

7

University of Tehran

Iran

6

Lappeenranta University of Technology

Finland

7

Wageningen University

Netherlands

5

Lancaster University

UK

7

Harvard University

USA

5

University of Southern Denmark

Denmark

7

Tallinn University of Technology

Estonia

5

America. In Northern Europe, Erasmus University, Copenhagen Business School, Lappeenranta University of Technology and the University of Amsterdam are the principle research entities, while the UK is dominated by Lancaster University and Manchester Metropolitan University. In the USA, Stanford University and Harvard University play a key role in entrepreneurial education research. This study also found that among the Chinese universities, Zhejiang University ranked first, with three papers published. Figure 2.4 shows the cooperation among research institutions in the field that have not carried out extensive cooperation. Among them, cohesive subgroups, with several universities as their core, have been formed, such as the ones with Copenhagen Business School, Lancaster University, Erasmus University, Stanford University as its core. For another, some universities have constituted separate research teams, such as Harvard University and Twente University. The Main Distribution of the Author’s Discipline Learning the discipline distribution is beneficial for grasping its position in the multidisciplinary pedigree. The development of entrepreneurship education not only draws knowledge from these neighboring disciplines, but also gains the improvement of its own theory with their assistance. Table 2.5 lists the top 13 disciplines (areas) with the largest number of publications under the discipline classification of Web of Science, mainly business and economics, education and education research, management, business, economics, engineering, ecology, psychology and many others. A co-occurrence knowledge map (Fig. 2.5) was drawn using the visualization software

2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research

61

Fig. 2.4 Knowledge map of cooperation of research institutes

Table 2.5 Distribution of major disciplines in the field of entrepreneurship education (papers ≥ 18) No

Number of papers

Centrality

Subject

1

457

0.32

Business and economics

2

253

0.18

Education and educational research

3

252

0.15

Management

4

235

0.01

Business

5

110

0.01

Economics

6

55

0.24

Engineering

7

54

0.05

Public administration

8

40

0

Planning and development

9

32

0.11

Social sciences—other topics

10

28

0.15

Environmental sciences and ecology

11

26

0

Engineering, multidisciplinary

12

26

0

Education, scientific disciplines

13

18

0.16

Psychology

CiteSpace. It demonstrates that the interdisciplinary intersection is more complicated and frequent, considering entrepreneurship education as an interdisciplinary research field. Therefore, only researchers who have relevant knowledge of many more disciplines can better carry out research in the field of entrepreneurship education. Also,

62

2 Research Progress in Entrepreneurship Education

Fig. 2.5 Knowledge map of discipline classification in entrepreneruship education research

the knowledge of these related disciplines is of great significance to entrepreneurship education.

2.1.3 Hot Research Topics of International Entrepreneurship Education Research 2.1.3.1

Keyword Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education Research

Through quantitative investigation and visual analysis of research hotspots in the field of entrepreneurship education, researchers are capable of quickly grasping the main contents and status internationally. Figure 2.6 shows the local distribution of high-frequency keywords, with the circular area in the figure indicating the frequency (the larger the frequency, the more frequently it appears). Table 2.6 is a statistical analysis of the frequency and centrality of high-frequency keywords.5 In general, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, education, performance, student, innovation, model, intention, etc. rank relatively higher. It is difficult to accurately grasp the current hotspots of entrepreneurship education only by the keyword frequency. This study analyzes the superposition of keyword co-clustering and emerging topic words (Table 2.7) to further mine the data, comb the affinity between high-frequency keywords and reveal the current focus of entrepreneurship education research worldwide. After selecting the pathfinder, the module value 5

High-frequency keywords are the subject content focused by researchers in a certain research field. High-frequency keywords obtained by word frequency analysis can reveal the research hotspots in related research fields. Keywords with high centrality in knowledge network easily become inflection points in the evolution of keyword network map, which plays an important role in linking knowledge and can reflect the research hotspots in a certain discipline to some extent. Reference: Qiu and Liu (2013).

2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research

63

Fig. 2.6 Keywords co-occurrence knowledge map

Modularity Q is 0.7139 > 0.3, indicating that the structure of the divided community is remarkable. The average contour value S = 0.6518 > 0.5 demonstrates that the clustering effect is reasonable.

2.1.3.2

Core Themes in Entrepreneurship Education Research

On the whole, the main core themes of current international entrepreneurship education research are concentrated in the following aspects (Fig. 1.6; Table 1.6). Academic Entrepreneurship and Technological Transformation The rise of entrepreneurship education around the world is related to the new liberalism and the development of entrepreneurial universities. Most of the research in this area focus on the external functions of entrepreneurship education, such as how to help the construction of entrepreneurial universities, the improvement of national science and technology, the setting of innovation systems and how entrepreneurial education policies can achieve the government’s economic development goals. Scholars of entrepreneurship education are very concerned about technological transformation, such as the three-helix structure, pattern II knowledge production, Bayh–Dole Act, incubation, and proof-of-concept center.

Frequency

203

181

142

115

82

77

65

62

60

57

No.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0.12

0.12

0.03

0.12

0.03

0.04

0.08

0.09

0.08

0.05

Centrality

2008

2005

2009

2006

2005

2008

2005

1998

2006

2004

Year

Higher education

Knowledge

Intention

Model

Innovation

Student

Performance

Education

Entrepreneurship education

Entrepreneurship

Keywords

20

19

18

17

16

15

14

13

12

11

No.

41

41

45

49

51

54

55

55

56

56

Frequency

Table 2.6 Centrality and frequency statistics of high-frequency keywords in entrepreneurship education

0.09

0.09

0.09

0.06

0.05

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.16

0.09

Centrality

2006

2010

2006

2003

2011

2010

2006

2006

1998

2011

Year

Self-employment

Planned behavior

Perspective

Company

Impact

Entrepreneurial intention

University

Gender

Growth

Self-efficacy

Keywords

64 2 Research Progress in Entrepreneurship Education

Size

40

38

Cluster

0

1

0.798

0.675

Contour value

2006

2006

Average year of publication

Canada, company, expectation theory, system, technology transfer

Cooperation, virtual university, regional economic development, sociology of communication, user perspective

Tags (TF*IDF)

Government’s support, seed funding, proof-of-concept funding, technology transfer, university business incubator, commercialization, company, political economy, neoliberalism, social policy, availability, marketization, labor force development, social stratification, quasi-market, entrepreneurial university, research hospital, academic technology transfer, technology transfer offices, scientist, knowledge, norms

Education, innovation management, sociology of communication, user perspective, virtual university, cooperation, public/private sector, participatory promotion, South Africa, promotion of new crops, peasant, critical discourse analysis, ideology of entrepreneurship, hegemonic discourse, entrepreneurship of organization, social entrepreneurship, identity, demand

Tags (LLR)

Table 2.7 Co-occurrence clustering distribution of high-frequency keywords in entrepreneurship education

(continued)

Strategic decision, reference data, covariance structure, intuition, organization, manager, originality, opportunity, performance, tendency

Strategic decision, reference data, covariance structure, intuition, organization, manager

Tags (MI)

2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research 65

Size

31

19

Cluster

2

3

0.853

0.7

Contour value

Table 2.7 (continued)

2004

2007

Average year of publication

Choice, unfairness, self-employment, empirical, work experience

Challenge model, value, collectivism, individualism

Tags (TF*IDF)

Self-employment, liquidity constraint, unfairness, comparative analysis of economy, cultural economics, analysis of macro-economic development, OECD countries, USA, culture, human capital accumulation, risk aversion, distribution

Social entrepreneurship, social responsibility, entrepreneurship education, Big Five personality traits, success, responsibility, leadership, internet, risk, Bayh–Dole Act, economic growth, behavior, intention, attitude, socio-cultural background, entrepreneurial traits, psychological characteristics, culture, individualism, collectivism, gender, locus of control, achievement

Tags (LLR)

(continued)

Entrepreneurship, self-employment, education, tendency of locus of control, human capital, salary, financial performance, revenue, ability, expectation, change

Enterprise launch, entrepreneurship, ethnic minority entrepreneurship, college education, self-employment, UK, policy

Tags (MI)

66 2 Research Progress in Entrepreneurship Education

Size

17

15

15

Cluster

4

5

6

0.754

0.991

0.962

Contour value

Table 2.7 (continued)

2009

2001

2004

Average year of publication

Diffusion, entrepreneurial personality traits, cross-national initiative, redistribution of income and wealth, policy networks

Politics, non-metropolitan area, sexism, rural and urban comparison

Entrepreneurship research, excess publishing, donation to entrepreneurs, legalization, infrastructure

Tags (TF*IDF)

Development, higher education, policy networks, Africa, cross-national initiative, developing country, civil society, diffusion of innovations, reform, elite, crisis, entrepreneurial personality traits, gender productivity differences, sub-Saharan, female entrepreneur, small enterprise, redistribution of income and wealth, micro, China, Eastern Europe, coordination, EU, governance, converge

Sexism, rural and urban comparison, female, geography, non-metropolitan area, politics, situation, learning technology, cross-cultural learning, new enterprise, engineering education, assessment

History, entrepreneurship education programs, chairs for entrepreneurship, textbooks for entrepreneurship, donation to entrepreneurs, legalization, phenomenon of excess publishing, entrepreneurship journals capitalism, Schumpeter, problem-based learning, experiential learning, outcome-based education, curriculum design

Tags (LLR)

(continued)

Higher education, competition, market, market reforms, academic capitalism, public career, Bourdieu

Proof-of-concept center, transformation of technology, commercialization of technology, entrepreneurship, technology transfer, policies, commercialization, performance, innovation

Third mission, college, research, economic development, technology transfer, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, academic entrepreneurship

Tags (MI)

2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research 67

10

7

0.998

Contour value

2005

Average year of publication

Relationship between government and industry, triple helix, higher education, privatization of higher education, knowledge production

Tags (TF*IDF)

Entrepreneurial university, higher education in USA, Mode 2 Knowledge Production, organizational change, privatization of higher education, second academic revolution, triple helix structure, health innovation, biomedical research, full-time researcher, public health field, third mission, globalization, knowledge economy, Bayh–Dole Act, capitalism

Tags (LLR)

Decision, online survey, top management team, upper echelon, venture capital, venture capitalist’s assessment, entrepreneurial team, financial transaction, performance, heterogeneity, perception, dynamic, standard, impact

Tags (MI)

TF*IDF is a commonly used weighting technique for information retrieval and data mining to evaluate the importance of words to a document set or a document in a corpus. In CiteSpace, TF*IDF extracts words that emphasize the research mainstream. LLR is the ratio algorithm of logarithmic likelihood, MI is the algorithm of mutual information. In CiteSpace, the words extracted by the latter two algorithms emphasize the research characteristics

Size

Cluster

Table 2.7 (continued)

68 2 Research Progress in Entrepreneurship Education

2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research

69

Entrepreneurial Psychology of College Students Past research paid more attention to the influence of college students’ personal traits on entrepreneurial intentions, for example, self-efficacy, internal control sources, risk-taking tendency, achievement motivation, uncertainty tolerance, entrepreneurial alert, etc. In recent years, research based on the theory of planned behavior, proposed by Icek Ajzen, has focused on the impacting factors of entrepreneurial intention, as well as the research on the impact mechanism of entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial skills, entrepreneurial cognitive style, entrepreneurial social network and knowledge background on entrepreneurial attitude, intention and behavior. At the same time, some scholars have begun to study the entrepreneurial psychology of middle school students (Xu, Ni & Ye, 2016). Social Entrepreneurship Education and Minority (Weak) Group Empowerment Many scholars have begun to worry about overemphasizing the tension between economic and social relations brought about by commercialization and the question of whether entrepreneurship education that lacks social responsibility is sustainable. They regard social entrepreneurship education as an effective approach to social change, institutional innovation and talent cultivation (Pache & Chowdhury, 2012). Keywords such as “developing countries”, “civil society”, “ethnic minorities”, “women”, “redistribution”, “social responsibility”, “social stratification”, “third mission” and “public health” reflect this research in the field. At the same time, there are also some newer literature that explore the mechanisms influencing the psychology of social entrepreneurship (Hockerts, 2017). Entrepreneurship Learning Although the academic community has reached a consensus on whether entrepreneurship education can be taught, the questions of how to teach better and how to learn effectively remain to be explored. The practicality of entrepreneurship requires teachers to be more flexible, innovative and effective in teaching methods to carry out action-based, work-based and problem-based learning. And there exists more discussion on collaborative learning, experiential learning, constructivist learning theory, etc. (Pittaway & Cope, 2016).

2.1.4 The Frontiers and Knowledge Base Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research 2.1.4.1

Analysis on Research Frontiers

Based on software co-cited articles and the composite network clustering of the terms collected by CiteSpace, researchers labeled the terminologies that have been extracted from the abstracts. It was found that there was a sudden increase in the analysis of the research frontier (Liu, Chen, & Hou, 2008:11–24). In this study, a co-citation map was drawn by the software (Fig. 2.7). It was

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Fig. 2.7 Knowledge map of co-cited journal articles in entrepreneurial education research

found that the module value Modularity Q of the map analysis was 0.8852 > 0.3, which means that the partitioned module structure is significant, and the average contour value is S = 0.5454. > 0.5. In accordance with time, cluster size and contour value, we can find that the main research frontiers in entrepreneurship education are cluster 4, cluster 0, covering primary school stage, knowledge structure, scientific literacy, self-realization, transition economy, entrepreneurial competence, embedding, entrepreneurial financing education, venture capitalists, social capital, adult education, long-term tracking data, entrepreneurial discourse, female college students and so on. The summary results are as follows: (1)

(2)

(3)

Entrepreneurship education research in the future will focus not only on higher education, but also on entrepreneurship-related content in primary and secondary schools, as well as in adult education. Entrepreneurship education research will be more target-oriented. For example, there will be more research aim at female college students (compared with all college students), social capital (relative to human capital) and engineering students (relative to the general college students). And the research will tend to use long-term tracking data (compared to real-time research). Other psychological factors such as the integration of vocational education and entrepreneurship education, teaching method of interdisciplinary cooperation and mixed learning, affective domain of pride, etc. will be further reflected (Table 2.8).

Size

35

35

28

27

27

25

Cluster

0

1

2

3

4

5

0.811

0.764

0.798

0.814

0.837

0.664

Contour value

2003

2011

2009

2005

2004

2009

Average year of publication

Business plan, blended learning, teenagers, experience, interdisciplinary cooperation, minority entrepreneurship, psychological security

Elementary school period, knowledge structure, scientific literacy, self-actualization, transition economy

Entrepreneurial intention, self-efficacy, planned behavior, subjective norm, cultural capital

Higher education institutions, triple helix, entrepreneurship, market orientation

Female entrepreneurship, gender productivity differences, decision, risk propensity differences, achievement tendency, proactive personality, competition, human resources management

Entrepreneurial competencies, embed, financing of entrepreneurship education, venture capitalist, social capital, adult education, long-term trace data, language of entrepreneurship, female college student

Tags (TF*IDF)

Industry

Human resources management

Entrepreneurship education

Tags (MI)

Demographic factors, interaction between entrepreneurship and employment, project-based learning

(continued)

Paradigm

Competition mode, female entrepreneurship, Impact motivation, perception, middle school students

Prediction, organization science, distributed Entrepreneurial practice, personal attitude, behavior prediction, intention vocational technology education and training

Opportunity cost, intellectual property protection, strategic entrepreneurship, psychology

Perception of opportunity, cultivation of successors, family enterprise, experienced entrepreneur

Constructive alignment, entrepreneurial learning, assessment, curriculum, primary and secondary education, educator of vocational education

Tags (LLR)

Table 2.8 Co-occurrence clustering distribution of high-frequency emerging keywords in entrepreneurship education

2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research 71

Size

25

19

18

14

10

7

6

Cluster

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

0.963

0.965

0.938

0.881

0.971

0.939

0.721

Contour value

Table 2.8 (continued)

2007

2007

2002

2005

2008

1997

2005

Average year of publication

Formal education, unemployment rate, tough personality, career satisfaction, providing jobs

Organization, institutional entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, venture capital assessment, interdisciplinary team, management education

Performance, project, locus of control source, employee

Supply of entrepreneurship, knowledge economy, entrepreneurial culture, social responsibility, bankruptcy auction, curriculum reform, expectancy theory

Entrepreneurial skills, learning, training, self-regulation, social cognition, self-actualization

Role of country, governance of reforms, change the relationship between the government, education and industry

Engineering students, self-esteem, corporate entrepreneurship, educational measures

Tags (TF*IDF)

Intuition

Tags (MI)

Income, company size, endogeneity, duration, job satisfaction

Non-profit, embed, strategy, environment, institution

Pharmaceutical entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership, self-efficacy

Social responsibility, business mode, social entrepreneurship

Positive pride, negative pride, self-management

enter

Venture capital assessment

Small business owner

Intelligence

Positive pride

Multi-paradigm, organizational reform, higher For-profit higher education in Latin America education

Tendency, strategic decision, teachability, entrepreneurial motivation, entrepreneurial skills, immigration

Tags (LLR)

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Table 2.9 Most cited papers in the field of entrepreneurship education (top 12 articles) No. Times cited Centrality Year Title 1

74

0.11

2011 Entrepreneurship Education: Known Worlds and New Frontiers

2

70

0.12

2010 The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurship Skills and Motivation

3

57

0.16

2007 Do Entrepreneurship Programmes Raise Entrepreneurial Intention of Science and Engineering Students? The Effect of Learning, Inspiration and Resources

4

55

0.04

2013 Examining the Formation of Human Capital in Entrepreneurship: A Meta-analysis of Entrepreneurship Education Outcomes

5

46

0.06

2010 The Effects of Entrepreneurship Education

6

44

0.02

2009 Development and Cross-cultural Application of a Specific Instrument to Measure Entrepreneurial Intentions

7

38

0.02

2010 Entrepreneurship Education: A Review of Its Objectives, Teaching Methods, and Impact Indicators

8

37

0.00

2005 The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Education: Development, Trends, and Challenges

9

37

0.06

2007 Entrepreneurship Education: A Systematic Review of the Evidence

10

37

0.14

2007 Gender, Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy, and Entrepreneurial Career Intentions: Implications for Entrepreneurship Education

11

33

0.05

2008 From Craft to Science: Teaching Models and Learning Processes in Entrepreneurship Education

12

30

0.00

2014 The Relationship Between Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Meta-analytic Review

Analysis of Research Knowledge Base Classic literature often records important research findings in a certain direction in this field. Identifying the classic literature in entrepreneurship education plays an irreplaceable role in laying a solid foundation for research and in reviewing the research process. These papers also analyze the highly cited papers in this field and prioritize the first 12 articles (Table 2.9). From the co-citation analysis of journal articles, the biggest node is “Entrepreneurial Education: Known Worlds and New Boundaries” by Professors Heidi M. Neck and Patricia G. Greene from the Babson Business School, published in the Journal of Small Business Management. This article mainly explains that entrepreneurship education has experienced three stages: “entrepreneur”, “entrepreneurial process” and “entrepreneurial cognition”. The “entrepreneurs” phase is full of entrepreneurial myths and heroes, focusing on the analysis of entrepreneurs and personality traits, and discussing whether

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entrepreneurial success is cultivated or born, as well as the teaching methods emphasizing basic business knowledge. The “entrepreneurial process” stage prioritizes input and output, planning and forecast, attaching importance to the establishment of new enterprises, case-oriented teaching methods and entrepreneurial competitions. “Entrepreneurial cognition” stresses decision-making in entrepreneurial activities, concerning on entrepreneurs and the team. The teaching method is based on the simulation of entrepreneurship. The author criticizes these three worlds and proposes to make entrepreneurship a method, advocating value creation. This approach requires students to apply and act on the basis of knowing, understanding and discussion, and advocates the practice-based teaching method that integrates into “real game, observation, reflection, design” (Neck & Greene, 2011). The second classic paper is an experimental study of the impact of entrepreneurship education on skills and motivation. It is authored by Professor Mirjam van Praag of Copenhagen Business School and University of Amsterdam, published in the European Economic Review. The third classic one is a quantitative study based on the theory of planned behavior. The study argues that entrepreneurship education programs enhance students’ attitudes and overall entrepreneurial intentions, and “being inspired” can significantly improve the probabilities of students starting businesses. The conclusions of both studies offer insights on how to teach entrepreneurship. Other classics include “The Relationship between Entrepreneurial Education and Entrepreneurial Intention: A Review of Meta-analysis” by Professor Tae Jun Bae of the University of Louisville in the USA, published in The Theory and Practice of Entrepreneurship, “Tool Development and Intercultural Application for Measuring Intention to Intention” by Professor Francisco Liñán, University of Seville, Spain, also published in The Theory and Practice of Entrepreneurship, and “The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Education: Development, Trends and Challenges” by Professor Donald F. Kuratko of Indiana University, and “Personal Perspectives on Future Entrepreneurship Education” by Alain Fayolle from Lyon Business School, both published in Entrepreneurship and Regional Development. These authors are authoritative scholars in the field of entrepreneurial research.

2.1.5 Summary and Discussion Taking the authors, research institutions, keywords and cited references as variables, the study analyzes the journal papers published in the field of entrepreneurship education in the past 20 years and draws the knowledge map. It is found that there is no core journal in the field of entrepreneurship education research, and the core scholars are mainly from northern Europe and the USA. A subgroup of research institutions in entrepreneurship education, centered on Copenhagen Business School, has been formed. They focus on academic entrepreneurship, technology transformation, college students’ entrepreneurial psychology, social entrepreneurship, empowerment of disadvantaged groups,

2.1 Visual Analysis of International Entrepreneurship Education Research

75

entrepreneurial learning, etc. The research frontier can be summarized as the following aspects: primary school, knowledge structure, science literacy, selfrealization, transformation economy, entrepreneurial competency, embedding, entrepreneurial financing education, venture capitalist, social capital, adult education, long-term tracking data, entrepreneurial discourse, female college students, etc. Based on the analysis of the situation of international entrepreneurship education research, this study also explores the research interests and frontiers of international scholars, which can provide a unique perspective for the comparison of domestic and foreign entrepreneurial education research and the international development of entrepreneurship education research. In terms of research interest, domestic research is more focused on how to practice entrepreneurship, such as how to construct curriculum, teachers’ group, and platforms, how the entire system is ecologically established and how foreign countries effectively implement entrepreneurship education. Domestic researchers mostly keep their eyes on pedagogy, barely involving other disciplines. Foreign research, starting from other disciplines, has more explanations of why entrepreneurship education is carried out. For example, why do educators need to stress the cultivation of college students’ entrepreneurial intentions and enhance their entrepreneurial attitudes? Why do they need to pay attention to the subordinate concepts such as social entrepreneurship, academic entrepreneurship and lean entrepreneurship? And, why it is most effective to adopt a certain learning method? The others carry out the study of entrepreneurial education from the perspectives of psychology, sociology, economics, curriculum and teaching theory. With regard to research purposes, entrepreneurship education research in China is more policy-oriented and tends to adopt a grand narrative approach. The research conclusions are more likely to put forward relevant policy recommendations for the development of entrepreneurship education in China’s colleges and universities, and provide references for the central and local governments. However, analysis of individual, cases and special fields of entrepreneurship education on a micro-level is lacking. Although foreign studies have also launched such research, the proportion is relatively low. Many studies aim to provide guidance on methods and content for improving the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. Papers relating to policy recommendations focus more on how to bring into full play the external benefits of entrepreneurship education. The research conclusions can be used as references for relevant stakeholders in universities and regions. In terms of research methods, the empirical proportion of foreign research is relatively high, accompanied by the scientific orientation in entrepreneurship education research. The research on college students’ entrepreneurial psychology attaches importance to the theoretical basis. For example, there are some theories that have drawn attention to entrepreneurship education research, such as those on planning behavior, decision logic, human capital, social capital, self-efficacy, selfdetermination and interpretation level. Numerous empirical researches have applied those theories to entrepreneurial situations, enriching the study of entrepreneurship

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education. In comparison, although some studies in China have proposed reasonable and feasible policy recommendations, they lack certain support in theoretical foundations and scientific facts. From the perspective of the concept extension of entrepreneurship, foreign research still takes a leading position in this regard. Foreign scholars, prior to domestic scholars, pay more attention to the extension of entrepreneurial concepts such as social entrepreneurship, academic entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurship and rural entrepreneurship. They have previously analyzed and defined related concepts. In recent years, however, domestic scholars have also conducted a series of research on intra-entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. The individualized research on the subordinate concept of entrepreneurship, rather than general discussion of entrepreneurship, contributed to laying the foundation for entrepreneurship education research. The importance of theory and method cannot be ignored in the scientific development of entrepreneurship education in China. It is imperative to promptly clarify the terminology of entrepreneurship education, and systematically compare and evaluate the popular theory related to entrepreneurship education in social science, so as to form a theoretical system that is in line with its own development. Scholars are required to obtain a comprehensive picture of entrepreneurship education through extensive investigation, and discover, identify and study the constant nature of venture activities and college students’ entrepreneurship. Besides, they should acquire consensus on the major issues in entrepreneurship education development on the basis of continuously updating the existing knowledge base.

2.2 Development Characteristics and Trends of China’s Entrepreneurship Education Research in the Past Decade The past 20 years have witnessed the development in China’s entrepreneurship education since the first “Challenge Cup” China University Student Entrepreneurship Competition in 1998. However, it is just in the recent 10 years, since 2009, that entrepreneurship education became the focus of China’s higher education reform and social development. In 2009, the Second Session of the 11th National People’s Congress officially proposed “encouraging university graduates to start their own businesses”, which launched a comprehensive policy-led entrepreneurship education. In 2010, the Ministry of Education promulgated Opinions on Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Colleges and Universities and Selfemployment of College Students. In 2015, Opinions of the General Office of the State Council for the Implementation of Deepening Education Reform on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Universities and Colleges was issued. Then, the proclaiming of Opinions of the State Council on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Creating an Upgraded Version of Entrepreneurship

2.2 Development Characteristics and Trends of China’s …

77

and Innovation among All the People further clarifies the strategy of innovation and entrepreneurship-driven development. Therefore, 2009 to 2018 was the significant decade of entrepreneurship education development and research. In order to comprehensively analyze the overall situation and important achievements of entrepreneurship education research in the past decade, this study summarizes the research situation of entrepreneurship education from the horizontal and vertical dimensions. Horizontally, by means of literature analysis software, the study counted the distribution of books, journal articles and scientific research projects with the theme of entrepreneurship education to reflect the overall scale of entrepreneurship education research during the period 2009 to 2018. Vertically, by analyzing and comparing the characteristics of the keyword co-occurrence network of the research papers from 2009 to 2018, this study examines the type, distribution and change of state to reflect the distribution characteristics and development trends of the research focus of entrepreneurship education in the past decade. In these ways, scholars can form their focus and orientation of future research.

2.2.1 Types and Scale of Research Results The achievements of entrepreneurship education research are mainly represented by books, journal articles, scientific research projects and award-winning projects. In accordance with searches in Reading Show, HowNet, Web of Science, etc. from 2009 to 2018, there are research results of those four types with the theme of entrepreneurship education, as shown in Table 2.10.

2.2.1.1

Publication of Books

Taking the very large database, Du Xiu, as a search platform and using “entrepreneurship” as the keyword, a total of 9411 books were retrieved, including 131 in the year 2018, 610 in 2017, 862 in 2016, 504 in 2015, 395 in 2014, 447 in 2013, 500 in 2012, 743 in 2011, 768 in 2010 and 515 in 2009. By taking “entrepreneurship education” as the keyword, a total of 2,907 books relating to entrepreneurship education that were officially published on the platform were searched, and 1,706 books were published between 2009 and 2018: 21 in 2018, 150 in 2017, and 227 in 2016, 150 in 2015, 114 in 2014, 150 in 2013, 178 in 2012, 256 in 2011, 285 in 2010 and 175 in 2009. Utilizing “university students’ innovative undertaking” as the keyword, a total of 1401 officially published books were obtained: 22 in 2018, 112 in 2017, 121 in 2016, 87 in 2015, 62 in 2014, 71 in 2013, 111 in 2012, 141 in 2011, 207 in 2010 and 107 in 2009. Judging from books published about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, the years 2009 and 2015 are two key points in time. In the two years after 2009 and 2015, there have been significant increases in the number of books published. Reviewing the progress of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education research in China, 2009 and 2015 are indeed two important time nodes

50

Ministry of Education

Total

65

22

19

24

66

578

150

2017

55

8

23

24

41

480

227

2016

48

15

20

13

30

407

150

2015

Note The data is compiled according to the statistics published by the relevant platform.

20 8

NSFC

22

77

SCI, SSCIa

Papers

NCPSSD

475

CSSCI

Books

Research projects

2018 21

Type

a SCI,

34

4

17

13

22

248

114

34

5

11

18

19

244

150

2013

34

0

17

17

15

261

178

2012

32

2

14

16

14

280

256

2011

40

10

12

18

13

244

285

2010

SSCI papers by Chinese authors are counted

2014

Table 2.10 Statistical table of research achievements relating to entrepreneurship education, 2009–2018

21

4

5

12

8

188

175

2009

413

78

158

177

305

3405

1706

总计

78 2 Research Progress in Entrepreneurship Education

2.2 Development Characteristics and Trends of China’s …

79

(Huang et al., 2018). Due to the certain hysteresis in the quality of book publishing, the change in the number reflects the research environment and field characteristics of entrepreneurship education development. The books published between 2009 and 2018 can be divided into four categories in terms of content analysis: entrepreneurship education research, career planning and entrepreneurship guidance, entrepreneurship education textbooks, and entrepreneurship education case collection. Among them, entrepreneurship education materials, career planning and entrepreneurial guidance are the main types. In recent years, a number of textbooks have been published throughout the country under the names of “Entrepreneurship Education”, “Entrepreneurship Foundation” and “College Students Entrepreneurship Education”, showing the demand for basic education materials for entrepreneurship education in various regions and universities. Nevertheless, there is still no commonly used basic textbook for entrepreneurship education nationwide. Different textbooks in various places reflect certain local and school-based characteristics. The content of college students’ career planning and entrepreneurship guidance usually appears in the same book, demonstrating the high realistic relevance of college students’ entrepreneurship and employment. Although entrepreneurship education research books are not high in proportion, it covers a wide range of research scope, mainly involving foreign entrepreneurship education research, entrepreneurial talent training process, entrepreneurship education support system, entrepreneurship training, entrepreneurial psychology research and other aspects. Among them, the quantity of books relating to entrepreneurial talent training process is the largest, including the connotation of entrepreneurship education, the establishment of an entrepreneurship curriculum system, talent training mechanism, practice exploration, etc. These are followed by research on entrepreneurship education support system. There is relatively less study in entrepreneurial psychology.

2.2.1.2

Publication of Journal Articles

Compared with other types of research results, journal papers are characterized by strong timeliness, multiple themes and rich sources. Using CNKI as the search platform and entrepreneurship education as the subject, there are in total 43,771 papers relating to entrepreneurship education between 2009 and 2018. In addition, 3,405 research papers of CSSCI journals were searched. The distribution and overall trends of the relevant articles are shown in Table 2.10 and Fig. 2.8.6 In addition, Web of Science is used as a search platform to select articles from SCI and SSCI, with “entrepreneurship education”, “maker education”, “entrepreneurial course” and “university students’ entrepreneurship” as keywords, and China as the author’s nationality. In these approaches, there are in total 305 papers published from 2009 to 2018, 77 of which were published in 2018, 66 in 2017, 41 in 2016, 30 in 6

The retrieval was performed on January 20, 2019, and the time section of the literature was from 2009 to 2018.

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Fig. 2.8 General trend analysis of research papers of entrepreneurship education (CSSCI) (total number of articles: 3405)

2015, 22 in 2014, 19 in 2013, 15 in 2012, 14 in 2011, 13 in 2010 and eight in 2009. Statistics show that research papers relating to entrepreneurship education published by Chinese authors in foreign-language periodicals have increased year by year, but it is far lower than that in Chinese journals. This phenomenon indicates that there is still great room for improving the influence of China’s entrepreneurship education research in the international academic field.

2.2.1.3

Quantity of Related Scientific Research Projects

Based on the National Social Science Fund Project Database, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Science Fund Network Information System and the website of the Ministry of Education, this study used “entrepreneurship” as a keyword to search and selected 413 research projects relating to entrepreneurship education from 2009 to 2018. Of these, 50 projects were carried out in 2018, 65 in 2017, 55 in 2016, 48 in 2015, 34 in 2014, 34 in 2013, 34 in 2012, 32 in 2011, 40 in 2010 and 21 in 2009. In addition, there are 177 projects that belong to the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social, 158 are subordinated to National Natural Science Foundation of China and 78 are planning projects of the Ministry of Education.

2.2.1.4

Awarded Projects for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Achievements

According to incomplete statistics, the research achievements relating to innovation and entrepreneurship education have won three awards for outstanding achievements in scientific research in colleges and universities and six national education science outstanding achievements awards (seventh session) (humanities and social sciences).7 7

The award of outstanding achievement in scientific research in institutions of higher learning is given every four years. At the time of the statistics, the eighth outstanding achievement award of

2.2 Development Characteristics and Trends of China’s …

81

Fig. 2.9 Distribution of research topics in entrepreneurship education (2009–2018)

2.2.2 Basic Distribution Characteristics of Entrepreneurship Education Research Taking the 3405 CSSCI journal articles from 2009 to 2018 from CNKI, the author analyzed the distribution characteristics of entrepreneurship education research in terms of theme, type, discipline, organization, research level and keywords, by means of quantitative visualization analysis software.8

2.2.2.1

Distribution of Research Topics

In the past 10 years, the research on entrepreneurship education has been more extensive and in-depth. The specific topics include entrepreneurship education, innovation and entrepreneurship education, college students’ entrepreneurship, innovation and entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs, college students’ entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial competence, entrepreneurial activities, business management, entrepreneurial universities, talent cultivation, foreign entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial willingness, entrepreneurship education curriculum, entrepreneurial influence factors and other aspects, as shown in Fig. 2.9.

scientific research in institutions of higher learning (2014–2018) has not been announced yet, and the seventh award winner was counted only from 2009 to 2018. 8 The specific operations are as follows: search journal literature with entrepreneurship education as the theme on the Knowledge Network platform, select the time span required for the research and select CSSCI journals as the literature selection standard. Quantitative visualization analysis is used to analyze the research subject, co-occurrence network relationship of keywords, discipline distribution, institution distribution, journal distribution and so on, and generate corresponding maps and data.

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Fig. 2.10 Distribution of keywords (2009–2018)

2.2.2.2

Distribution of Research Hotspots

In accordance with the word frequency distribution of high-frequency keywords in entrepreneurship education,9 the first 10 keywords are “entrepreneurship education”, “college students”, “innovation and entrepreneurship education”, “venture”, “innovation and entrepreneurship”, “HEIs”, “college students’ entrepreneurship”, “talent cultivation”, “entrepreneurship competence” and “entrepreneurial universities”. The distribution of the top 30 keywords in the ranking is shown in Fig. 2.10. Through the analysis on keyword relationships by clusters 3, 4, 5 and 6, the research categories and center point are shown in Table 2.11, and the keyword cooccurrence map is shown in Fig. 2.11. By reviewing the keyword co-occurrence network and analyzing the categories and central points of the relationship network, we can clearly find out the six hotspots of entrepreneurship education research from 2009 to 2018.

9

High-frequency keywords are the subject focus of researchers in a certain research field. Highfrequency keywords obtained by word frequency analysis can reveal the research hotspots in related research fields. Keywords with high centrality in knowledge network are easy to become inflection points in the evolution of a keyword network map, which play an important role in linking knowledge and can reflect the research hotspots in a certain discipline to some extent. Reference: Qiu and Liu (2013).

2.2 Development Characteristics and Trends of China’s …

83

Table 2.11 Types and center points of cluster analysis (2009–2018, total number: 3405) Cluster Network of relationship between types and co-occurrence

Center point

3

(1) College student entrepreneurship and innovation and entrepreneurship education (entrepreneurship, innovation, innovation and entrepreneurship, HEIs, innovation and entrepreneurship education, talent cultivation, entrepreneurial policy, entrepreneurial environment, entrepreneurial willingness, entrepreneurial competence, influencing factors, entrepreneurial intention) (2) Higher education and entrepreneurial university (innovation, innovation and entrepreneurship, innovation and entrepreneurship education, college student, entrepreneurship) (3) Maker space (innovation and entrepreneurship, college student entrepreneurship)

College students Higher education; entrepreneurial university

4

(4) Employment (college student, entrepreneurship)

Same as 3

5

(5) Countermeasures (college student, HEIs, college student entrepreneurship)

Same as 3

6

(6) “Higher education” and “entrepreneurial university” become two categories

College student

Note Cluster 4 category refers to the new category on the basis of the cluster 3; cluster 5 category is the new category on the cluster 4; cluster 6 category is the adjustment on the cluster 5

Fig. 2.11 Entrepreneurship education research relationship network and its center point, 2009– 2018 (3,405 papers)

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“Same as 3” means that the center point is consistent with cluster 3. (1)

(2)

(3) (4)

(5) (6)

Research on college students’ entrepreneurship and innovation and entrepreneurship education. This is the most crucial hotspot of related research from 2009 to 2018. The keyword co-occurrence network relationship (see Fig. 2.11) mainly manifests two major blocks of research in this field, focusing on college innovation, entrepreneurial activities, and innovation and entrepreneurship education in HEIs. On the other hand, it takes college students as the target to conduct studies on entrepreneurial policy, entrepreneurial willingness, entrepreneurial environment, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial competence, and influencing factors. At the same time, research in this field has intersected with that of higher education, countermeasures and employment. Research on higher education reform and innovation and entrepreneurship education. It pays attention to higher education innovation, college students’ innovation and entrepreneurship, college students’ innovation and entrepreneurship education, the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial universities, and the relationship between entrepreneurial universities and higher education. Research on the entrepreneurial university. It is related to entrepreneurship, innovation and entrepreneurship, higher education and other issues. Research on countermeasures relating to entrepreneurship. It focuses on the relationship among colleges and entrepreneurial countermeasures, college students’ entrepreneurship and countermeasures. Research on employment and entrepreneurship of college students. Research on maker space. It attaches importance to the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship and maker space, college students’ entrepreneurship and maker space.

2.2.2.3

Research Level and Discipline Distribution

In light of research level, entrepreneurship education research is mainly built on social science basic research (72.57%), accompanied by higher education research (13.06%), policy research (social science) (7.79%) and industry guidance (6.05). It also involves basic and applied basic research (nature) (0.32%), career guidance (0.15%) and policy research (nature) (0.06%). The research-level distribution map is shown in Fig. 2.12. From the perspective of disciplinary distribution, entrepreneurship education research is mainly centered on the study of education disciplines. It also conducted research in the fields of management, economics, sociology, ideological and political education, news communication, etc. It can be seen that entrepreneurship education research is a comprehensively cross-study field that requires collaborative research under a multidisciplinary context. The discipline distribution map is shown in Fig. 2.13.

2.2 Development Characteristics and Trends of China’s …

85

Fig. 2.12 Research levels of entrepreneurship education research

Fig. 2.13 Subject distribution of entrepreneurship education research

2.2.2.4

Distribution of Funds

Entrepreneurship education research is supported by various funds. The distribution of relevant funds with more than three articles published is shown in Fig. 2.14.

2.2.2.5

Institutions with High Publishing Frequency

The statistical distribution of institutions with high publishing frequency in entrepreneurship education is shown in Fig. 2.15. The top 10 are: Zhejiang University

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Fig. 2.14 Distribution of funds in entrepreneurship education research (2009–2018)

(137), Wenzhou University (111), Northeast Normal University (99), Jilin University (75), Tsinghua University (54), Jiangsu University (53), Wuhan University (44), East China Normal University (38), Nanjing University (37) and Wenzhou Medical University (36).

2.2.2.6

Distribution of Periodicals

From 2009 to 2018, CSSCI journals that published over 100 research papers on entrepreneurship education include: China Higher Education (223), Heilongjiang Higher Education Research (190), Chinese University Science & Technology (160), Research in Higher Education of Engineering (149), Exploring Education Development (138), China Higher Education Research (106) and Jiangsu Higher Education (105). Generally speaking, higher education journals prefer to publish articles on entrepreneurship education which has been a key issue in the field of higher education. Nevertheless, basic education is less concerned about entrepreneurship education (Fig. 2.16)

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Fig. 2.15 Institutions with high publishing frequency in entrepreneurship education, 2009–2018

Fig. 2.16 Publishing status of entrepreneurship education research papers in journals, 2009–2018

2.2.3 The Mainstream Research Team and Its Research Characteristics In line with the results of institutions and authors with high publishing frequency, the following major research teams are obtained: College of Education, Zhejiang University; College of Entrepreneurship, Wenzhou University; School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Wenzhou Medical University; and Ideological and Political

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Education Research Center, Northeast Normal University. Moreover, strong partnership closely ties the three team together, and they are all subordinate to the UNESCO Entrepreneurship Education Network National Chapter of China, founded in October 2014.

2.2.3.1

Team in College of Education, Zhejiang University

Basic Situation of the Team The team in College of Education, Zhejiang University, led by Professor Xu Xiaozhou, consists of Dr. Mei Weihui, Dr. Ni Hao and Prof. Ye Yinghua. The team focuses on the major and frontier issues in the implementation of entrepreneurship education and studies the concepts of entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship education system innovation, entrepreneurship education curriculum and evaluation, entrepreneurial universities, entrepreneurial ecosystem, entrepreneurial psychology, etc. In addition, there are innovative discussions on international comparison on entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship education curriculum and entrepreneurial ecosystem construction. From 2009 to 2018, the team published 96 papers relevant to entrepreneurship education, including 69 in CSSCI journals. According to incomplete statistics, this team has published eight papers in SSCI journals, one entrepreneurial education research book and two entrepreneurship education textbooks. From 2009 to 2018, there were 15 research projects relating to entrepreneurship education in Zhejiang University, two of which belongs to the National Social Sciences Foundation Projects, 10 are supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and three planning projects are under the Ministry of Education. The team has achieved outstanding performance at the levels of publications, project undertakings, research cooperation in HEIs, international entrepreneurship education exchange, etc. It is also forward-looking and leading in entrepreneurship education research. The research results cover books, textbooks, journal articles, projects and awards, with a high level of comprehensive research and great social influence. The keywords of the first five types of research by the team have high co-occurrence frequency, and the ball distance of the research nodes is relatively close, which shows that all kinds of research are closely related (Fig. 2.17). Research Features of the Team On the basis of the cluster analysis of the research keyword co-occurrence network, there are six types of research relationship in the team of College of Education, Zhejiang University: (1) Research on entrepreneurship education: focus on the connotation and significance of entrepreneurship education; (2) Relevant research on entrepreneurship education: mainly emphasizing entrepreneurial ecosystem, social entrepreneurship, and Japanese social entrepreneurship research that center on university; relationship between entrepreneurship education and ecosystem, and social entrepreneurship; entrepreneurship education in HEIs (UK), entrepreneurial spirit research; research on entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial quality and

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Fig. 2.17 Paper relationship network in College of Education, Zhejiang University, 2009–2010

entrepreneurial intention; (3) Research on college students’ entrepreneurial policy; (4) Entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial experience learning research; (5) Characteristics and enlightenment of university entrepreneurship education; (6) Research on the relationship between entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education alliance and talent cultivation. The top five research keywords of the team obtain a high co-occurrence frequency, and the pitch of the research nodes is relatively close, indicating the joint correlation of various studies (Fig. 2.17). There are several distinct research features of the team in College of Education, Zhejiang University: 1.

Sustainable and stable research of high quality

The team’s research continued to be stable, with the average annual publication volume in the 10-year period remaining at a high level (Fig. 2.18). At the same time, the research results are of a high quality. The top six journals that published papers from the team include: Educational Research (10), Research in Higher Education of Engineering (1), China Higher Education Research (8), Research in Educational Development (7), Comparative Education Review (6) and Research on Higher Education (5). The specific journal distribution of the papers is shown in Fig. 2.19. The fund distribution of the research paper also manifests the comparatively high quality: National Social Science Fund (22), National Education Science Planning Fund (11), National Natural Science Foundation (5), Zhejiang Natural Science Foundation (5), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (1), National Scholarship Fund (1). 2.

The entrepreneurship education research team plays a leading and demonstrative role

The team, focusing on entrepreneurship education, conducts extensive and in-depth research. During the research and development processes, the research team has played a leading and exemplary role in improving the theoretical research level, research subjects and research themes of innovation and entrepreneurship education.

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Fig. 2.18 Quantity of papers published in College of Education, Zhejiang University, 2009–2018 (quantity in 2019 is the predicted value)

Fig. 2.19 Journal distribution of papers published by College of Education, Zhejiang University, 2009–2018

The main advanced research fields of the team’s strengths are: social entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship education ecosystem, college students’ entrepreneurial policies and entrepreneurial psychology research. In 2014, the team took the lead in advocating the concept of social entrepreneurship in China (Ye & Xu, 2014), distinguishing social entrepreneurship from commercial entrepreneurship. It emphasized the role of social entrepreneurship as a new form of contemporary entrepreneurship in integrating resources to alleviate poverty and solve the social problems of marginalized groups. Moreover, the team proposes that social entrepreneurship may become a significant approach in solving the disadvantaged position of vulnerable groups in China. After that, the team members systematically expounded on the experience of Japanese social entrepreneurship (Liu, 2015) and American social entrepreneurship (Kan, 2016), the basic connotation and implementation mode of social entrepreneurship education in HEIs (Ni, 2015), and the development trend and strategy of social entrepreneurship education (Xu & Ni, 2017), which attracted the attention of domestic researchers.

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The team’s research prioritizes the major issues of theoretical research and practical exploration of entrepreneurship education. It proposes the top-level design of entrepreneurship education, pays attention to research on the concept, orientation and goal of entrepreneurial education’s ecological development and puts forward the GALCHS entrepreneurial education ecological development theory. The theory argues that China’s entrepreneurial education ecosystem should build a GALCHS entrepreneurial education ecological development theory: Global, All and Lifelong as external drives, Complementary, Holistic and Sustainable as the internal stress (Xu & Wang, 2016). The research team also forwards the vision and strategies of building an innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem by 2050. Working toward 2050, China’s higher entrepreneurship education should focus on building a horizontal cooperative system and a vertical school system, and gradually improve the innovation-driven entrepreneurship education ecosystem. The strategic planning needs to balance overall and long-term development. We also need to open minds, break the institutional barriers, create a symbolic and sustainable entrepreneurship education chain and build a global community for entrepreneurship education embedded with competition and sharing (Xu & Ni, 2018). The team lays great stress on research relating to entrepreneurial psychology and has done comparative systematic research on entrepreneurial psychological factors such as entrepreneurial cognition, entrepreneurial decision-making, entrepreneurial belief, entrepreneurial skill model, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial quality and entrepreneurial spirit (Ye & Xu, 2018). Entrepreneurial policy research is also one of the focuses of the team’s research. Most of the team members, due to their discipline background of comparative education research, have focused and conducted systematic studies on entrepreneurship education and policies in the UK, the USA, the European Union, Japan, India and Pakistan, in the early stage of entrepreneurship education development (Xu & Hu, 2010). In recent years, the analysis of the entrepreneurship system in Chinese HEIs and college students’ entrepreneurial policy has also been a focus of the team (Mei & Meng, 2016; Xu et al, 2018). 3.

Leadership of the team in international research and international exchange in entrepreneurship education

The team has certain international influence in long-term academic activities. For example, UNESCO approved the establishment of the UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurial Education at Zhejiang University with Professor Xu Xiaozhou as the chair. Zhejiang University also took the chairman of the UNESCO Entrepreneurship Education Network National Chapter of China, with Professor Xu Xiaozhou as the president. They have hosted international academic conferences on entrepreneurship education and have undertaken a great deal of international cooperation projects for entrepreneurship education research. In addition, they founded the English-language journal, Entrepreneurship Education.

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2.2.3.2

College of Entrepreneurship, Wenzhou University, and School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Wenzhou Medical University

The College of Entrepreneurship, Wenzhou University, and School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Wenzhou Medical University are important forces in entrepreneurship education, led by Professors Huang Zhaoxin and Shi Yongchuan. Professor Huang has worked in the two universities successively and accumulated a crossschool entrepreneurship education research team. From 2009 to 2018, the College of Entrepreneurship, Wenzhou University published 52 articles related to entrepreneurship education, 41 of which are in CSSCI journals. The School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Wenzhou Medical University published 19 papers related to entrepreneurship education, 18 of which are in CSSCI journals. According to incomplete statistics, there are 10 relevant research projects in the two universities, including six subordinated to national social science funds and four planning projects of the Ministry of Education. The research papers of the College of Entrepreneurship, Wenzhou University are mainly concentrated in the period 2011 to 2015, with an average of more than six articles per year. However, after 2016, with the departure of Professor Huang from the university, the paper issued by the team decreased, with two articles per year from 2016 to 2018. Meanwhile, they started research on innovation and entrepreneurship education in 2016, with more than five articles published each year. According to the cluster analysis, the research of College of Entrepreneurship, Wenzhou University mainly presents four independent categories. The four types of research are: (1)

(2)

(3) (4)

Research on entrepreneurship education. Centering on entrepreneurship education, they focus on basic points and related relationships among maker space, local HEIs, specialized education, HEIs, university students, the European Union and development strategies; Research on new generation of migrant workers. They pay attention to the relationship between the new generation of migrant workers and entrepreneurial performance, as well as entrepreneurship education; Research on the era of mass innovation and innovation 2.0; College entrepreneurship education.

The cluster analysis of Wenzhou Medical University shows that their research is mainly divided into three categories with low keyword co-occurrence. The correlation of each node in the same category is also very low, indicating that each study is very independent, and the research involves a wide range but is still lacking in systematicity. (1)

Research on entrepreneurship education, involving entrepreneurship education and specialized education, interdisciplinary education; entrepreneurship education, ecosystem, social entrepreneurship; art-based college students’ entrepreneurial competence;

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Fig. 2.20 Keyword co-occurrence network of College of Entrepreneurship, Wenzhou University, 2009–2018

Fig. 2.21 Keyword co-occurrence network of Wenzhou Medical University, 2009–2018

(2)

(3)

Research on university students’ entrepreneurship, innovation and entrepreneurship education, university student village officials, post-entrepreneurship and training mechanisms; Entrepreneurial university research; comparative research (Figs. 2.20 and 2.21). The teams of the two universities have several obvious research features:

1.

Focus on hotspots, and strong learning ability

The research teams, equipped with a strong learning ability, are highly sensitive to the issue of innovation and entrepreneurship education. The research topic closely follows the hot topic of the frontier in the field, covering a wide range of topics, such as (HEIs) innovation and entrepreneurship education, college students’

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venture and entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship education ecosystem, entrepreneurial ability, entrepreneurial education reform in the era of mass innovation, EU entrepreneurship education and maker education. The team members are highly cooperative and publish papers at a high frequency, enjoying strong local influence. 2.

Emphasis on entrepreneurial practice research, reflecting local and school characteristics

Teams give priority to the practice of entrepreneurship and pay early attention to the issues of entrepreneurial parks, post-entrepreneurship (Huang et al., 2014), the integration of college entrepreneurship education and specialized education (Huang & Wang, 2013; Zeng & Huang, 2010), entrepreneurship education courses (Huang & Guo, 2012), and the new generation of migrant workers (Li et al., 2011). They also attach more attention to entrepreneurship in local colleges and universities (Huang, Wang, & Liu, 2015) and maker education (Wang, Wang, & Bao, 2015).

2.2.3.3

Research Center for Ideological and Political Education of Northeast Normal University

From 2009 to 2018, the Center for Ideological and Political Education of Northeast Normal University published 70 papers relating to entrepreneurship education, 57 of them in CSSCI journals. According to incomplete statistics, there are nine research projects relating to entrepreneurship education in Northeast Normal University, four national social science funds projects and five planning projects of the Ministry of Education. The team’s output in the past 10 years has been fluctuating. The annual number of papers published from 2015 to 2018 is more than 10 (Fig. 2.22). There are numerous team members, with Professor Wang Zhanren as the core. The main team members include Shang Yingmei, Liu Zhi, Li Yayuan, Zou Yunlong, Zhu Chunnan, Chang Sasa and so on.

Fig. 2.22 Annual trends of publication by the Center for Ideological and Political Education of Northeast Normal University, 2009–2018

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Fig. 2.23 Keyword co-occurrence network of Research Center for Ideological and Political Education of Northeast Normal University

The cluster analysis of the keyword co-occurrence network demonstrates that there are six types of relationships in the research of the Center for Ideological and Political Education of Northeast Normal University (Fig. 2.23). (1)

(2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Research on entrepreneurship education. With entrepreneurship education at the center, the team focuses on college students, entrepreneurship education, HEIs, entrepreneurial intentions, entrepreneurial competence, entrepreneurial practice, ecosystem, Korean entrepreneurship education, etc.; Double-sided construction of innovation and entrepreneurship education and ideological and political education; Research on the historical origin and development enlightenment of entrepreneurship education (HEIs); Broad-spectrum innovation and entrepreneurship, and employment education; EU innovation and entrepreneurship education; Education and entrepreneurship.

Distinctive features of the team’s research: 1.

Emphasis on theoretical research on entrepreneurship education

The team attaches great importance to the connotative study of entrepreneurship education and focuses on the essence of entrepreneurship education (Liu, 2017), the core concept of entrepreneurship education research (Wang & Chang, 2015), the historical origin of Western entrepreneurship education concept (Cao & Zou, 2016), the historical origin and trend of China’s entrepreneurship education (Wang, 2015), putting forward the “broad-spectrum” innovation and entrepreneurship education theory (Wang, 2015). It prioritizes “for all students”, “combined with professional education” and “integration into the whole process of talent cultivation”. Regarding “full coverage”, “leveling” and “differentiation” as the basic objectives, it strives to achieve close integration between “for all” and “teaching for different levels”, joint connection between the school education and continuing education, and overall planning between the quality education and the vocational education. There are four system

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structures: common knowledge type, embedded type and professional type. Extensive and systematic research of the team enriches the theoretical foundation of entrepreneurship education research. 2.

The combination of entrepreneurship education research and ideological and political education research

A significant feature of the research team is the ideological and political education in entrepreneurship education. On the basis of ideological and political education, the team has long paid attention to research on the relationship between ideological and political education and entrepreneurship education (Wang, 2018) and has been exploring its two-way construction (Song & Wang, 2017). A large number of related research papers have also been published in journals in the fields of philosophy and ideological politics. The top six journals that published the team’s papers are Journal of Northeast Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences), Ideological and Theoretical Education, Journal of Chinese Youth Social Science, Chinese Youth Study, Social Science Front and Studies in Ideological Education.

2.2.4 Development Trend Characteristics of Entrepreneurship Education Research 2.2.4.1

Changes in Research Hotspots

The annual keyword network co-occurrence analysis from 2009 to 2018 shows changes in the research hotspots and pivots of entrepreneurship education each year. The detailed results are shown in Table 2.12. In 2009, the six research categories of cluster analysis were: (1) entrepreneurship education; (2) entrepreneurial economy and entrepreneurship policy; (3) entrepreneurial competence; (4) college student entrepreneurship; (5) training model; and (6) innovation. There are three focuses: entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship competence and entrepreneurship policy. The main co-existing networks centered on entrepreneurship education are: employment, entrepreneurship, innovation, entrepreneurial policy, college students, entrepreneurial competence, HEIs and curriculum systems. The entrepreneurial policy-oriented main co-existing networks are: entrepreneurial economy, entrepreneurial environment, entrepreneurship and college students. The main co-existing networks focused on entrepreneurial abilities are: university students, self-employment, training, training mode, entrepreneurial environment, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. One of the hotspots of research is the entrepreneurial policy based on the entrepreneurial economy. In 2010, the six research categories were: (1) entrepreneurship education; (2) college student entrepreneurship; (3) self-employment; (4) employment; (5) higher vocational colleges; and (6) entrepreneurial policies. There exists relatively independent research blocks in self-employment, employment and entrepreneurship

• Entrepreneurship education (employment, entrepreneurship, innovation, entrepreneurial policy, college students, entrepreneurial competence, HEIs, curriculum systems); • Entrepreneurial policy (entrepreneurial economy, entrepreneurial environment, entrepreneurship, college students); • Entrepreneurial competence (university students, self-employment, training, training mode, entrepreneurial environment, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education)

Entrepreneurship education; Entrepreneurial economy and policy; Entrepreneurial competence; College student entrepreneurship; Training model; Innovation

Entrepreneurship education; College student entrepreneurship; Self-employment; Employment; Higher vocational colleges; Entrepreneurial policies

Entrepreneurship; College student entrepreneurship; Talent training; Entrepreneurship education in HEIs; College entrepreneurship education problems; Innovation ability of higher education

2009 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

2010 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

2011 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

(continued)

• Entrepreneurship (innovation, entrepreneurial policy, entrepreneurial university, entrepreneurial competence, college students, HEIs); • College student entrepreneurship (self-employment, entrepreneurial environment); • Talent cultivation (innovation and entrepreneurship, local colleges and universities, innovation and entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial competence, entrepreneurial universities); • Higher education (innovation ability, university); • HEIs (problems, innovation, entrepreneurship)

• Entrepreneurship education (new elements that are added to the co-existing network cover entrepreneurial awareness, influencing factors, talent cultivation, countermeasures, models, and entrepreneurial environments); • Entrepreneurial policy (* self-employment); • Entrepreneurial competence (* university graduates, college students)

Center point and its co-occurrence network and change

Year Research type

Table 2.12 Keyword co-occurrence network relationship of entrepreneurship education research, 2009–2010

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Center point and its co-occurrence network and change • Entrepreneurship education (newly added: practice); • Talent cultivation (innovation and entrepreneurship)

2012 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

• Entrepreneurship education; • Innovation and entrepreneurship education; • Maker space (innovation and entrepreneurship education, college students)

2015 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

(continued)

• Entrepreneurship education; • Entrepreneurship (HEIs, higher vocational colleges, college students, college student entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial universities, entrepreneurial intentions, countermeasures); • Entrepreneurial intentions (college student entrepreneurship)

2014 (1) Entrepreneurship education; (2) Innovation and entrepreneurship education, professional education and talent cultivation; (3) College student entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial tendencies; (4) Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intentions; (5) Entrepreneurial environment

College student entrepreneurship education; Innovation and entrepreneurship education; College student entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial universities associated with local universities; College student Maker; Entrepreneurship education in HEIs and talent cultivation

• Entrepreneurship education (newly added: entrepreneurial spirit, entrepreneurial culture); • Entrepreneurial willingness (influencing factors, entrepreneurial capital)

2013 (1) Entrepreneurship education; (2) The influencing factors of college students’ entrepreneurship and employment; (3) College student’ entrepreneurial intentions; (4) College students’ self-employment; (5) Innovation and entrepreneurship education; (6) Innovation and entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial culture

Entrepreneurship education; Talent cultivation and innovation and entrepreneurship; College entrepreneurship education; Entrepreneurial tendencies; College student entrepreneurial countermeasures; The entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial environment of migrant workers

Year Research type

Table 2.12 (continued)

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• College students (entrepreneurship education, innovation and entrepreneurship education, HEIs, entrepreneurial intentions); • Entrepreneurship (innovation)

College student innovation and entrepreneurship education; College student entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial environment; Entrepreneurial competence; Mass entrepreneurship; Influencing factors

• Entrepreneurship education

Note The numbers (1) to (6) represent the categories generated after the Fig. 2.2 cluster analysis; Table 2 shows the central point of the network relationship; content in () shows the network relationship co-existing with the pivot

2018 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

College student innovation and entrepreneurship education; • Entrepreneurship education (innovation and entrepreneurship Innovation and entrepreneurship education in HEIs; education, HEIs) College students’ entrepreneurial performance; • Influencing factors (entrepreneurial behavior) Entrepreneurial behavior and influencing factors; Talents cultivation, innovation and entrepreneurship, and professional education; (6) The Internet age

2017 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

Center point and its co-occurrence network and change

2016 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

College student innovation and entrepreneurship education; Entrepreneurial universities; Maker’s dream; College student entrepreneurship; Mass entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship and innovation

Year Research type

Table 2.12 (continued)

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education in higher vocational colleges. Among them, there is no co-occurrence relationship between the entrepreneurial policy and other keywords. The research focuses on entrepreneurship education, self-employment and college graduates. New elements are added to the co-existing network centered on entrepreneurship education, covering entrepreneurial awareness, influencing factors, talent cultivation, countermeasures, models and entrepreneurial environments. Research on entrepreneurship education is more extensive. Co-occurrences centered on self-employment and university graduates are co-occurring and associated with college students. At the same time, employment, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education began to co-occur, showing that the discussion of entrepreneurial issues is related to the graduation of college students. It is an aggregation point that entrepreneurship promotes employment. In 2011, the six research categories of cluster analysis were: (1) entrepreneurship; (2) college student entrepreneurship; (3) talent training; (4) entrepreneurship education in HEIs; (5) college innovation and entrepreneurship problems; and (6) innovation ability of higher education. The research perspective concentrates on HEIs. Specific issues in entrepreneurship education also began to draw attention, forming various research centers. There are nine research centers: entrepreneurship, college student entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial policy, entrepreneurial environment, talent cultivation, higher education, innovative ability, HEIs and problems. Entrepreneurship-oriented co-existing network includes innovation, entrepreneurial policy, entrepreneurial university, entrepreneurial competence, college students and HEIs. The three pivots—college student entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship policy and entrepreneurial environment—are co-occurred and associated with the entrepreneurial center. The co-occurrence network focused on talent cultivation involves: innovation and entrepreneurship, local colleges and universities, innovation and entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial competence, and entrepreneurial universities. The two central points of innovation ability of higher education are cooccurring, and the pivot of higher education is co-occurring with college students. HEIs and problem are co-presenting, and they are associated with innovation and entrepreneurship. In 2012, the six research categories of cluster analysis were: (1) entrepreneurship education; (2) talent cultivation and innovation and entrepreneurship; (3) college entrepreneurship education; (4) entrepreneurial tendencies; (5) college student entrepreneurial countermeasures; and (6) entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial environment of migrant workers. Among them, entrepreneurial tendencies, college students’ entrepreneurial countermeasures and migrant workers’ entrepreneurship are emerging research categories. Entrepreneurship education research in HEIs and entrepreneurial tendency research are relatively independent and have no co-occurrence relationship with other studies. There are three central points in the research: entrepreneurship education, talent cultivation and innovation and entrepreneurship. The newly emerged node in the co-occurrence network is practice. In addition, talent cultivation and innovation and entrepreneurship are co-occurring at the same time.

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In 2013, the six research categories of cluster analysis were: (1) entrepreneurship education; (2) the influencing factors of college students’ entrepreneurship and employment; (3) college students’ entrepreneurial intentions; (4) college students’ self-employment; (5) innovation and entrepreneurship education; and (6) innovation and entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial culture. Research on new impacting elements and entrepreneurial intentions in research categories shows that micro-study of entrepreneurship education and the study of subjective internal factors began to draw attention. There are two central points in the research: entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial willingness. Entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurial culture nodes emerge in this co-existing network. The associated nodes, centered on entrepreneurial willingness, are the influencing factors and venture capital. In 2014, there were five clusters of research categories: (1) entrepreneurship education; (2) innovation and entrepreneurship education, professional education and talent cultivation; (3) college student entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial tendencies; (4) entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intentions; and (5) entrepreneurial environment. The relationship between innovative entrepreneurship and professional education, the entrepreneurial environment, is a novel research category. There are four central points: entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship, college student entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial tendencies. Entrepreneurship-oriented co-occurrence network includes HEIs, higher vocational colleges, college students, college student entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial universities, entrepreneurial intentions and countermeasures. The co-existing network, focusing on college student entrepreneurship, involves innovation and entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, venture and entrepreneurial tendencies. The co-occurrence node, regarding entrepreneurial intention as the pivot, is entrepreneurship. The co-occurrence with entrepreneurial inclination as the central point is college student entrepreneurship. In 2015, the six research categories of cluster analysis were: (1) entrepreneurship education for college students; (2) innovation and entrepreneurship education; (3) college students’ entrepreneurship; (4) entrepreneurial universities associated with local universities; (5) college student maker; and (6) entrepreneurship education in HEIs and talent cultivation. The corresponding central points consist of entrepreneurship education, innovation and entrepreneurship education, and maker space. Entrepreneurship education-oriented co-occurrence network owns the highest frequency of co-occurrence with college students (14), followed by that of HEIs and higher education. The co-occurrence with maker space as its center is related to college students and innovation and entrepreneurship education. In 2016, the six research categories of cluster analysis are: (1) college students’ innovation and entrepreneurship education; (2) entrepreneurial universities; (3) maker’s dreams; (4) college students’ entrepreneurship; (5) mass entrepreneurship; and (6) entrepreneurship and innovation. Mass entrepreneurship, a new research perspective, is consistent with China’s call for mass entrepreneurship. The central points of the relationship network are: college students, entrepreneurship and innovation. The relationship co-occurrence centered on college students mainly includes entrepreneurship education, innovation and entrepreneurship education, HEIs, and

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entrepreneurial intentions. Innovation and entrepreneurship are the two centers of mutual realization. In 2017, the six research categories of cluster analysis are: (1) college students’ innovation and entrepreneurship education; (2) innovation and entrepreneurship education in HEIs; (3) college students’ entrepreneurial performance; (4) entrepreneurial behavior and influencing factors; (5) talents cultivation, innovation and entrepreneurship, and professional education; and (6) the Internet age. The entrepreneurial performance of college students is a new category, demonstrating that researchers are beginning to follow entrepreneurial evaluation. The Internet age, a relatively independent category, does not co-exist with other research. There are five central points in the relationship network: entrepreneurship education, innovation and entrepreneurship education, HEIs, influencing factors and entrepreneurial behavior. Entrepreneurship education, innovation and entrepreneurship education, and HEIs are closely linked. Influencing factors and entrepreneurial behavior co-occur. In 2018, the six research categories of cluster analysis include: (1) college students’ innovation and entrepreneurship education; (2) college students’ entrepreneurship; (3) entrepreneurial environment; (4) entrepreneurial competence; (5) mass entrepreneurship; and (6) influencing factor. There is only one pivot in the relationship network: entrepreneurship education. Emerging relationship nodes in the co-occurrence network are ecosystem, new engineering, new era and the path of innovation and entrepreneurship education. Through the analysis of the co-occurrence maps from 2009 to 2018, we can find several characteristics relating to the development of entrepreneurship education: 1. 2.

3.

Entrepreneurship education is always the center and a significant research field. College students serve as the core of the research objects. Discussions move from the background of entrepreneurship education to the demand and to the connotative development of entrepreneurship education. Judging from the keyword co-occurrence map, the co-occurrence of entrepreneurial environment and entrepreneurship education is gradually increasing, and their relationship heads for the periphery. The co-occurrence network relationship such as entrepreneurial economy and employment is gradually disappearing. On the contrary, entrepreneurship education is more related to talent cultivation, higher education, entrepreneurial competence, entrepreneurial intention, etc., and the distance is pulled closer, reflecting the stronger co-occurrence relationship. The hotspots of entrepreneurial education research are closely related to changes in the policies. The development of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education and the progress of entrepreneurship education research are largely guided and regulated by government decision-making. Many of the annual hot research focuses are bound up with relevant policy initiatives, such as entrepreneurial policy research in entrepreneurial economies (2009), college students’ employment entrepreneurship research (2010), higher education innovation research (2011), university entrepreneurship education and talent cultivation (2015), and mass entrepreneurship research (2016).

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Table 2.13 Institutions with high publishing frequency that rank in the top five, 2009–2018 Organization

Frequency (top 5)

Organization

Frequency (top 5)

Zhejiang University

10

Ningbo University

1

Wenzhou University

10

Nankai University

1

Northeast Normal University

5

Beijing Normal University

1

Tsinghua University

5

Huazhong University of Science and Technology

1

Jilin University

4

Hohai University

1

Jiangsu University

3

East China Normal University

1

Nantong University

2

Southeast University

1

Wuhan University

1

Fuzhou University

1

Wenzhou Medical College

1

Zhejiang Business Technology Institute

1

2.2.4.2

Changes in the Research Group

In accordance with the publications’ statistics of entrepreneurial education research institutions, Zhejiang University and Wenzhou University ranked in the top five institutions every year from 2009 to 2018. Northeast Normal University and Tsinghua University ranked in the top five for five years. Jilin University, Jiangsu University and Nantong University ranked in the top five for four years, three years and two years, respectively. Other universities that ranked in the top five are listed in Table 2.13. The statistical results in Table 2.13 show that in the past 10 years, 18 universities have entered the top five in terms of publishing papers in entrepreneurship education research, and a large number of schools and research institutions have invested in the study of entrepreneurship education. In the past 10 years, Zhejiang University and Wenzhou University have always maintained a leading position and served as advanced units in entrepreneurship education research. Northeast Normal University, Tsinghua University and Jilin University are all intermediate forces in entrepreneurship education research.

2.2.4.3

Changes in Research Levels

The research on entrepreneurship education from 2009 to 2018 is mainly regarded as the basic research of social sciences. Research in higher education and social science policy is relatively stable in proportion. Industry-oriented research on entrepreneurship education fluctuated greatly in the 10 years, with only less than 1% from 2012 to 2013. However, the proportion has increased significantly in recent years, and vocational guidance (social science) was also primarily listed in 2018. The growth of industry guidance and career guidance research is consistent with the concept

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Table 2.14 Proportion of entrepreneurship education research papers in various disciplines, 2009– 2018 (percentage) 2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Basic research (social sciences)

75.53

79.51

77.50

78.93

79.51

79.03

66.09

71.67

64.64

70.66

Higher education

10.11

13.93

14.29

11.88

11.89

10.08

17.69

15.63

11.61

11.13

Policy research (social sciences)

10.11

3.69

5.71

6.90

7.79

5.65

7.86

7.08

11.27

8.14

Industry guidance

4.26

2.87

2.14

0.77

0.41

4.84

8.11

5.21

12.11

8.78

0.36

1.53

0.41

0.40

0.42

0.17

0.21

Basic research (nature) Policy research (nature)

0.25

Career guidance (social sciences)

0.17

1.07

of entrepreneurship education and professional education. Moreover, the proportion of future industry guidance and career guidance research is expected to be elevated further. Table 2.14

2.2.4.4

Changes in the Publication of Journals

The top five CSSCI journals that published entrepreneurship education-related articles between 2009 and 2018 are as follows: In 2009, the top five journals were China Higher Education Research, Heilongjiang Researches on Higher Education, China Higher Education, China University Teaching and Ideological and Theoretical Education. In 2010, the top five journals were Education Exploration, China Higher Education, Research in Educational Development, Research in Higher Education of Engineering and Jiangsu Education. In 2011, the top five journals were Research in Educational Development, China Higher Education, Education Exploration, Heilongjiang Researches on Higher Education and Jiangsu Higher Education. In 2012, the top five journals were Heilongjiang Higher Education (1), China Higher Education (2), Research in Higher Education of Engineering (3), Modern

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Education Management (4), Jiangsu Education (4), Research in Educational Development (4) and China Higher Education Research (5). In 2013, the top five journals were China Higher Education, Heilongjiang Higher Education, Research in Higher Education of Engineering, Jiangsu Higher Education and Research in Educational Development. In 2014, the top five journals were Research in Higher Education of Engineering, Research in Educational Development, Heilongjiang Higher Education, Chinese University Science & Technology and Jiangsu Higher Education. In 2015, the top five journals were China Higher Education, Chinese University Science & Technology, Heilongjiang Researches on Higher Education, Research in Educational Development and Research in Higher Education of Engineering. In 2016, the top five journals were China Higher Education, Research in Higher Education of Engineering, Heilongjiang Researches on Higher Education, Higher Education Exploration and Research in Educational Development. In 2017, the top five journals were Chinese University Science & Technology, Heilongjiang Researches on Higher Education, China Higher Education, The Party Building and Ideological Education in Schools and Research in Higher Education of Engineering. In 2018, the top five journals were Chinese University Science & Technology, Theory and Practice of Education, Research in Higher Education of Engineering, China Higher Education and Higher Education Exploration.

2.2.4.5

Changes in Research Methods

Different types of research funds support projects in various disciplines and diversified research methods. This study mainly analyzes the changes in research methods by reviewing the quantity of entrepreneurial education research projects and that of fund-related publications. In 2009, there were 12 entrepreneurship education research projects approved by the National Social Science Fund and five by the National Natural Science Foundation. The number of projects was not large and the difference exists between the kinds. It indicates that it lacked high-level studies on entrepreneurship education-relevant research in 2009, and most of them are mainly related to social science disciplines and scholars. After 2010, in general, research projects of the National Social Science Fund and the National Natural Science Foundation of China have been increasing year by year, in particular, the projects set up by natural science fund (Table 2.10). At the same time, the papers supported by the National Fund Project have basically ascended year by year (Table 2.15). According to statistics, the number of papers supported by the National Social Science Fund, 53 papers, reached a peak in 2015. Meanwhile, the number of papers supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China is also steadily rising with each passing year. In 2018, the relevant publications exceeded that of the National Social Science Fund, indicating that high-level scholars with more discipline basis began to pay attention to entrepreneurship education research. The National

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Natural Science Foundation’s project variations and the published documents also reflect changes in entrepreneurial education research methods. More projects and scholars utilize empirical research approaches to review problems. Besides, data analysis and visual analysis have become important access to research.

2.2.5 The Theme of Entrepreneurship Education Research that Deserves Further Attention in the Future 2.2.5.1

Entrepreneurship Education Concept and Institutional Guarantee

Institutional improvement is the guarantee for the sustainable development of entrepreneurship education. At present, entrepreneurship education research focuses on the explicit problems of curriculum, teachers and platforms at HEIs, neglecting the deep-seated issues such as ideas, and lacking strategic design such as macroinstitutional innovation and institutional transformation of entrepreneurship education. The construction of a high-quality, sustainable entrepreneurship education system is a holistic project. Under the background of economic transformation and upgrading, the reconstruction of university entrepreneurship education value, concept innovation and institutional selection need to be further explored.

2.2.5.2

Discipline Construction and Scientific Research of Entrepreneurship Education

With the advance of entrepreneurship research and the progress in entrepreneurship education, the research objects have gradually become clear, beginning to form a relatively vivid research field. However, it still lacks the disciplinary paradigm of entrepreneurship education. Besides, the maturity of the discipline is far from enough. Therefore, the figure research should focus on the establishment of entrepreneurship education concepts, the theoretical system of entrepreneurship education and the construction of academic discourse system for entrepreneurship education. Table 2.15 Number of published papers supported by national foundations, 2009–2018 National foundations 2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

National Social Science Fund

6

8

14

18

21

25

53

43

44

37

National Natural Science

5

8

12

15

10

18

20

28

43

40

National Plan for Educational Science

5

1

11

8

10

8

10

24

18

26

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2.2.5.3

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Research on the Relationship Between Entrepreneurship Education and Professional Education

The existing research discusses entrepreneurship education in a broad way. Although the integration of entrepreneurship education and professional education is mentioned, the depth and breadth are insufficient. It requires exploration from implementation mechanism, guarantee mechanism and incentive mechanism in how to promote interdisciplinary entrepreneurship learning and entrepreneurship education within the whole school, so as to further promote the organic combination of entrepreneurship education and professional education.

2.2.5.4

Research on Social Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship Education

At present, entrepreneurship, merely stressing economic value, still needs to expand the research on social entrepreneurship education. Social entrepreneurship takes entrepreneurship as a means with the aim to create social value, which plays an important role in cultivating high-quality college entrepreneurs and providing a favorable social environment for economic transformation. Due to its complexity, long-term and public welfare, social entrepreneurship has not yet drawn attention. Theoretical research and practical exploration in this field need to be highly valued.

2.2.5.5

Research on the Evaluation and Benefit of Entrepreneurship Education

The current research focuses on the practical exploration of innovation and entrepreneurship education and lacks systematic research on that evaluation. Entrepreneurship education assessment is capable of planning, monitoring and benchmarking. Evaluation of the entrepreneurial policies effectiveness is conducive to the timely discovery of, and making up for, policy loopholes. The assessment of entrepreneurial faculties training and performance can improve the quality of entrepreneurship education. The validity evaluation of entrepreneurship education contributes to clarify the shortcomings in the development of entrepreneurial projects. Under the condition that the types of entrepreneurship education programs tend to be diversified and the quantity maintains growth, it is necessary to enhance the feedback and monitoring role of the assessment and improve the efficiency of innovation and entrepreneurship education through evaluation.

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Research on the Connection Between Entrepreneurial Psychology and Entrepreneurship Education

Nowadays, the relevant research on entrepreneurial psychology is centered on entrepreneurial personality, entrepreneurial cognition, entrepreneurial willingness, entrepreneurial competence, entrepreneurial decision-making, entrepreneurial influence factors, etc., focusing on the analysis and evaluation of entrepreneurial psychological characteristics and structure. However, most of the research in this field is still in the description and explanation and pays little attention to the cultivation of positive entrepreneurial psychology and the prevention of passive entrepreneurial psychology. In the future, entrepreneurship education research needs to lay stress on the entrepreneurial psychology education and pay attention to cultivating entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurial attitude in venture practice and entrepreneurship education curriculum, truly combining entrepreneurial psychology research with entrepreneurship education.

2.3 Retrospect and Prospect of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Psychology Since the last half of the twentieth century, the study of entrepreneurial psychology has attracted the attention of non-mathematicians, along with the flourish of global business activities and the prevalence of entrepreneurial behavior. The systematic study of entrepreneurial psychology abroad began with entrepreneurial personality traits in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1975, Brockhaus, by means of questionnaires, explored the prediction of entrepreneurial intentions by internal and external control sources (Brockhaus, 1975). After that, the research on entrepreneurial psychology gradually deviated from the single personality trait and expanded to the study of multiple psychological perspectives. It has been proven that entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial opportunity identification, entrepreneurial intentions and actions, and entrepreneurial outcome management are influenced by entrepreneur cognition, emotions, attitudes and self (Adesuwa, Sara, & Joakim, 2015). In the twenty-first century, the research perspective of foreign entrepreneurial psychology has become more diversified, with concerns about gender and entrepreneurship, genetics and biology, cognition and behavior, health and happiness, and personality differences (Gorgievski & Stephan, 2016). More basic theories of psychology are also adopted in the exploration of entrepreneurial psychology and psychology during entrepreneurial process. Generally speaking, foreign entrepreneurial psychology has a long history, is diversified in research content and research methods, and at the same time more emphasized in the empirical research methods. Scholars have carried out systematic and in-depth research on the specific fields of entrepreneurial psychology and repeatedly verified the research conclusions in different entrepreneurial groups and various cultures.

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Compared with foreign countries, domestic research on entrepreneurial psychology started relatively late. As economic policies change, business activities and entrepreneurial behaviors are motivated, and entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial spirit are highly valued in the academic circle. In the 1980s, it was the scholars’ discussion on entrepreneurship and cultivation that stimulate the origin of research on entrepreneurial psychology in China, laying the foundation for later entrepreneurial psychology research. Although the research on entrepreneurial psychology in China is later than that in foreign countries, researchers are equipped with high enthusiasm. Particularly in the past 10 years, the quantity of research results has grown rapidly with the rise of the entrepreneurial craze, and the research perspective has become increasingly diverse. Using the core concept of entrepreneurial psychology as a keyword, the author searched papers collected in CNKI from 1987 to 2017. A total of 20,748 related papers were retrieved, most of which were published after the year 2000. But overall, it is still necessary to improve the quality and raise attention in domestic entrepreneurial psychology. The citation rate of entrepreneurial psychology research papers is relatively low. Entrepreneurial psychology research is relatively narrow in the focus field, mainly concentrating on entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial competence and entrepreneurial spirits. The empirical method has not been widely adopted in entrepreneurial psychology research, which has more exposition on researchers’ perspective. Entrepreneurial psychology research has made great achievements in the past, but it still leaves a series of problems. In particular, research on college students’ entrepreneurial psychology fails to effectively solve some practical problems and confusions. For example, many college students who obtain the “high entrepreneurial personality traits” fail to become self-employed entrepreneurs, or fail in starting businesses. The entrepreneurial personality traits of college students are not so powerful in elaborating entrepreneurial intentions and actions. In accordance with the theory of entrepreneurial human capital, human capital factors such as entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial experience have positive impacts on entrepreneurial intention and its outcome. However, the widely carried entrepreneurial education in Chinese HEIs has not significantly enhanced the entrepreneurial intention of college students, stimulated their venture activities and achieved success. Many college students have strong entrepreneurial intentions in the lower grades. However, when graduation is approaching, these high intentions “disappear”. The rate of self-employment of college graduates is very low as well. There are still some issues to be considered, for example, how do college entrepreneurs make decisions on various events in the entrepreneurial process, whether successful entrepreneurs have entrepreneurial competence and entrepreneurial decision-making characteristics that present regularity; how college students entrepreneur learn from these successes and failures to adjust their mental status facing the various conditions during the whole process of entrepreneurship. The researchers conducted analysis on the entrepreneurial psychology research of college students in the past 10 years, summarized its research characteristics and main conclusions and looked forward to the future research trend. As one of the main forces of entrepreneurship, college students’ entrepreneurial groups have always been a key research object. The research

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progress of college students’ entrepreneurial psychology is also the “microcosm” of the whole entrepreneurial psychology research. It is also undoubtedly the foundation and crucial aspect, as well as a crucial reference for formulating relevant policy in the “college entrepreneurship boom” and “college students’ entrepreneurial research boom”. This study obtains important theoretical and practical significance for the review and prospect of college students’ entrepreneurial psychology research.

2.3.1 Review of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Psychology Research in the Decade In the research of entrepreneurial psychology at home and abroad, the period 2006 to 2008 is considered to be a key turning point. In the past two years, research on entrepreneurial psychology has attracted sharply increasing attention, and its focus has differentiated remarkably. Taking this time as the initial stage, this study reviews and summarizes the research progress of college students’ entrepreneurial psychology in the past 10 years, and attempts to analyze the corresponding regular characteristics.

2.3.1.1

From the Perspective of Focusing on Entrepreneurial Traits to Entrepreneurial Cognition

At this stage, the research of college students’ entrepreneurial traits is still associated with the personality traits that successful college students should possess. The significant personality factor that has impact on college students’ entrepreneurship covers pragmatism, proactive personality, locus of control, dreaming, achievement motivation, seeking to challenge, social skills, clarity of thought, risk propensity, tolerance for ambiguity, etc. (Arasteh et al., 2012). Among them, “risk propensity” (effect amount = 0.36) is the most crucial influencing factor (Brandstätter, 2011). However, with the deepening of the study, researchers gradually find that it is difficult for college students’ personality traits to explain complex entrepreneurial phenomena. Therefore, researchers began to explore the effectiveness of the college entrepreneurs’ cognitive process in the face of entrepreneurial risks and uncertain entrepreneurial situations. Entrepreneurial cognitive researchers are committed to understanding why some individuals are capable of identifying entrepreneurial opportunities and take action to make the best use of them. Dew et al. (2015) explained three kinds of entrepreneurial cognition: embedded cognition that emphasizes the influence of external contextual factors, grounded cognition that stresses the influence of physical and physiological neuroscience, and distributed cognition that underlines the cumulative impact of internal and external recognition (Dew et al., 2015). The study of college students’ entrepreneurial cognition mainly focuses on those three kinds. Besides, some scholars

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have distinguished self-efficacy, others’ evaluation and external evaluation, and proved through experiments that these three kinds of entrepreneurial cognition all affect college students’ entrepreneurial intentions (Xu & Ye, 2010). Other scholars have explored the gender differences in college students’ entrepreneurial cognition and found that female entrepreneurs’ attitudes are generally more pragmatic. They regarded venture activity as an alternative to employment failure and were more inclined to cultural and creative entrepreneurship (Huang & Ding, 2011). The research, based on the perspective of college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy and self-cognition, has generally proved that college students’ entrepreneurial self-efficacy has a positive impact on their entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial motivation or entrepreneurial potential. College students’ concern for the external entrepreneurial environment and entrepreneurial opportunities is considered by scholars as entrepreneurial alertness, which have impact on the college students’ attitude toward entrepreneurship (Xu & Ye, 2010). In 2015, a new research angle was found centered on entrepreneurial personality. Miller suggested that attention should be paid to the negative influence of entrepreneurial personality traits on starting businesses (Miller, 2011). This negative effect is reflected in two aspects: Firstly, if the positive personality traits are beyond the normal scope, an effect of “too much is as bad as too little” would occur. Some personality traits have the characteristics of “two-sidedness”, such as energy, passion, optimism and other traits that seem positive. Once beyond the expected level, those traits are transformed into negative strengths in the entrepreneurial process. The opposite of optimism and passion can be overconfidence, inaccurate judgment and evaluation (Johnson & Fowler, 2011). It means that entrepreneurs are overevaluating their entrepreneurial competence and the possibility of entrepreneurial success. Secondly, there are also some negative personality traits, but past research paid little attention to those traits. For example, traits such as aggressiveness, narcissism, ruthlessness and irresponsibility are not necessarily the “extreme negative aspect” of positive personality traits, but belongs to the natural personality characteristics of entrepreneurs. Miller (2015) summarizes some of the personality traits with “twosidedness” (Table 2.16). The elaboration of the “two-sidedness” characteristics of entrepreneurial personality traits is a new highlight of recent research. Table 2.16 “Two-sidedness” characteristics of entrepreneurial personality traits (Miller, 2015)

Positive personality traits

Extreme negative aspect

Energy, passion, optimism

Grandiosity, overconfidence

Self-efficacy, self-assurance

Narcissism, hubris

Need for achievement and power

Aggressiveness, ruthlessness

Independence, autonomy

Social deviance, indifference to others

Need for control, dominance Obsessive behavior, mistrust, suspicion

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However, some researchers hold different views and conduct empirical research on the positive influence of some negative personality traits on college students’ entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial success. Mathieu and St-Jean (2013) studied the relationship between narcissism and entrepreneurial intentions. Their research results show that college students who choose to start a business have a significantly higher score on the “narcissism” factor than those who select other jobs. Furthermore, “narcissism” of the college students has a significant positive predictive effect on their entrepreneurial intention. In interpreting this result, the researchers believe that those “narcissistic” individuals expect more fame and fortune, and that they have more competence and attraction, and continue to pursue praise and superiority from others (Mathieu & St-Jean, 2013). Narcissism empowers college students’ stronger strength, greater tolerance for failure, and more desire for success, etc. From the positive perspective of “narcissism”, the research hypotheses of Mathieu et al. are effectively supported.

2.3.1.2

From the Study of a Single Business Entrepreneurial Psychology to that of Multi-type Entrepreneurial Psychology

In the past, college students’ entrepreneurial psychology research mainly concerned commercial entrepreneurial psychology. In recent years, however, it gradually paid attention to college students’ social entrepreneurship, international entrepreneurship, etc. Social entrepreneurship is a new form that has gained the attention of scholars in recent years, because the academic community has called for the importance of cultivating a sense of social responsibility and social issues. At present, most research on social entrepreneurship psychology focus on the study of social entrepreneurship competence, and at the same time, they are carried out for those entrepreneurs. The non-profit organization, Joshua Venture Group, has proposed 26 competency indicators for social entrepreneurs, among which the competence of acting, creating, listening, motivating others and customer orientation are regarded as core skills for social entrepreneurs (Velde, 2009:139–158). However, some people reckon that those 26 capabilities do not reflect the uniqueness of social entrepreneurship. Miller, Wesley and William (2012) summarized 35 capacity items that social entrepreneurs should possess, based on the literature review. According to the importance ranking of the items, the top three are problem-solving ability, the establishment of efficient teams and the management of financial capital, respectively. The last three are the ability to clarify social issues, the support of the participants and value social impact greater than the economy. Among all the 35 items, six elements are capable of reflecting social entrepreneurship competences: imperative moral values/ethics; willingness and ability to make a significant impact on society; ability to build community support; commitment to help others; ability to clarify social issues; and value social impacts greater than economic impacts. At the same time, the top 10 are still general entrepreneurial competences. It can also be seen that social entrepreneurship is first and foremost an innovative entrepreneurial activity (Miller et al., 2012). In addition, Orhei, Bibu and Vinke (2012) also proposed a conceptual framework

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for social entrepreneurship on the basis of literature review and expert interviews, including four factors: cognitive ability, functional ability dimension, social ability and meta-capability. In the study of international entrepreneurial psychology, Sommer (2013) explored the impact of college students’ cognitive style and international experience/experience on international entrepreneurial intentions. The results show that no obvious predictions exist between the two cognitive styles (intuition/contemplation) and college students’ international entrepreneurial intentions. However, the international experience of college students has a significant impact on their international entrepreneurial intentions (Sommer, 2013).

2.3.1.3

From the Psychological Exploration on a Certain Entrepreneurial Stage to that of the Whole Entrepreneurial Process

Early entrepreneurial psychology research kept a watchful eye on entrepreneurial opportunities and entrepreneurial intention, and then it has gradually expanded to the psychological research of the whole entrepreneurship process. By simply distinguishing, the entrepreneurial process can be classified into different stages, including the entrepreneurial stage before the start-up, the management stage during the start-up, and the withdrawal and re-entry stage after the start-up. Although college entrepreneurs are enthusiastic about starting businesses, a serious fact is that most college entrepreneurs fail in the early days of entrepreneurship. One of the primary reasons is the lack of entrepreneurial competence to develop and manage enterprise. The entrepreneurial and management phases put forward various traits’ requirements on entrepreneurs. Therefore, the entrepreneurial process should be regarded as a dynamic advancing process (Nassif, Ghobril, & Silva, 2010). In the whole process of college students’ entrepreneurial psychology research, entrepreneurial competence and entrepreneurial decision-making are important psychological variables. In 2016, RezaeiZadeh and others obtained the “four factors” model of entrepreneurial competence on the basis of interviews with college student entrepreneurs and academic entrepreneurs, involving leadership, motivation, creative thinking and interpersonal skills (RezaeiZadeh et al., 2016). Li and Feng (2014) proposed that the entrepreneurial ability of college entrepreneurs should cover entrepreneurial potential, entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial knowledge. The entrepreneurial competence of college students can effectively predict their entrepreneurial intentions and the outcomes of venture enterprises (Schelfhout, Bruggeman, & Mayer, 2016). Entrepreneurial decision-making mainly refers to decision-making in entrepreneurial activities, including entrepreneurial opportunity assessment decision-making, entrepreneurial entry decision-making, entrepreneurial opportunity development decision-making and entrepreneurial withdrawal decisionmaking. This series of decisions is influenced by both the entrepreneur and the external environment (Shepherd, Williams, & Patzele, 2015). The empirical research on college students’ entrepreneurial decision-making is relatively lacking, compared to other research content.

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The Fundamental Theoretical Basis of Psychology that Lays Stress on the Study of Entrepreneurial Psychology

A significant change in the study of college students’ entrepreneurial psychology in the past decade is that more attention is paid to the theoretical basis. Scholars have carried out a series of studies based on the theory of planned behavior, human capital theory, decision-making logic theory, self-efficacy theory and interpretation level theory. Taking the theory of planned behavior as an example, Zhang, Wang and Owen (2015) conducted an empirical survey with 275 American college students as subjects. The results show that subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and short-term risk appetite were positively correlated with entrepreneurial intentions. Francisco Liñán et al. (2011) constructed an entrepreneurial intention impact model on account of the theory of planned behavior and social capital theory to analyze 549 college student entrepreneurs in two regions of Spain. They also aimed to explore the influence of social capital (closed/leapfrogging), behavioral attitudes and subjective norms, as well as the perceived behavioral control on entrepreneurial intentions. The study found that in relatively developed regions, college entrepreneurs have more social capital, which has a positive impact on subjective norms and behavioral control. Decision-making theory has also been more used in the study of college students’ entrepreneurial psychology, such as entrepreneurial effects and causal decision theory. Sarasvathy (2011) defines two different logical decision-making reasoning models in business context: causation and effectuation. Relevant empirical research shows that there is no difference in effectuation and causation among Chinese university entrepreneurs. This is inconsistent with the view of Sarasvathy that the successful entrepreneurs are centered on the effectuation, which has put forward new requirements for the cultivation of effectuation thought of college entrepreneurs in Chinese HEIs (Ye & Liang, 2016). In view of the causal/effect decision-making theory, Dew et al. (2009) explored the entrepreneurial differences between expert entrepreneurs and university students majoring in MBA. The results show that entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial experience are more dependent on effectuation than the novice (MBA students). In addition, the temporal construal theory is utilized to explore the phenomenon that college students’ entrepreneurial intentions decrease with the growth of their grades (Ye, 2013).

2.3.1.5

The Influence of Entrepreneurship Education on College Students’ Entrepreneurial Psychology is Gradually Being Valued

Entrepreneurship education indicates the teaching and learning activities relating to entrepreneurship. With the increasingly prominent role of innovation and entrepreneurship education in HEIs, a trend in entrepreneurial psychology research in recent years is to pay attention to the impact of entrepreneurship education on college students’ entrepreneurial psychology. This has already been proven in more

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empirical studies. Bae et al. (2014) found that there is a notable, but not particularly strong, positive correlation (ρ = 0.143) between entrepreneurship education and college students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Walstad (1997) believes that entrepreneurship education is one of the important factors to help young students understand and foster entrepreneurial attitudes. The research of Du and Wang (2015) shows that entrepreneurship education has a positive relationship with college students’ entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurial intentions. The more frequent college students participate in entrepreneurship education, the more satisfied they are with the content of entrepreneurship education, and the more they will enhance their entrepreneurial intentions (Li, 2013). Anik et al. (2016), taking 206 students who had received entrepreneurship education in Malang (an eastern city of Java, Indonesia) as research samples, proved the positive influence of entrepreneurship education on the entrepreneurial intention by means of questionnaires, and the inter-mediation role of the relationship of entrepreneurial personality traits in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intentions (Lackeus, 2014). In addition to the impact on college students’ entrepreneurial intentions, entrepreneurship education also affects college students’ entrepreneurial knowledge, entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial attitudes and further impacts on their entrepreneurial competences. Research on the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial psychology poses a challenge to the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in HEIs. Entrepreneurship education is an important path to shape college students’ “positive” entrepreneurial psychology.

2.3.2 Outlook on the Trend of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Psychology Research The past decade has witnessed prominent achievements in college students’ entrepreneurial psychology. These achievements have played a good guiding role in college students’ entrepreneurial practice. Researchers put forward the outlook on the trend of future research, along with the progresses of the basic theory of psychology, and the occurrence of some unsolved problems and emerging new problems in the practice.

2.3.2.1

An Empirical Exploration of the “Two-Sided Utility” of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Personality Traits

In the previous research on college students’ entrepreneurial personality traits, scholars valued the positive influence of entrepreneurial personality traits on entrepreneurship more than that of the “negative side”. With regard to the future entrepreneurial personality traits research, Miller said “we will urge scholars to study

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the downside. If only the entrepreneurs, contributing to our economic and social wellbeing, can be distinguished among those economic contributions are denied for the harm for families and other stakeholders”. In 2015, DeNisi’s essay, “Some Future Thoughts on Entrepreneurial Personality Traits” was published in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, the top journal in the entrepreneurial field. In this short evaluative paper, DeNisi primarily gave a full review of Miller’s opinions, arguing that his discussion of the negative aspects of entrepreneurial personality traits is very valuable and appropriate. After that, DeNisi analyzed and answered some of Miller’s views one by one (DeNisi, 2015). Miller reckons that negative situations may occur when some positive personality traits such as optimism and self-efficacy reach the extremes, for instance, self-efficacy turning into self-sufficient arrogance. Those personality traits represent the “Janus face” in personality traits, owning two sides’ features. DeNisi thinks this may be true, but this situation is sometimes like the inverted U-curve relationship we discussed, which exists in many latent variables that predict success or failure. For example, Yerkes–Dodson’s Law considers that the motivation intensity and work efficiency are not linearly related. However, it demonstrates the inverted U-shaped curve relationship, that is, the best state of work efficiency occurs when the motivation intensity is medium. Relatively strong or weak motivation is not conducive to the emergence of the best job performance. This relationship is also affected by the task difficulty. Therefore, DeNisi believes that the negative aspect of personality traits may only be a broader phenomenon or manifestation of the inverted U-shaped curve, which does not really mean that both personality traits have positive and negative sides. This two-sidedness is in fact a continuum. The two papers with unique and “negative” perspectives in 2015 allowed researchers to re-examine the origins of entrepreneurial personality traits. But so far, few scholars have carried out empirical research on the “negative nature” of college students’ entrepreneurial personality traits, which will also become one of the trends in future research.

2.3.2.2

Deepen the Research on the Social Entrepreneurship Psychology of College Students and Improve Inclusiveness of College Students

As college students’ social entrepreneurship plays an increasingly significant role in the country’s social and economic development, it is going to be a crucial research topic to enhance the social entrepreneurship competence of college students and promote their social entrepreneurship awareness and social entrepreneurship. But so far, the relevant research is not deep enough. It concentrates more on the exploration of the elements of general social entrepreneurship competence and pays little attention to psychological studies on college students’ social entrepreneurship competence. In the future, we should conduct in-depth research on the improvement of social entrepreneurship competence, the influencing factors of social entrepreneurship intention and the decision-making mechanism of the social entrepreneurial. This is

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how we can construct an effective social entrepreneurship education system in HEIs to enhance the social inclusiveness of college students’ entrepreneurship. Specifically, the future trends of college students’ social entrepreneurship psychology include: 1.

The operational definition and the construction of evaluation model for college students’ social entrepreneurship competence

Social entrepreneurship is featured for its sociability. Therefore, social entrepreneurship competence should be combined by entrepreneurial ability and social mission capability. The scientific operation definition is a crucial basis for ensuring the scientific nature of follow-up research. However, the definitions and components of social entrepreneurship are not very clear. Future research can focus on the operability of college students’ social entrepreneurship on the basis of innovation and on the formation of a scientific evaluation model for college students’ entrepreneurial ability. 2.

R&D of evaluation tools for college students’ social entrepreneurship

The two core characteristics of social entrepreneurship are entrepreneurial nature and social nature. Based on the study of social entrepreneurship, the composition and evaluation of the social mission capability of social entrepreneurship would be focused to develop the assessment tools for social entrepreneurship. 3.

Research on the impact mechanism of college students’ social entrepreneurship competence

In light of the social entrepreneurship assessment tool with good reliability and validity obtained before, the research would explore the education, personality, cognition and affective factors that affect the promotion of college students’ social entrepreneurship, and probe the influence of college students’ social entrepreneurship competence on that intention. 4.

Put forward the suggestions for the construction of the social entrepreneurship education curriculum system in HEIs on the basis of empirical research

The research on college students’ social entrepreneurship psychology, mainly serving the effective development of social entrepreneurship education in HEIs, provides a psychological foundation for the construction of social entrepreneurship education curriculum system and the effective development of social entrepreneurship education.

2.3.2.3

Positive and Negative Values of Entrepreneurship Failure

In the USA, 21.2% of the 11.4 million small and medium-sized private companies, established between 1994 and 2012, failed within one year after their establishment. Of the 9 million US companies established between 1994 and 2007, 51.5%

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experienced failure within five years after their setting up (Bolinger & Brown, 2015). Although there is no accurate sample data of college students’ entrepreneurial failure rate in China, this high proportion of entrepreneurial failures must merely occur in the USA. It also emerges in other groups around the world. “Failure of start-ups doesn’t equal to that of the entrepreneurs. It can train entrepreneurs’ nerves of steel and almighty wisdom” (Shepherd et al., 2016). There are two sides of entrepreneurial failure. It can make entrepreneurs suffer from depression and pain for a long time and lose the motivation to start another business. But it can also provide entrepreneurs with the opportunities to learn from the failure, so that entrepreneurs can make active response, regain confidence and become a continuous entrepreneur. In the future research on the entrepreneurial psychology of college students, researchers should focus on the economic, social, psychological and physiological negative effects brought by entrepreneurial failure to college entrepreneurs. Besides, more attention should be paid to the positive value, how college students learn from entrepreneurial failure, which specifically includes the following three aspects: 1.

2.

3.

Exploring the factors that affect the learning of college students’ entrepreneurial failure, such as the impact of the personality, attribution, cognitive style and emotional patterns of the failure. How to learn from the failure of entrepreneurship. It indicates the learning mechanism in this transformation process of how to transfer entrepreneurial failure into the new entrepreneurial thinking, entrepreneurial knowledge and entrepreneurial ability. The cultivation of continuous entrepreneurs of college students. Distinguishing the differences between entrepreneurial intentions and action-influencing mechanisms of first-time entrepreneurs and continuous entrepreneurs will become a topic in the future research of entrepreneurial psychology.

2.3.2.4

Research on Entrepreneurial Psychology Capital of College Entrepreneurs

Originating from the basic theories and thoughts of positive psychology, Luthans and his research partners began to explore the concept and structure of psychological capital in 2002, which is composed of hope, resilience, optimism and selfefficacy (Luthans et al., 2007). So far, the understanding of the concept has not deviated from the scope of psychological capital proposed by Luthans (2002). It is only the embodiment of those four-factor structures in the field of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. In general, the study of entrepreneurial psychological capital is still a relatively new field. With “entrepreneurs’ psychological capital” or “entrepreneurial psychological capital” as the keywords, the author searched for authoritative databases at home and abroad, such as EBSCO, JSTOR, PROQUEST, CNKI, etc. Only a few articles have been found in the relevant field. In recent years, scholars have begun to

2.3 Retrospect and Prospect of College Students’ …

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focus the impact of entrepreneurial psychological capital as a whole on the survival, development and performance of entrepreneurs. In the local research of entrepreneurial psychological capital, domestic scholars Jiang Bo and Gao Na (2013) explored its concept and structure and proposed a sevenfactor model of entrepreneurial psychological capital, including: positive growth, active response, passionate innovation, keen excellence, self-efficacy, social wisdom and optimistic hope. In the foreign research of entrepreneurial psychological capital, most researchers independently examined the influence of those four factors. For example, Ayala and other scholars (2014) used the entrepreneurs of Spanish tourism as subjects to test the impact of resilience on entrepreneurs. The result shows that the three factors of resilience (perseverance, wisdom and optimism) have a significant predictive effect on entrepreneurial success, with the wisdom factor being the most significant predictor. Entrepreneurial psychological capital is currently in a blank state in the field of college students’ entrepreneurial psychology. In the future research on college students’ entrepreneurial psychological capital, researchers can pay attention to the following questions: 1.

The improvement of the concept of entrepreneurial psychological capital

So far, a mature concept of entrepreneurial psychological capital has not been formed, so the related concepts mainly draw on the concept of psychological capital. However, the formation and application of the concept are mainly in the field of organizational behavior. The psychological capital in entrepreneurship should be more targeted and suitable for the utilization of entrepreneurial fields while being based on the basic concept of psychological capital. In addition, the definition of the concept of entrepreneurial psychological capital must be distinguished from that of the entrepreneurial personality traits. Full consideration of psychological capital is a kind of changeable and cultivable “state-class” attributes, rather than a less developed “class trait” that is difficult to cultivate. 2.

Development of college students’ entrepreneurial psychological capital assessment tools

Consistent with the research status of entrepreneurial psychological capital’s concept, the current research also lacks suitable assessment tools, especially for college students’ entrepreneurial psychological capital evaluation. As a unified concept, the formation of a complete, inherently logical and structural, well-trusted and effective localized entrepreneurial psychology capital scale is urgently in need. 3.

Exploration of the impact mechanism of college students’ entrepreneurial psychological capital

On the basis of improving the conception of entrepreneurial psychological capital and the development of evaluation tools, in-depth explorations of the impact mechanism of college students’ entrepreneurial psychological capital are carried out. For instance, what factors affect the psychological capital of college students’

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entrepreneurs? Do subjective and objective factors such as the entrepreneur’s gender, educational experience, family background and entrepreneurial environment impact on the entrepreneur’s psychological capital? What is the impact of the entrepreneur’s psychological capital on the variables in the entrepreneurial process, such as entrepreneurial intention, action, entrepreneurial decision-making, entrepreneurial result, etc.? Can the score in psychological capital effectively predict the emergence of entrepreneurial behavior and the success of entrepreneurship?

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Chapter 3

Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

The development model of entrepreneurship education (EE) in China is a typical representation of a government-driven model, and those policies unveiled by the central Party and government authorities make big differences. Since 1998, central and local governments have introduced multiple policies promoting the development of entrepreneurship education in China. On the whole, EE policies in China have been increasing year by year, especially after Premier Li Keqiang put forward the slogan of “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” in September 2014 at the Summer Davos. EE policies in China have resulted in explosive growth and directly raised an entrepreneurship wave across the country.

3.1 Distribution Feature of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 3.1.1 Temporal Distribution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies According to incomplete statistics, there are 705 policies, laws, regulations, implement suggestions and projects relating to entrepreneurship and innovation put forward by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, national ministries and commissions in China, among which there are 19 administrative laws and regulations, 607 regulations and files by central government departments at all levels and 79 corporate requirements documents. The number of entrepreneurship education policies unveiled by the central government has showed a rapid increase since 2008 and reached a peak of 116 in 2017 (see Fig. 3.1).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 X. Xu, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 60, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3724-7_3

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Fig. 3.1 Annual growth of entrepreneurship and innovation policies by the central government

Fig. 3.2 Annual growth of entrepreneurship education policies by the central government

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Meanwhile, since 1998 to June 2018, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, national ministries and commissions have introduced 234 policies, laws, regulations, implement suggestions and projects related to entrepreneurship education, among which there are 33 administrative laws and regulations, 184 regulations and files by central government departments at all levels and 17 corporate requirements documents. Besides, the central government has unveiled three legislation drafts, namely Outline of Moral Education in Secondary Vocational Schools (Revised) (Exposure Draft) in 2013, Outline of the National Program for Medium- and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020) (Exposure Draft) in 2010 and Measures for the Administration of Secondary Vocational Schools (Exposure Draft) in 2009. The distribution of policies is showed in Fig. 3.2. As Fig. 3.2 shows, the entrepreneurship education policies in China have increased out of nothing, and the process can be divided into two phases: The first one is from 1998 to 2009, a slow-growth period; the second one from 2010 to 2017, a rapid-growth period.

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The 21st Century Action Plan for Invigorating Education proposed by the Ministry of Education on December 24, 1998, mentioned entrepreneurship education for the first time, stating: “to enhance the entrepreneurship education for teachers and students and to encourage them to start up new hi-tech businesses”. On January 13, 1999, the State Council approved and forwarded this action plan and thus opened the sustained concern on entrepreneurship education. In 2004, the State Council approved and forwarded the Action Plan for Invigorating Education 2003–2007, and the plan proposed “to enhance the vocational guidance as well as career and entrepreneurship education for the students and to promote the idea transformation on careers”. Since then, the Ministry of Education has put forward several education policies on entrepreneurship education, and the department of higher education set up a “delegation of entrepreneurship education in higher education” from nine pilot EE universities, 11 universities and 12 higher vocational colleges and made a visit to the United States to study their entrepreneurship education experience. The year 2004 also turned out to be the year that saw the most number of entrepreneurship education policies (7) in the first phase. On September 26, 2008, the General Office of the State Council forwarded the Notice of the Guidance on Promoting Entrepreneurship to Mobilizing Employments by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security “to enhance entrepreneurship education, to raise entrepreneurial awareness, to build entrepreneurial culture and to make more employers be willing to and dare to start new businesses”. After 2009, the number of EE policies increased dramatically. The year 2010 was a watershed for China’s entrepreneurship education policy. On July 8, 2010, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Outline of the National Medium- and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010–2020) “to improve the quality of talent development” and “to strengthen employment and entrepreneurship education, as well as employment guidance services”. It also aimed “to create a new mechanism for universities and research institutes, industries and enterprises to jointly train talents”. Since then, the number of policies relating to entrepreneurship education in China has improved qualitatively compared with the first stage. In particular, on May 4, 2015, Implementing Opinion on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Colleges and Universities by the General Office of the State Council was released. Since its introduction, the Ministry of Education and local governments at all levels have responded positively to the call of the policy document and have issued policy documents to deepen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education, and organized activities and conferences. The issuance of the central government’s entrepreneurship education policy document in 2015 showed an explosive growth trend, with 30 policy papers issued. On January 10, 2017, the State Council issued the 13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of National Education, which aimed “to cultivate students’ innovative entrepreneurial spirit and ability… Encourage colleges and vocational schools to build a platform for students’ innovation and entrepreneurship services, to improve the curriculum system and management system of innovation and entrepreneurship education, to guide and encourage students to actively participate in innovative activities and entrepreneurial

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practices, to strengthen the innovation and entrepreneurship orientation of graduation papers and graduation design, to carry out innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, and to create a campus culture of innovation and entrepreneurship”. Since then, an increasing number of entrepreneurship education policies has been issued, with the number reaching 41. As can be seen from the above analysis, there has been a significant increase in the number of education policies issued with the four time nodes since 1998—in 2004, 2010, 2015 and 2017. The State Council’s publication of entrepreneurship education policies around these four years has also accelerated the formulation of the central departments and local governments at all levels to put forward further entrepreneurship education policies. This government-driven model has significantly promoted the development of entrepreneurship education in Chinese universities.

3.1.2 Subject Distribution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies The Ministry of Education and the State Council are the two main subjects of the entrepreneurship education policies issued at the national level (see Fig. 3.3), Fig. 3.3 Innovation and entrepreneurship education policy map issued by central departments, 1998–2018

12%

16%

4% 6%

62%

State Council Ministry of Education Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security The central committee of the communist youth league other

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accounting for 62% of the overall policies. The Ministry of Education has issued 107 separate policies on innovation and entrepreneurship education and 39 in cooperation with other departments. The State Council is the second largest subject of policy issuance, with 33 separate policies relating to entrepreneurship education. Some of the relevant policy documents issued by other departments relating to the development of entrepreneurship education, and more than two or three departments issued together, mainly Communist Youth League Central Committee, State Intellectual Property Office, Ministry of Agriculture, State Forestry Administration, Ministry of Science and Technology, Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission, AllChina Federation of Trade Unions, All-China Women’s Federation, State Ethnic Affairs Committee, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, State Forestry Administration, National Tourism Administration, State General Administration of Sports, Ministry of Transport, etc. Since 2014, the central publishing departments of entrepreneurship education policy have shown a trend of diversification. For example, ten departments—Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Finance, State Intellectual Property Office, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, State Tourism Administration, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Commerce—have issued policies on innovative and entrepreneurship education. The number of joint posts between departments has also been increasing year by year, reaching 28 from 2014 to June 2018. In 2015, particularly, China’s entrepreneurship education policy issued shows a comprehensive and solid support trend. As of December 4, 2015, the Ministry of Transport’s Guidance on Improving the Quality of Transport Practitioners stipulates that “employers are encouraged to build training bases, technical service and product development centers, entrepreneurship education practice platforms, expert studios, etc. with universities and vocational and technical schools, and to build innovative and entrepreneurial platforms for employees”. On October 19, 2015, the Ministry of Commerce’s Implementation Opinion on Speeding Up the Integration and Innovation Development of Residents’ Living Services Online and Offline pointed out “promoting colleges and universities, training institutions, industry organizations, etc. to offer Internet entrepreneurship education courses and train a team of quality service workers who meet the requirements of industry development”. It can be said that government policies are guiding all sectors of society to support innovation and entrepreneurship education. In 2017, in addition to the State Council and the Ministry of Education being the main source of innovation and entrepreneurship education policy, the central government issued the largest number of departments in the history of entrepreneurship education policy, involving Central Office, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Science and Technology, State Tourism Administration, State Administration of Cultural Relics, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, China Machinery Industry Federation, State Post

130

3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China Central Office of Civiliza on

State administra on of science, technology and industry for na onal defense Na onal development and reform commission Na onal Post Office China machinery industry federa on Ministry of Human Resource and Social and social security Ministry of Transporta on The state administra on of cultural heritage Na onal Tourism Administra on Ministry of Science and Technology Ministry of Finance Ministry of Agriculture General Office of the CPC Central Commi ee State Council Ministry of Educa on

0

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Fig. 3.4 Number of policies relating to entrepreneurship education issued by the central government departments in 2017

Office, National Development and Reform Commission, State Defense Science, Technology and Industry Bureau, Central Civilization Office and 13 others. In 2017, the central government issued a policy on entrepreneurship education in the sector (Fig. 3.4). According to incomplete statistics, from 1998 to 2018, provincial and municipal government departments at all levels (except Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) issued a total of 2,091 policies, laws, regulations, implementation opinions and programs related to innovation and entrepreneurship education. In terms of time, 2016 was the year in which the highest number of innovative entrepreneurship education policies was introduced, reaching 384. In the past 20 years, the distribution of innovation and entrepreneurship education policies in all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of the country is shown in Fig. 3.5. In terms of provincial distribution, Jiangsu Province issued the greatest number of innovation and entrepreneurial education policies for the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, reaching 187. In the past 20 years, the distribution of entrepreneurship education policies in all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of the country is shown in Fig. 3.6. In the innovation and entrepreneurship education policies issued by the provincial, municipal and autonomous governments, provincial issuing units mainly include the National People’s Congress (including Standing Committee), Education and Industry Commission, Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Science and Technology Department, Development and Reform Commission, Commerce Department, Provincial Committee, Finance Department, Civil Affairs Department, etc. Local issuing units mainly include the Municipal People’s Congress (including Standing Committee), municipal committee, municipal government, education committee, education bureau, human social security bureau, science and technology bureau, finance bureau and so on. As can be seen from

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450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 2018

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Fig. 3.5 Annual distribution of the number of entrepreneurship education policies, 1998–2018

200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 Beijing Tianjin Hebei Shanxi Inner Mongolia Liaoning Jilin Heilongjiang Shanghai Jiangsu Zhejiang Anhui Fujian Shangxi Shangdong Henan Hunan Hubei Guangdong Guangxi Sichuan Guizhou Yunnan Tibet Shaanxi Gansu Qinghai Ningxia Xinjiang Hainan Chongqing

0

Fig. 3.6 Regional distribution of the number of entrepreneurship education policies, 1998–2018

Fig. 3.3. 7, 15% of the innovation and entrepreneurship education policies from 1998 to 2018 were issued by the Provincial People’s Congress (including Standing Committee), the government, 16% of the innovation and entrepreneurship education policies were issued by the provincial education department, and 46% of the innovation and entrepreneurship education policies were issued by the local government. The innovative entrepreneurship education policies issued by the Municipal Education Bureau are about 4% of the total. Thus, unlike the central government policy

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Fig. 3.7 Proportion of entrepreneurship education policies by local governmental departments

0%

20%

15%

2% 16%

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Provincial People's Congress Provincial, City and Autonomous Government Provincial, City and Autonomous Education Department City Government City Education Department others

issue, local government is the largest subject of entrepreneurship education policy issued by provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, followed by the provincial education department and the provincial and autonomous governments, while the municipal education department does little in promoting the policy of innovation and entrepreneurship education. It is worth noting that some provincial and municipal agencies have also issued innovation and entrepreneurship education policies. For example, the Management Committee of Ningbo National High-tech Industrial Development Zone and the Zhejiang Regulatory Bureau of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, respectively, issued Several Opinions on the Development of Public Innovation Space to Promote Public Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Guidance by China Banking Regulatory Commission Zhejiang Regulatory Bureau on the Banking Industry To Do a Good Job of Providing Financial Services on Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education, to provide a platform and support for the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education. On the whole, the Ministry of Education is the largest subject of the policy of issuing innovation and entrepreneurship education, and the State Council is the biggest promoter of policy issuance. Unlike the main body of the innovation and entrepreneurship education policy at the national level, the provincial and municipal governments at the local level are the most published subjects of the policies relating to innovation and entrepreneurship education, while the number of policies issued by the municipal education departments is relatively small. This shows that innovation

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and entrepreneurship education has attracted great attention in the central, provincial and municipal government departments, and the departments concerned about innovation and entrepreneurship education are gradually increasing. Compared with local governments, the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education has not attracted enough attention in the municipal education sector.

3.1.3 Geographical Distribution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies Statistics show that the degree of activity of China’s innovation and entrepreneurship education policy is significantly related to the geographical distribution and socioeconomic development of various regions of China. From the overall policy distribution, the degree of activity of innovation and entrepreneurship education policy in various parts of China can be divided into three regions: the active areas of the eastern coast, the second active areas of the central region and the low-activity areas in the west. The regions with the largest number of policies on innovation and entrepreneurship education are mainly located in the eastern coastal areas, and it is worth noting that although Sichuan Province is located in the southwestern hinterland of the mainland, it has actively created a policy environment for the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in Sichuan Province, showing more active characteristics. Most of the provinces in eastern and central China have more active policies, among which Henan Province is the province with the largest number of innovation and entrepreneurship education policies in the central region. This may have something to do with its influence and driving role by the active areas along the eastern coast. Judging from the overall trend of national policy release, the number of innovation and entrepreneurship education policies issued in the western region of China is the lowest, as shown in Fig. 3.8. From 1998 to 2018, as for the number of China’s innovation and entrepreneurship education policy issued, Jiangsu Province ranked first with 187 files, followed by Liaoning, Fujian, Zhejiang and Shandong provinces, which, respectively, issued 137, 135, 130 and 130 files. The provinces and regions with the least policies for the issuance of innovative entrepreneurship education policies were the Tibet Autonomous Region, with ten policies issued. According to incomplete statistics, a total of 249 cities have issued relevant policies. Of these, Hangzhou ranked first in the number of policy releases (19), followed by Changzhou (15), Nanjing (14), Ningbo City (13), Zhenjiang (12) and Wenzhou (10). In addition, 85 prefecturelevel municipalities have not yet issued policies on innovation and entrepreneurship education. It can be seen that China’s innovation and entrepreneurship education policy is also directly related to geographical location. The overall degree of urban economic development and the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education are bound to be affected by these factors. In addition, cities that have not yet published

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Fig. 3.8 Geographical chart on the number of entrepreneurship education policies by local governments in China, 1998–2018

innovation and entrepreneurship education accounted for 25% of the total number of cities in China. This shows that although the central and provincial governments are very concerned about innovation and entrepreneurship education, the local attention is not enough. The effectiveness of innovation and entrepreneurship education policy still needs to be improved.

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies Since 2015, China’s innovation and entrepreneurship education has shown a blowout trend. National and local government departments at all levels have issued a number of policies to promote the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities, which has opened the prelude to the overall deepening of China’s innovation and entrepreneurship education. At the same time, with China’s economic development into the new normal, the country accelerates the implementation of innovation-driven development strategy, and it is urgent to further promote the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities. College entrepreneurship education no longer stays in encouraging a few people to set up a few start-up companies, and it has risen to the national strategy. Furthermore, it is a positive response to the national policy of “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” as well as an important support for the country’s innovation-driven development.

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135

3.2.1 Origin of Entrepreneurship Education Policies The development of China’s entrepreneurship education cannot be separated from the great emphasis of the Party Central Committee and the State Council. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has made it clear that we should increase the support for the training of innovative and entrepreneurial talents. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly given important instructions to speed up the reform of the education system, pay attention to cultivating students’ innovative spirit and create a large-scale, innovative and risk-taking talent team of innovative entrepreneurs. During his visit to the United States in 2015, General Secretary Xi also paid a special visit to the Institute of Global Innovation, founded in Seattle by Tsinghua University and the University of Washington and Microsoft Corporation. It is thriving, and it cultivates high-end talents urgently needed for global economic development and scientific research and innovation. Premier Li Keqiang has repeatedly stressed that the core of mass entrepreneurship and innovation lies in stimulating people’s creativity, especially among young people. In order to implement the major decision-making and deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, on May 4, 2015, the State Council issued an important document on promoting entrepreneurship education, the Implementation Opinions of The State Council General Office on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Colleges and Universities (hereinafter referred to as “Opinions”). It proposed three steps to reach the goal. Firstly, it would comprehensively deepen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities from 2015. Secondly, it would make important progress in 2017 by forming a scientifically advanced, widely recognized entrepreneurship education concept with Chinese characteristics as well as ensure a number of replicable and transferable institutional achievements, and popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education. Thirdly, it would establish and improve the innovation and entrepreneurship education system in colleges and universities in 2020, to integrate classroom teaching, self-study and practice, guidance and assistance and cultural leadership, which will significantly improve the quality of personnel training, enhance the innovative spirit, entrepreneurial awareness and innovative entrepreneurial ability of students and significantly increase the number of students who have devoted themselves to the practice of innovation and entrepreneurship. Opinions also put forward the current development of entrepreneurial education, with these outstanding problems reflected upon: Some cities and colleges pay insufficient attention to innovation and entrepreneurship education, the EE concept lags behind, not tight enough with professional education, and the practice is out of touch; there is a shortage of practical platform and guidance, and the education system of innovation and entrepreneurship needs to be perfected. In view of the problems existing in entrepreneurship education, opinions further clarified the main tasks and measures: (1) improving the quality standards for personnel training; (2) the mechanism for the training of innovative talents; (3) improving the curriculum system of innovation and entrepreneurship education; (4) reforming teaching methods and

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assessment methods; (5) strengthening the practice of innovation and entrepreneurship; (6) reforming the management system of teaching and student status, (7) strengthening the capacity-building of teachers’ innovation and entrepreneurship education, (8) improving the guidance service for students’ entrepreneurship, and (9) improving the support of entrepreneurship funds and the policy guarantee system. Opinions have also made specific provisions on improving institutional mechanisms, refining implementation plans, strengthening supervision and implementation and strengthening publicity and guidance.

3.2.2 Consistent Guidance on Entrepreneurship Education On October 14, 2016, the Ministry of Education held a seminar to exchange experiences of deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. It emphasized the need to adhere to the goal orientation and problem orientation, make continuous efforts to deepen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities, further improve the quality of personnel training, drive development for service innovation and provide more powerful intellectual support for promoting mass entrepreneurship and innovation. On November 11, 2016, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on the Implementation of the Identification of the First Batch of Model Colleges on Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform (hereinafter referred to as “Notice”). It decided that it would, during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, identify a number of colleges and universities that have achieved significant results in innovative and entrepreneurial education reform and introduce a number of replicable experience practices to effectively enhance students’ innovative spirit, entrepreneurial awareness and innovative entrepreneurial ability and comprehensively improve the quality of talent cultivation. At the same time, notice puts forward the Guideline Standards for the Identification of Universities in the Model of Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform, which is based on nine first-level indicators: top-level design, management mechanism, curriculum construction, teaching reform, practical training, teaching management, teachers’ team, financial security and characteristic demonstration. It also considered 34 second-level indicators that clarified the criteria for the identification of indicators for universities in the process of deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education. In January 2017, the General Office of the Ministry of Education announced the first batch of model colleges and universities to deepen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education, and 99 colleges and universities were considered to be the “first model universities in China to deepen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education”. In May 2017, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued Notice on the Identification of the Second Batch of Model Colleges and Universities on Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform and continued to identify support for 100 or so model universities. In July 2017, the

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies

137

General Office of the Ministry of Education announced 101 colleges and universities as “national model colleges and universities to deepen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education”. In March 2018, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued Notice on the Construction of Model Colleges and Universities for Deepening innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform in 2018 (hereinafter referred to as “Notice”) to further promote the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education at a higher and deeper level with more critical links. Notice required building a number of highquality EE courses, carrying out a number of high-quality EE teacher training, exploring a number of “youth red-dream journey” excellent teams, so as to drive the national university innovation and entrepreneurship education work to achieve new results, open up new patterns and innovative future, and focus on building a worldclass innovation and entrepreneurship education system with Chinese characteristics. Notice also points out that the model schools in the continued implementation of the State Office issued No. 36 document (2015) on the basis of the nine reform tasks, focusing on three aspects of work: building innovation and entrepreneurship education high-quality curriculum; upgrading teachers’ entrepreneurship education skills; implementing “youth red-dream journey” activities.

3.2.3 Multi-sectoral Collaboration of Entrepreneurship Education Central departments and local governments paid attention to Implementation Opinions of the State Council General Office on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Colleges and Universities as soon as it was launched, forming a joint effort in the reform of entrepreneurship education and continuously promoting the reform of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities. On October 20, 2015, the Ministry of Education organized the provincial (district, city) education departments, universities and other leaders to hold a symposium to further promote the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities; to study and deploy related work; to promote colleges and universities in various regions to deepen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education and strive to create a mass entrepreneurship and innovation force and to provide intellectual support for the country to accelerate the implementation of innovationdriven development strategy. During the same period, the first National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week was launched, and the Ministry of Education, together with the Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and Jilin Province, jointly organized the first China “Internet Plus” University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. The Ministry of Education, in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance, will set up a special fund for the education of college students in innovation and

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entrepreneurship at the China Education Development Foundation, and 5 million yuan per year will be allocated to support ingress in innovation and entrepreneurship projects in universities during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. Departments such as the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security have simplified the process of starting a business for college students, helping them to enjoy the relevant preferential policies such as entrepreneurship tax more easily. Since 2016, the central government has set up special funds for the reform of education and teaching in central colleges and universities, actively guided colleges and universities to deepen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education and supported the reform of education and teaching in colleges and universities. Party committees and governments around the country are also taking action, and some regional provincial committees and provincial governments are responsible for comrades personally deployed to promote entrepreneurship education. All the departments of education, development and reform, science and technology, work and credit, finance, human resources and social security and the Communist Youth League and other aspects of the forces actively organize and mobilize, effectively integrate resources, forming a strong momentum for the reform and development of entrepreneurship education. According to statistics, from 2015 to the present, the governments of 22 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have issued policies on the reform of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities, see Table 3.1. At the same time, Beijing, Tianjin, Heilongjiang Province, Fujian Province, Hunan Province, Guangdong Province, Hainan Province, Yunnan Province, Shaanxi Province and other nine provinces, municipalities, education departments, education committee members have also issued the education reform policy for innovation and entrepreneurship in HEIs, see Table 3.2. In addition to government departments, colleges and universities are also actively engaged in the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education. 112 universities affiliated with central ministries have formulated a reform plan for deepening innovation and entrepreneurship education, and many universities have incorporated the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education into the comprehensive reform program of schools. The first batch of 137 universities and 50 enterprises, institutions and social organizations jointly set up the China University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Alliance. In Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi and Qinghai provinces, 16 university science and technology parks have jointly established the Silk Road Economic Belt. According to the Blue Book on the Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China (2016), nearly 80% of colleges and universities have issued a number of incentive policies and documents for innovative entrepreneurship education, and more than 70% of colleges and universities have carried out relevant teaching reforms.

Date

2015.10.29

2016.09.13

2015.12.01

2015.08.03

2015.08.26

2016.01.18

No

1

2

3

4

5

6

Shanghai Municipal Government

Jilin Provincial Government

Liaoning Provincial Government

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Government

Shanxi Provincial Government

Hebei Provincial Government

Unit

(continued)

Notice issued by the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government on the Implementation Plan for Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Shanghai

The Implementation Opinions of the General Office of Jilin Provincial People’s Government on Deepening the Reform of Education and Teaching in Higher Education and Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship of College Students

Notice of the General Office of the Liaoning Provincial People’s Government on the Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on the Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Notice of the General Office of the Shanxi Provincial People’s Government on the Implementation Plan of the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Several Opinions of the General Office of the People’s Government of Hebei Province on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Policy title

Table 3.1 Policies on the reform of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities issued by local governments, 2015–2018

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 139

Date

2015.12.29

2016.01.14

2015.12.01

2015.09.01

2016.04.05

2016.05.03

No

7

8

9

10

11

12

Table 3.1 (continued)

Unit

Henan Provincial Government

Shandong Provincial Government

Jiangxi Provincial Government

Anhui Provincial Government

Zhejiang Provincial Government

Jiangsu Provincial Government

Policy title

(continued)

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the People’s Government of Henan Province on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the People’s Government of Shandong Province on the Implementation of Document No.36 Issued by the General Office of the State Council to Comprehensively Deepen the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the People’s Government of Jiangxi Province on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the People’s Government of Anhui Province on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province on Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Notice of the General Office of the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government on the Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

140 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2016.05.03

2016.05.03

2015.09.02

2015.06.26

2016.05.04

2016.09.26

2015.11.10

No

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

Table 3.1 (continued)

Unit

Gansu Provincial Government

Tibet Autonomous Regional Government

Guizhou Provincial Government

Sichuan Provincial Government

Chongqing Municipal Government

Guangxi Autonomous Regional Government

Hubei Provincial Government

Policy title

(continued)

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Government of Gansu Province on the Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions (Trial)

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Government of Tibet Autonomous Region on the Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions (Trial)

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Government of Guizhou Province on the Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the People’s Government of Sichuan Province on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Government of Chongqing on Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform in Higher Education Institutions

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Government of Guangxi Autonomous Region on the Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the People’s Government of Hubei Province on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 141

Date

2015.10.26

2016.05.23

2017.08.24

No

20

21

22

Table 3.1 (continued)

Unit

Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Government

Ningxia Autonomous Regional Government

Qinghai Provincial Government

Policy title

Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions in Xinjiang Autonomous Region

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Government of Ningxia Autonomous Region on the Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Government of Qinghai Province on the Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions

142 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2018.05.15

2016.05.16

2015.08.10

2015.07.23

2015.10.13

2015.10.12

2015.12.29

2015.12.21

No

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Yunnan Provincial Office of Education

Hainan Provincial Office of Education

Guangdong Provincial Office of Education

Hunan Provincial Office of Education

Fujian Provincial Office of Education

Heilongjiang Provincial Office of Education

Tianjin Municipal Commission of Education

Beijing Municipal Commission of Education

Unit

(continued)

Implementation Opinions of Yunnan Provincial Office of Education on Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform in HEIs

Notice of Hunan Provincial Office of Education of Implementation Plan on Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform in HEIs

Several Opinions of Guangdong Provincial Office of Education on Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform in HEIs

Implementation Opinions of Hunan Provincial Office of Education on Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform in HEIs

Sixteen Measures of Fujian Provincial Office of Education on Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform in HEIs

Heilongjiang Provincial Education Department on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in HEIs to Promote the Implementation of the Program of Entrepreneurship of College Students

Measures of Tianjin Municipal Education Commission to Further Strengthen the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Tianjin Higher Education Institutions

Notice of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission on Forwarding the Working Paper of the General Office of the Ministry of Education on the Construction of Model Colleges and Universities to Do a Good Job in Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in 2018

Policy title

Table 3.2 Policies on the reform of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities issued by local educational departments, 2015–2018

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 143

Date

2016.03.11

No

9

Table 3.2 (continued)

Unit

Shaanxi Provincial Office of Education

Policy title Opinions on the Implementation of the Plan on Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Reform in HEIs

144 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies

145

3.2.4 Orientation of the Reform Objectives of Entrepreneurship Education As the government policy analysis shows, China’s entrepreneurship education reform has four objectives: Build the innovation and entrepreneurship education system; popularize entrepreneurship education; incorporate entrepreneurship education into the national education system; and integrate entrepreneurship education into talent cultivation (Fig. 3.9).

3.2.4.1

Build the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education System

Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education noted that “the innovation and entrepreneurship education system in higher education should be established and completed by 2020 which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance, and the leading role of culture”. From 2015 to June 2018, there were 38 policy documents released by 25 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions noting that the objectives of innovation and entrepreneurship education reform should entail establishing and improving the innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning. Among them were five documents released by the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, four by

Fig. 3.9 Objectives of innovation and entrepreneurship education reform

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Liaoning Province and three by Shandong Province. Nine provincial-level Education Departments and 22 prefectural-level city governments issued altogether 38 policy documents on establishing and improving the innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning. Among them were three documents issued by the Education Department of Shandong Province and three by the Nanjing municipal government, which were the most (see Table 3.3).

3.2.4.2

Popularize Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education

On 22 May 2014, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Education and other ministries issued Notice on Implementing Entrepreneurship Guidance Plan of College Students, which is the first document that puts forward the popularization of entrepreneurship education in central government document. The issuance of this policy immediately attracted the attention of the State Council and local governments. On May 4, 2015, the General Office of State Council issued Implementation Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Universities and stated that the goal of entrepreneurship education reform is to “deepen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities from 2015. Important progress will be made in 2017, forming innovative and entrepreneurship education concepts which are scientific and advanced, widely recognized, full of Chinese characteristics, forming a batch of system results that can be replicated and promoted, popularizing innovative and entrepreneurship education and realizing the expected goals of entrepreneurship guidance programs of the new round of college students”. On August 11, 2015, the State Council issued the Decision of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of National Education, which again emphasized the need to “strengthen guidance of employment and entrepreneurship for graduates of ordinary colleges and vocational colleges, establish employment guidance courses, popularize entrepreneurship education, guide students to establish a correct concept of job selection and enhance entrepreneurship awareness and entrepreneurship ability”. In 2017, the State Council issued Notice of State Council on Promoting Employment Planning in the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan”, which proposed to popularize entrepreneurship education and strengthen vocational training. In addition to central government, local governments have also actively issued policy documents to popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education. As early as 2011, the Zhuzhou municipal government issued a policy document requiring all universities and vocational colleges in the city to popularize entrepreneurship education. Since then, the governments of 19 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions—Shanghai, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan, Fujian, Sichuan, Yunnan, Liaoning, Qinghai, Hebei, Gansu, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Zhejiang, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Shanxi—have successively issued relevant policy documents on popularizing innovation and entrepreneurship education. Another 48 policy documents from prefecture-level government, the Ministry of Education, and the

Date

2015.01.16

2015.01.16

2015.01.29

2015.02.28

2015.04.08

No.

1

2

3

4

5

Lianyungang municipal government

Education Department of Shandong Province

Guangdong provincial government

Education Department of Shandong Province; Development and Reform Commission of Shandong Province

Education Department of Shandong Province; Development and Reform Commission of Shandong Province

Unit

Content

Improve the innovation and entrepreneurship education system and promote developing exemplary schools for innovation and entrepreneurship education

General Office of Lianyungang Municipal People’s Government announced the forwarding of the work plan for offering guidance on college student entrepreneurship released by its departments including Human Resources and Social Security Bureau

(continued)

Encourage institutions of higher learning to improve the innovation and entrepreneurship education system; rationalize, institutionalize and standardize entrepreneurship education step by step

Education Department of Shandong Province Establish innovation and announced the issuing of the year 2015 work entrepreneurship education system highlights

Guidelines of Guangdong Provincial People’s Government on deepening the comprehensive reform of education

Education Department and Development and Establish the innovation and Reform Commission, Shandong, announced entrepreneurship education system the issuing of The Development Plan for Education in the Economic Circle of Provincial Cities

Education Department and Development and Establish the innovation and Reform Commission, Shandong, announced entrepreneurship education system the issuing of The Development Plan for Education along the Western China’s Economic Belt of Priority

Policy title

Table 3.3 Policy documents released by local governments to support establishing the innovation and entrepreneurship education system, 2015–2018

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 147

Date

2015.06.24

2015.06.26

2015.07.15

No.

6

7

8

Shaanxi provincial government

Sichuan provincial government

Huai’an municipal government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Shaanxi Provincial People’s Government announced the issuing of the work plan for streamlining administration, delegating power and transforming government functions

Guidelines of General Office of Sichuan Provincial People’s Government on deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

General Office of Huai’an Municipal People’s Government announced the forwarding of the plan for offering guidance on college student entrepreneurship released by its departments including Human Resources and Social Security Bureau

(continued)

Establish and perfect the innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, practice-based teaching, independent learning, guidance and the leading role of culture

Encourage institutions of higher learning to improve the innovation and entrepreneurship education system; rationalize, institutionalize and standardize entrepreneurship education

Content

148 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2015.07.22

2015.08.03

2015.08.10

No.

9

10

11

Education Department of Heilongjiang Province

Liaoning provincial government

Xuzhou municipal government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Content

Establish the innovation and entrepreneurship education system

(continued)

Education Department of Heilongjiang Improve the innovation and Province announced the issuing of The entrepreneurship education system Implementation Plan of Heilongjiang for Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in its Institutions of Higher Learning to Encourage Student Entrepreneurship

General Office of Liaoning Provincial People’s Government announced the issuing of the implementation plan of Liaoning for deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in its institutions of higher learning

General Office of Xuzhou Municipal Work to improve the entrepreneurship People’s Government announced the education system on the basis of the forwarding of the implementation plan current entrepreneurship courses (2015–2017) for offering guidance on college student entrepreneurship released by its departments including Human Resources and Social Security Bureau

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 149

Date

2015.08.13

2015.08.17

2015.08.26

2015.09.02

No.

12

13

14

15

Chongqing municipal government

Jilin provincial government

Nantong municipal government

Shandong provincial government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

General Office of Chongqing Municipal People’s Government announced deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

Guidelines of General Office of Jilin Provincial People’s Government on deepening the pedagogical reform in institutions of higher learning to encourage student entrepreneurship

General Office of Nantong Municipal People’s Government announced the forwarding of the implementation plan for offering guidance on Nantong’s college student entrepreneurship released by its eleven departments including Human Resources and Social Security Bureau

Guidelines of Shandong Provincial People’s Government on implementing No.19 (2014) Document of State Council to improve the modern vocational education policy system

(continued)

The innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning with Chongqing characteristics has been established basically

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice-based teaching, guidance and the leading role of culture

Encourage institutions of higher learning to improve the innovation and entrepreneurship education system; rationalize, institutionalize and standardize entrepreneurship education

Establish a sound innovation and entrepreneurship education system by 2020

Content

150 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2015.10.13

2015.10.16

2015.10.26

2015.10.26

No.

16

17

18

19

Taizhou municipal government, Jiangsu Province

Qinghai provincial government

Ankang municipal government

Education Department of Hunan Province

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Guidelines of General Office of Taizhou Municipal People’s Government on ensuring healthy employment and entrepreneurship under the current circumstances

General Office of Qinghai Provincial People’s Government announced the issuing of the implementation plan of Qinghai for deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in its colleges and universities

Ankang Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of the work plan for streamlining administration, delegating power and transforming government functions

Guidelines of Education Department of Hunan Province on deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning

(continued)

Encourage institutions of higher learning to improve the innovation and entrepreneurship education system; rationalize, institutionalize and standardize entrepreneurship education

Establish the all-round innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which is “five-sphere” integrated, namely incorporating “classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture”

Establish and perfect the innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning

Basically establish the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, practice-based teaching, independent learning, guidance and policy support

Content

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 151

Date

2015.10.29

2015.11.02

2015.11.09

No.

20

21

22

Shangluo municipal government

Xi’an municipal government

Hebei provincial government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Establish and perfect the innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning, which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, creative thinking, entrepreneurship practice, entrepreneurship support and the leading role of culture

Content

(continued)

Shangluo Municipal People’s Government Establish and perfect the innovation and announced the issuing of the implementation entrepreneurship education system in plan of Shangluo for streamlining vocational schools administration, delegating power and transforming government functions

Xi’an Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of the work plan for streamlining administration, delegating power and transforming government functions

Guidelines of General Office of Hebei Provincial People’s Government on deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

152 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2015.11.10

2015.12.01

2015.12.01

2015.12.25

No.

23

24

25

26

Xianning municipal government

Anhuiprovincial government

People’s Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Gansu provincial government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system which incorporates classroom teaching, practice-based teaching, independent learning, guidance and the leading role of culture

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Content

(continued)

Guidelines of Xianning Municipal People’s Establish and perfect the Government on accelerating the development multi-dimensional innovation and of modern vocational education entrepreneurship education system which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Guidelines of General Office of Anhui Provincial People’s Government on deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

People’s Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced the issuing of the implementation plan for deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

General Office of Gansu Provincial People’s Government announced the issuing of the implementation plan of Gansu for deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in its institutions of higher learning (trial)

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 153

Date

2015.12.29

2015.12.29

2015.12.29

2016.01.01

No.

27

28

29

30

CPC Yunnan Provincial Committee and the provincial government

Jiangsu provincial government

Education Department of Hainan Province

Jiangsu provincial government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Basically establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, practice-based teaching, independent learning, guidance and the leading role of culture

Establish an innovation and entrepreneurship education system which is “three-sphere” integrated, namely incorporating “theoretical education, training simulations and real-world practice”

Content

(continued)

Guidelines of CPC Yunnan Provincial Improve the innovation and Committee and the provincial government on entrepreneurship education system in deepening the institutional reform of talent institutions of higher learning development

General Office of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government announced the issuing of the implementation plan of Jiangsu for deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in its institutions of higher learning

Education Department of Hainan Province announced the issuing of The Implementation Plan of Hainan for Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in its Institutions of Higher Learning

Education Department of Jiangsu Province announced the issuing of the guidelines of deepening the reform of credit systems in institutions of higher learning

154 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2016.01.14

2016.01.18

2016.01.25

No.

31

32

33

Shijiazhuang municipal government

Shanghai municipal government

Zhejiang provincial government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Guidelines of General Office of Shijiazhuang Municipal People’s Government on deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

General Office of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of The Implementation Plan of Shanghai for Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in its Institutions of Higher Learning

Guidelines of General Office of Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government on promoting innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

(continued)

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning, which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, creative thinking, entrepreneurship practice, entrepreneurship support and the leading role of culture

Establish and perfect the innovation and entrepreneurship education system

Basically establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture by 2020; establish the innovation and entrepreneurship education system which is united, progressive and reasonable

Content

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 155

Date

2016.02.05

2016.02.22

2016.04.05

2016.04.21

2016.05.03

No.

34

35

36

37

38

Policy title

Guidelines of General Office of Shandong Provincial People’s Government on implementing No.36 (2015) Document of State Council Office to deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

Yingkou Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of the guidelines of Yingkou government on promoting widespread entrepreneurship

Guidelines of Wuhu Municipal People’s Government on establishing the modern vocational education system and making this city famous for it

Basically establish a reasonable and advanced innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning with Shandong characteristics, which is widely recognized and in leading position

Establish a multi-level and multi-channel entrepreneurship training and education system covering both urban and rural areas throughout the region

Restructure the innovation and entrepreneurship education system by methods including “internet plus profession”

Content

People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

General Office of People’s Government of Guangxi Autonomous Region announced the issuing of the implementation plan for deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

(continued)

Basically establish the innovation and entrepreneurship education system of various levels and types in institutions of higher learning, where teachers and students participate voluntarily, sufficient resources and diversified methods are available

Education Department of Zhejiang Province General Office of Education Department of Establish and perfect the all-round Zhejiang Province announced implementing innovation and entrepreneurship the entrepreneurship mentor training program education system in institutions of higher learning

Shandong provincial government

Yingkou municipal government

Wuhu municipal government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued)

156 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2016.05.03

2016.05.04

2016.05.12

No.

39

40

41

Gansu provincial government

Guizhou provincial government

Henan provincial government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

General Office of Gansu Provincial People’s Government announced the issuing of The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020) for Tertiary Education in Gansu

Guizhou Provincial People’s Government announced the issuing of The Implementation Plan of Guizhou for Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in its Institutions of Higher Learning

Guidelines of Henan Provincial People’s Government on deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

(continued)

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture by 2020

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, practice-based teaching, independent learning, guidance and the leading role of culture

Content

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 157

Date

2016.05.20

2016.05.23

2016.05.25

No.

42

43

44

Liaoning provincial government

People’s Government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Shandong provincial government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Guidelines of General Office of Liaoning Provincial People’s Government on promoting innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

General Office of People’s Government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region announced the issuing of the implementation plan of Ningxia for deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in its institutions of higher learning

General Office of Shandong Provincial People’s Government announced the forwarding of the implementation plan for transformation and upgrading of Shandong educational services industry released by its departments including the provincial Education Department

(continued)

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, practice-based teaching, independent learning, guidance and the leading role of culture

Establish and perfect the innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning

Content

158 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2016.06.07

2016.07.01

2016.07.29

2016.08.05

2016.08.19

No.

45

46

47

48

49

Yingkou municipal government

Dalian municipal government

Liaoning provincial government

Huai’an municipal government

People’s Government of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued)

Guidelines of General Office of Yingkou Municipal People’s Government on promoting employment and re-employment

General Office of Dalian Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020) for Education in Dalian

General Office of Liaoning Provincial People’s Government announced the issuing of The Outline of Liaoning’s Plan for Scientific Literacy (2016–2020)

General Office of Huai’an Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020) for Education in Huai’an

Guidelines of People’s Government of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture on accelerating the development of modern vocational education

Policy title

(continued)

Establish a multi-level and multi-channel entrepreneurship training and education system covering both urban and rural areas throughout the region

Encourage institutions of higher learning to improve their innovation and entrepreneurship education system

Establish the innovation and entrepreneurship education system

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Establish and improve the entrepreneurship education system which incorporates entrepreneurial knowledge delivery, training for entrepreneurial practice and practical activities

Content

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 159

Date

2016.09.05

2016.09.13

2016.10.09

2016.11.03

2016.11.07

No.

50

51

52

53

54

Nanjing municipal government

Huludao municipal government

Anshan municipal government

Shanxi provincial government

Education Department of Inner Mongolia autonomous region

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Improve the innovation and entrepreneurship education system

Content

General Office of Nanjing Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020) for Education in Dalian

General Office of Huludao Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of The Outline of Huludao’s Action Plan for Scientific Literacy (2016–2020)

(continued)

Constantly improve the innovation and entrepreneurship education system

Establish the innovation and entrepreneurship education system

General Office of Anshan Municipal People’s Establish the innovation and Government announced the issuing of The entrepreneurship education system Outline of Anshan’s Action Plan for Scientific Literacy (2016–2020)

Shanxi Provincial People’s Government Establish and perfect the innovation and announced the issuing of the implementation entrepreneurship education system in plan for deepening the reform of innovation Shanxi’s institutions of higher learning and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning in Shanxi

Education Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced the issuing of The Action Plan for Strengthening the Management of Vocational Schools in Inner Mongolia (2016–2018)

Policy title

160 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2016.11.16

2016.12.15

2016.12.16

2016.12.31

2017.02.21

No.

55

56

57

58

59

Inner Mongolia autonomous region government

Fushun municipal government

Hubei provincial government

Content

Establish the innovation and entrepreneurship education system and cultivate a large number of innovative applied talents

(continued)

Guidelines of People’s Government of Inner Improve the innovation and Mongolia Autonomous Region on supporting entrepreneurship education system to develop good quality institutions of higher learning

General Office of Fushun Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of The Outline of Fushun’s Action Plan for Scientific Literacy (2016–2020)

Hubei Provincial People’s Government Establish and perfect the announced the issuing of The 13th Five-Year multi-dimensional innovation and Plan (2016–2020) for Education in Hubei entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Innovation and entrepreneurship education has established an innovation and entrepreneurship education system which is suitable for cultivating applied talents

Anhui’s leading group on pilot work on the Establish the innovation and all-round and systematic reform of innovation entrepreneurship education system with announced the issuing of the pilot plan for Anhui University’s characteristics the reform of innovation in Anhui University

Policy title

Education Department of Liaoning Province Education Department of Liaoning Province announced the issuing of evaluation index systems for undergraduate universities to transform from applied to both pilot (trial) universities and majors (trial)

Anhui’s leading group on pilot work on the all-round and systematic reform of innovation

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued)

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 161

Date

2017.04.10

2018.05.22

2017.05.24

2017.06.09

No.

60

61

62

63

Liaoning provincial government

Chongqing municipal government

Bayannur municipal government

Nanjing municipal government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning and specialized secondary schools which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Constantly improve the innovation and entrepreneurship education system

Content

Liaoning Provincial People’s Government announced the issuing of The 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020) for promoting employment in Liaoning

(continued)

Establish and perfect the innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching and practice-based learning

Guidelines of Chongqing Municipal People’s Lead institutions of higher learning to Government on accelerating the development establish the innovation and of world-class universities and majors entrepreneurship education system which is open to all students and involves the whole process of talent development

Bayannur Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of The Implementation Plan for Ensuring Healthy Employment and Entrepreneurship

General Office of Nanjing Municipal Government announced the issuing of The 13th Five Year Plan (2016–2020) for egalitarian public services

162 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2017.07.04

2017.08.15

2017.09.27

2017.09.28

No.

64

65

66

67

Tianjing municipal government

Inner Mongolia autonomous region government

Fuxin municipal government

Education Department of Henan Province

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Establish the innovation and entrepreneurship education system and cultivate a large number of innovative applied talents

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates continuous projects, policy guarantee, classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Content

(continued)

Tianjing Municipal People’s Government Improve the innovation and announced the issuing of the implementation entrepreneurship education system in plan for developing world-class universities institutions of higher learning and majors

General Office of People’s Government of Inner Mongolia announced the issuing of The 13thFive-Year Plan (2016–2020) for Education in Inner Mongolia

General Office of Fuxin Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of The Outline of Fuxin’s Action Plan for Scientific Literacy (2017–2020)

Education Department of Henan Province announced the issuing of the implementation plan for deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 163

Date

2017.10.12

2017.10.12

2017.11.07

2017.11.15

No.

68

69

70

71

Panjin municipal government

Sichuan provincial government

Nanjing municipal government

Inner Mongolia autonomous region government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Content

Establish the all-round, multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system

(continued)

Panjin Municipal People’s Government Establish and perfect the innovation and announced the issuing of The 13th Five-Year entrepreneurship education system in Plan (2016–2020) for promoting employment institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching and practice-based learning

Guidelines of Sichuan Provincial People’s Government on developing world-class universities and majors

General Office of Nanjing Municipal Constantly improve the innovation and People’s Government announced entrepreneurship education system implementation plans for increasing spending on sectors such as tourism, culture, sports, health, elderly care and educational services

Guidelines of People’s Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on ensuring healthy employment and entrepreneurship

Policy title

164 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2017.12.01

2017.12.12

2018.01.24

2018.02.15

2018.06.22

No.

72

73

74

75

76

Heilongjiang provincial government

Fuxin municipal government

Party Committee of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; People’s Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region

Inner Mongolia autonomous region government

Ningde municipal government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Establish and perfect the innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates teaching and practice

Establish and perfect the multi-dimensional innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching, independent learning, practice, guidance and the leading role of culture

Further improve the innovation and entrepreneurship education system and the cultivation model of integrating education with industry

Content

CPC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee and the provincial government announced the issuing of The Mid- and Long-Term Plans for Youth Development (2017–2025)

(continued)

Establish and perfect the innovation and entrepreneurship education system in institutions of higher learning which incorporates teaching and practice

Fuxin Municipal People’s Government Establish and perfect the innovation and announced the issuing of The 13th Five-Year entrepreneurship education system in Plan (2016–2020) for promoting employment institutions of higher learning which incorporates classroom teaching and practice-based learning

Party Committee of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the government announced the issuing of the Xinjiang’s plan for youth development

Guidelines of People’s Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on promoting employment during The 13th Five-Year period (2016–2020)

General Office of Ningde Municipal People’s Government announced the issuing of the implementation plans for increasing spending on sectors such as tourism, culture, sports, health, elderly care and educational services

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 165

Date

2018.06.25

No.

77

Shanghai municipal government

Unit

Table 3.3 (continued) Policy title

Content

General Office of Shanghai Municipal Establish and perfect the innovation and People’s Government announced the issuing entrepreneurship education system of The Targeted Action Plan for Encouraging Job Creation Through Business Start-ups (2018–2022)

166 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies

167

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security also proposed the same development requirements. This shows that it is an important development trend to continuously expand the group of entrepreneurship education, promote and popularize the national entrepreneurship education (see Table 3.4).

3.2.4.3

The Integration of Entrepreneurship Education into National Education System

On June 11, 2015, the State Council’s Opinions on Promoting Public Entrepreneurship Innovation and Several Policy Measures put forward: “The cultivation of entrepreneurship mindset and entrepreneurship quality education into the national education system, and the institutionalization and systematization of entrepreneurship education and training in the whole society”. Since then, there have been nine local policy documents that “incorporate entrepreneurship mindset cultivation and entrepreneurship quality education into the national education system” and 65 local policy documents that “incorporate innovation and entrepreneurship into the national education system”. Of the 74 policy documents, 53 were issued in 2015, 13 in 2016, seven in 2017 and one in 2018, with Sichuan Province listed the first with 19, followed by Liaoning Province with 11. For example, Dandong Municipal People’s Government Office on the Development of Public Creative Space to Promote Public Innovation and Entrepreneurship Implementation Opinion put forward: “to foster entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurship quality education into the national education system, improve the curriculum of entrepreneurship, strengthen the construction of the entrepreneurship training system, the use of the university’s own professional expertise and discipline advantages, the implementation of a one-base project”. Opinions of the Sichuan Provincial People’s Government on Furthering Employment and Entrepreneurship in the New Situation put forward: “the integration of innovative entrepreneurship courses into the national education system and the comprehensive promotion of entrepreneurship education in general colleges, vocational schools and technical colleges”. However, at present, China’s entrepreneurship education is still mainly in the field of higher education and vocational education, only a part in the whole education chain. It has not yet extended to the basic education stage, so for the entrepreneurship education to be truly integrated into the national education system, it would require more exploration and efforts.

3.2.4.4

Integration of Entrepreneurship Education into Talent Cultivation

It is the fourth development goal of the reform of entrepreneurship education at the central and all levels of government to improve the quality of college talent cultivation, enhance students’ entrepreneurial spirit, entrepreneurial awareness and innovative entrepreneurship ability, integrate entrepreneurship education into the whole process of talent training and firmly promote the reform of innovation and

Date

2011. 8.16

2012. 6. 15

2014. 6.18

2014. 6.18

No.

1

2

3

4

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other nine ministries of Anhui Province

Heilongjiang provincial government

Shanghai Municipal Commission of Education

Zhuzhou municipal government

Unit All universities and vocational colleges in the municipal should popularize entrepreneurship education

Content

Promote universities to popularize entrepreneurship education

(continued)

Notice of Ministry of Human Resources and Popularize entrepreneurship education Social Security, Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Education and Other Ministries of Anhui Province on the Issuance of the Implementation Plan of Anhui Youth Entrepreneurship Plan (2014–2017)

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Government of Heilongjiang Province on Further Improving the Employment and Entrepreneurship of Graduates of Ordinary Universities

Notice of the Shanghai Municipal Popularize entrepreneurship education Commission of Education on the Issuance of the 12th Five-year Plan for the Reform and Development of Shanghai’s Higher Education

Implementation Opinions of Zhuzhou Municipal People’s Government on Improving Entrepreneurship Environment and Promoting the National Entrepreneurship

Policy title

Table 3.4 Local governments’ policy documents on popularizing innovation and entrepreneurship education

168 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2014. 6.20

2014. 6.27

2014. 6.27

No.

5

6

7

Jiangxi provincial government

Anhui provincial government

Wuxi municipal government

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Policy title

Promote universities to popularize entrepreneurship education

Promote universities to popularize entrepreneurship education

Content

(continued)

The General Office of the People’s Popularize entrepreneurship education Government of Jiangxi Province on Forwarding the Notice Issued by the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the Employment and Entrepreneurship of Nationwide Graduates of Ordinary Universities in 2014

Notice of the General Office of Anhui Provincial People’s Government on Promoting the Employment and Entrepreneurship of Graduates of Ordinary Universities in 2014

Notice of the Office of Wuxi Municipal People’s Government on the Issuance of the Implementation Opinions on Further Improving the Employment and Entrepreneurship of College Graduates in 2014

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 169

Date

2014. 7.16

2014. 7.29

2014. 9.5

No.

8

9

10

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other nine ministries of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Education and other ten ministries of Qinghai Province

Shandong provincial government

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Policy title

Content

Notice of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Education and Other Ministries of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Implementing the Entrepreneurship Guidance Plan of College Students

(continued)

Ministry of education and universities should increase the popularization of entrepreneurship education

Notice of Ministry of Human Resources and Actively promote provincial universities to Social Security, Development and Reform popularize innovation and entrepreneurship Commission, Ministry of Education and education Other Ministries on the Issuance of Implementation Program of Entrepreneurship Guidance Plan of College Students in Qinghai Province

The General Office of the People’s Promote college students to popularize Government of Shandong Province on entrepreneurship education Implementation the Notice of Document No.22[2014] Issued by the National People’s Government of China on Promoting the Employment and Entrepreneurship of Graduates of Ordinary Universities in the Province in 2014

170 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2014. 9.15

2014. 9.16

2014. 9.16

No.

11

12

13

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other nine ministries of Hunan Province

Jiangsu provincial government

Beijing municipal Commission of Education

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Content

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of Hunan Province on Forwarding the Notice Issued by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Other Nine Ministries on the Implementation of Entrepreneurship Pioneering Plan for College Students

The General Office of the People’s Government of Jiangsu Province on Forwarding the Notice Issued by Provincial Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Other Ministries on the Entrepreneurship Pioneering Plan for College Students in Jiangsu Province

(continued)

Popularize entrepreneurship education

Popularize entrepreneurship education

Notice of the Beijing Municipal Commission Popularize entrepreneurship education in of Education on the Construction of Beijing universities Demonstration Entrepreneurship Center of Universities in Beijing Municipal

Policy title

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 171

Date

2014. 9.26

2014. 10.22

2014. 10.28

No.

14

15

16

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other nine ministries of Liaoning Province

Henan provincial government

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other ten ministries of Beijing municipal

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Content

Promote universities to popularize entrepreneurship education, realize entrepreneurship education to be scientific, institutionalized and standardized

(continued)

Notice of Ministry of Human Resources and Popularize entrepreneurship education in all Social Security, Development and Reform universities in the province Commission, Ministry of Education and Other Ministries on the Implementation of Entrepreneurship Pioneering Plan of College Students in Liaoning Province

The General Office of Henan Provincial People’s Government on Forwarding the Notice Issued by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Other Ministries on the Entrepreneurship Pioneering Plan of College Students in Henan Province

Notice of Ministry of Human Resources and Promote universities to popularize Social Security, Development and Reform entrepreneurship education in Beijing area Commission, Commission of Education and Other Ministries of Beijing Municipal on the Issuance of Implementation Plan of Entrepreneurship Guidance Plan of College Students in Beijing Municipal

Policy title

172 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2014. 11.19

2014. 12.11

2014. 12.15

No.

17

18

19

Beijing Municipal Commission of Education Beijing Municipal Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park Management Committee; Ministry of Human Resource and Social Security of Beijing Municipal; Beijing Municipal Finance Bureau

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other twelve ministries of Fujian Province

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of Tianjin municipal; Committee of Education of Tianjin municipal; Finance Bureau of Tianjin municipal

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Content

Notice of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education, Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park Management Committee, Beijing Municipal Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Beijing Municipal Ministry of Finance on the Issuance of Implementation Rules of Supporting College Students to Start Businesses in Beijing Municipal

(continued)

Promote all universities in Beijing area to popularize entrepreneurship education

Notice of Ministry of Human Resources and Popularize entrepreneurship education Social Security and Other 12 Ministries of Fujian Province on the Issuance of Implementation Opinions of Entrepreneurship Guidance Plan of College Students in Fujian Province

Notice of Ministry of Human Resources and Popularize entrepreneurship education Social Security, Commission of Education and Ministry of Finance of Tianjin Municipal on the Issuance of Implementation Plan of Entrepreneurship Guidance Plan (2014–2017) of College students in Tianjin Municipal

Policy title

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 173

Date

2014. 12.22

2014. 12.28

2015. 1.5

2015. 3.7

No.

20

21

22

23

Zhuzhou municipal government

Zhenjiang municipal government

Xuchang municipal government

Anyang municipal government

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Policy title

Content

Popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education

Promote universities to popularize entrepreneurship education, realize entrepreneurship education to be scientific, institutionalized and standardized

(continued)

Notice of Zhuzhou Municipal People’s Popularize entrepreneurship education Government Office on Promoting Employment and Entrepreneurship of Young People With the Focus on College Graduates

The Office of Zhenjiang Municipal People’s Government on Forwarding the Notice Issued by Municipal Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Other Ministries on the Implementation Program of Entrepreneurship Guide Plan of College Students in Zhenjiang Municipal

The Office of Xuchang Municipal People’s Government on Forwarding the Notice Issued by Municipal Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Other Ministries on Entrepreneurship Guide Plan of College Students in Xuchang Municipal

The Office of Anyang Municipal People’s Promote universities to popularize Government on Forwarding the Notice entrepreneurship education Issued by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Other Ministries on the Entrepreneurship Pioneering Plan for College Students in Anyang Municipal

174 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2015. 3.11

2015. 4.5

2015. 4.8

2015. 5.27

2015. 6.2

No.

24

25

26

27

28

Longyan municipal government

Ganzhou municipal government

Lianyungang municipal government

Fujian provincial government

Zhuzhou municipal government

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Policy title

Content

Popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education

Popularize entrepreneurship education

(continued)

Notice of the People’s Government of Popularize entrepreneurship education Longyan Municipal on the Employment and Entrepreneurship of Graduates of Ordinary Universities in 2015

Implementation Opinion of Ganzhou Municipal People’s Government on the Development of Mass Innovation Space to Promote Mass Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The Office of Lianyungang Municipal People’s Government on Forwarding the Notice Issued by Municipal Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Other Ministries on the Work Program of Entrepreneurship Guide Plan of College Students in Lianyungang Municipal

Notice of the People’s Government of Fujian Popularize entrepreneurship education Province on the Employment and Entrepreneurship of Graduates of Ordinary Universities in 2015

Implementation Opinions of Zhuzhou Popularize entrepreneurship education Municipal People’s Government Office on Promoting Nationwide Entrepreneurship and Employment

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 175

Date

2015. 6.5

2015. 6.23

2015. 6.24

2015. 6.26

2015. 7.3

No.

29

30

31

32

33

Anhui provincial government

Sichuan provincial government

Huai’an municipal government

Putian municipal government

Nanping municipal government

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Policy title

Notice of the General Office of Anhui Provincial People’s Government on the Issuance of “Entrepreneurship Jianghuai” Action Plan (2015–2017)

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of Sichuan Provincial People’s Government on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities

The Office of Huai’an Municipal People’s Government on Forwarding the Notice Issued by Municipal Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Other Ministries on Entrepreneurship Guide Plan of College Students in Huai’an Municipal

Opinions of Putian Municipal People’s Government on Promoting the Employment and Entrepreneurship of Graduates of Ordinary Universities in 2015

Notice of Nanping Municipal People’s Government on Promoting the Employment and Entrepreneurship of Graduates of Ordinary Universities in 2015

(continued)

Popularize entrepreneurship education

Basically popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education by 2020

Popularize entrepreneurship education

Popularize entrepreneurship education

Popularize entrepreneurship education

Content

176 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2015. 7.22

2015. 8.3

2015. 8.3

2015. 8.13

No.

34

35

36

37

Shandong provincial government

Liaoning provincial government

Yunnan provincial government

Xuzhou municipal government

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Policy title

Content

Opinion of Shandong Provincial People’s Government on Forwarding the Opinion of Document No.19[2014] Issued by the State Council on Further Improving the Policy System of Modern Vocational Education

Notice of the General Office of Liaoning Provincial People’s Government on the Issuance of Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Ordinary Universities in Liaoning Province

Implementation Opinions of the People’s Government of Yunnan Province on Further Promoting the Employment and Entrepreneurship Work under the New Situation

(continued)

Accelerate the popularization of innovation and entrepreneurship education

Popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education

Actively promote the popularization of entrepreneurship education in ordinary universities, vocational colleges and technical colleges

The Office of Xuzhou Municipal Popularize entrepreneurship education Government on Forwarding the Notice Issued by Municipal Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Other Ministries on the Implementation Plan of Entrepreneurship Guidance Plan (2015–2017) of College Students in Xuzhou Municipal

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 177

Date

2015. 8.17

2015. 8.25

2015. 10.13

2015. 10.21

No.

38

39

40

41

Ministry of Education of Chengdu Municipal

Ministry of Education of Hunan Province

Shenyang municipal government

Nantong municipal government

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Policy title

Content

Implementation Opinions of Chengdu Municipal Ministry of Education on Vigorously Promoting the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Municipal Universities and Secondary Vocational Colleges

Implementation Opinions of Ministry of Education of Hunan Province on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities

Implementation Opinion of Shenyang Municipal People’s Government on Vigorously Promoting Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation

(continued)

Basically popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education by 2017

Basically popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education by 2020

Popularize entrepreneurship education

The Office of Nantong Municipal People’s Popularize entrepreneurship education Government on Forwarding the Notice Issued by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Other Eleven Ministries on the Implementation Program of the Entrepreneurship Pioneering Plan of College Students in Nantong Municipal

178 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2015. 10.26

2015. 10.28

2015. 10.29

2015. 11.10

No.

42

43

44

45

Gansu provincial government

Hebei provincial government

Jiaxing municipal government

Qinghai provincial government

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Policy title

Content

Basically popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education by 2017

Promote universities to popularize entrepreneurship education, realize entrepreneurship education to be scientific, institutionalized and standardized

(continued)

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Basically popularize innovation and Government of Gansu Province on the entrepreneurship education by 2017 Issuance of Implementation Plan (Trial) of Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities in Gansu Province

Opinions of General Office of Hebei Provincial People’s Government on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities

Notice of Jiaxing Municipal People’s Government Office on the Issuance of Implementation Plan of Employment Promotion and Entrepreneurship Guidance Plan (2015–2017) of College Students in Jiaxing Municipal

Notice of the General Office of Qinghai Basically popularize innovation and Provincial People’s Government on the entrepreneurship education by 2017 Issuance of Implementation Plan of Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities in Qinghai Province

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 179

Date

2015. 11.27

2015. 12.1

2015. 12.2

2015. 12.25

No.

46

47

48

49

Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

People’s Government of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

Anhui provincial government

Yantai municipal government

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Policy title

Basically popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education by 2020

Accelerate the popularization of innovation and entrepreneurship education

Content

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on the Issuance of “Entrepreneurship in Inner Mongolia” Action Plan (2016–2020)

(continued)

Integrate and implement a series of policies to popularize entrepreneurship education and training, provide financial support, provide entrepreneurship sites and implement tax reduction and exemption

Implementation Opinions of the People’s Actively promote the popularization of Government of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous entrepreneurship education in ordinary Prefecture on Further Promoting the universities and vocational colleges Employment and Entrepreneurship Work under the New Situation

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of Anhui Provincial People’s Government on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities

Opinions of Yantai Municipal People’s Government on Accelerating the Development of Modern Vocational Education

180 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2015. 12.29

2016. 1.14

2016. 1.25

2016. 3.2

No.

50

51

52

53

Policy title

Content

Shandong provincial government

Shijiazhuang municipal government

Zhejiang provincial government

Basically popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education by 2017

Popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education

(continued)

People’s Government of Shandong Province Popularize entrepreneurship education on Implementing the Opinions of Document No. 46 [2015] Issued by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China on Further Strengthening the Work of Ethnic Education, Education Management Services for Ethnic Students in the Mainland and Education Counterpart Support

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of Shijiazhuang Municipal People’s Government on the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government on Promoting the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities

Ministry of Education of Hainan Province Notice of Ministry of Education of Hainan Basically popularize innovation and Province on the Issuance of Implementation entrepreneurship education by 2020 Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities in Hainan Province

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued)

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 181

Date

2016. 4.21

2016. 5.3

2016. 5.3

2016. 5.23

No.

54

55

56

57

Government of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Henan provincial government

Government of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Ministry of Education of Zhejiang Province

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued)

Popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education by 2017

Basically popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education by 2020

Popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education in high-quality

Content

(continued)

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Fully popularize innovation and Government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous entrepreneurship education by 2020 Region on the Issuance of Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Implementation Opinions of the General Office of Henan Provincial People’s Government on the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities

Notice of the General Office of the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on the Issuance of Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities

Notice of the Office of Zhejiang Provincial Ministry of Education on Implementing Entrepreneurship Tutor Training Project in Universities

Policy title

182 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2016. 6.11

2016. 7.4

2016. 9.13

2016. 9.19

No.

58

59

60

61

Hebei provincial government

Shanxi provincial government

Longnan municipal government

Government of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued)

Popularize entrepreneurship education

Implement the popularization of entrepreneurship education

Content

Notice of the General Office of Hebei Provincial People’s Government on the Issuance of the 13th Five-Year Plan of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in Hebei Province

(continued)

Promote the popularization of entrepreneurship education in universities and vocational colleges

Notice of the General Office of Shanxi Accelerate the popularization of innovation Provincial People’s Government on the and entrepreneurship education Issuance of Implementation Plan of Deepening Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities in Shanxi Province

Notice of Longnan Municipal People’s Government Office on Further Promoting Employment and Entrepreneurship Work of Ordinary College Graduates

Implementation Opinions of the People’s Government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Policies and Measures to Vigorously Promote Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Policy title

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 183

Date

2016. 9.28

2016. 11.3

2016. 11.21

No.

62

63

64

Handan municipal government

Huludao municipal government

Tianshui municipal government

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Policy title Popularize entrepreneurship education

Content

Notice of the General Office of Handan Municipal People’s Government on the Issuance of the 13th Five-Year Plan of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in Handan Municipal

(continued)

Promote the popularization of entrepreneurship education in universities and vocational colleges

Notice of the People’s Government Office of Popularize innovation and entrepreneurship Huludao Municipal on the Issuance of education Implementation Program (2016–2020) of the Action Plan Outline of the Scientific Literacy of the Whole People in Huludao Municipal

Notice of Tianshui Municipal People’s Government Office on the Issuance of the 13th Five-Year Plan of Development of Social Security and Social Welfare in Tianshui Municipal

184 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2016. 12.12

2017. 1.10

2017. 1.16

2017. 1.25

No.

65

66

67

68

Hengshui municipal government

Government of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Wulumuqi municipal government

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of Shandong Province; Ministry of Education of Shandong Province

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Content

Popularize entrepreneurship education

Notice of People’s Government Office of Hengshui Municipal on the Issuance of the 13th Five-Year Plan of Development of Human Resources and Social Security in Hengshui Municipal

(continued)

Promote the popularization of entrepreneurship education in universities and vocational colleges

Notice of the People’s Government of the Popularize entrepreneurship education Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on the Issuance of the 13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Human Resources and Social Security Undertakings in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Implementation Opinions of Urumqi Municipal People’s Government on the Policies and Measures to Vigorously Promote Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Further popularize entrepreneurship Security of Shandong Province and Ministry education in all universities of Education of Shandong Province on Implementation the Notice of the Document No.100[2016] Issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Implementing the Promotion Plan of Employment and Entrepreneurship of Graduates

Policy title

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 185

Date

2017. 3.14

2017. 6.12

2017. 7.4

2017. 12.15

2017. 12.28

No.

69

70

71

72

73

Policy title

Langfang municipal government

Hangzhou municipal government

Ministry of Education of Henan Province

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of Hainan Province; Ministry of Education of Hainan Province

Accelerate the popularization of innovation and entrepreneurship education

Content

Notice of the Office of Langfang Municipal People’s Government on the Issuance of the 13th Five-Year Plan of the Development of Human Resources and Social Security in Langfang Municipal

Notice of the General Office of the Hangzhou Municipal People’s Government on the Issuance of the Three-year Action Plan (2017–2019) of College Students to Start Businesses in Hangzhou Municipal

Notice of Ministry of Education of Henan Province on the Issuance of Implementation Plan of Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education of Universities

(continued)

Promote the popularization of entrepreneurship education in ordinary universities, vocational colleges and technical colleges

Popularize entrepreneurship education

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, universities throughout the province should popularize innovation and entrepreneurship education

Notice of Ministry of Human Resources and Further popularize entrepreneurship Social Security and Ministry of Education of education Hainan Province on the Issuance of Promotion Plan of Employment and Entrepreneurship of College Graduates in Hainan Province

Ministry of Education of Yantai municipal Notice of Ministry of Education of Yantai Municipal on the Issuance of Work Essentials of Yantai Municipal Ministry of Education in 2017

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued)

186 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Date

2017. 12.30

No.

74

Zibo municipal government

Unit

Table 3.4 (continued) Policy title Notice of Zibo Municipal People’s Government on the Issuance of 13th Five-Year Plan of Promoting Employment Program in Zibo Municipal

Popularize entrepreneurship education

Content

3.2 Dynamic Evolution of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 187

188

3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

entrepreneurship education. Unlike the previous goals of promoting vocational education and entrepreneurship employment, the rise of entrepreneurship education reform has changed the development goals of entrepreneurship education. The development of entrepreneurship education has also gradually shifted to talentbased and market-oriented, with its concept as a tool for economic development has been weakened. Talent cultivation has become the core content of the development of entrepreneurship education. It has become an important goal for the development of local entrepreneurship education to integrate entrepreneurship education into all aspects of the whole process of personnel training, improve the quality of personnel training in an all-round way and provide a steady stream of talents and intellectual support for the construction of an innovative country. According to incomplete statistics, a total of ten provinces and 101 local government documents proposed to integrate entrepreneurship education into talent development. Of these, Sichuan Province (20) and Fujian Province (13) issued the largest number of documents. For example, Guidance of the Fujian Provincial Education Department on Further Strengthening the Construction of the Curriculum System for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Colleges and Universities puts forward “the integration of entrepreneurship education into the whole process of personnel training, and the overall promotion of the construction of innovative entrepreneurship curriculums from the aspects of system design, training process and teaching incentive mechanism”. Chengdu Education Bureau’s Implementation Opinion on Vigorously Promoting City-owned Colleges and Secondary Vocational Schools Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education put forward “to integrate entrepreneurship education into the talent training system, throughout the whole process of personnel training”. In fact, the whole process of integration of entrepreneurship education into talent cultivation not only reflects the development goal of new entrepreneurship education, but also a manifestation of the current innovation of talent training mode in our country. Entrepreneurship education is not only a tool to train students’ entrepreneurial ability, but also becomes a brand-new educational concept.

3.3 Text Mining of China’s Entrepreneurship Education Policy in the Visual View This study selects the relevant policy text of entrepreneurship education issued at the central and local levels of our country, uses the method of word frequency analysis and social network analysis to study the policy text, aiming to grasp the key elements and overall structure of China’s innovation and entrepreneurship education policy from a macro-perspective and provide theoretical support for the policy implementation proposal.

3.3 Text Mining of China’s Entrepreneurship Education …

189

Fig. 3.10 Model of text mining of entrepreneurship education policies

3.3.1 Selection of Research Methods and Policy 3.3.1.1

Research Method

Text mining, also known as text data mining, refers to extracting implicit, unknown and potentially useful information from a large amount of text data (Zhang et al., 2017). Text mining is an important research tool in big-data mining technology, and it is the process of discovering hidden patterns by filtering, sorting and so on from unstructured text data. In this study, ROSTCM and NetDraw1 were selected as the auxiliary tools for policy text mining, and the model of entrepreneurship education policy text mining was established (Fig. 3.10).

3.3.1.2

Selection of Policy

This study takes 1998 as the starting point, selects the entrepreneurship education related policies issued by June 2018, and takes “China’s legal and regulatory interpretation of the whole library” (i.e., “Beijing University Fabao”)2 as the main search database, supplemented by the policy text published by the official government website. In order to ensure the accuracy, the sample selection is all for the publicly issued policy text. Entrepreneurship education is a systematic project, which requires the participation of the government, universities and all sectors of society. The introduction of entrepreneurship education-related policies also involves all kinds of subjects at all levels. In order to ensure the comprehensiveness of the selected policy text, this study selects the relevant policies issued at the national and local levels as the research object. First, using “entrepreneurial education” as the keyword, a title search found 126 relevant policy texts issued at the national and local levels, including 21 sectoral regulations at the central level, 105 normative documents and working papers at the local level. Secondly, using “entrepreneurial education” as the keyword, a full-text 1

ROSTCM is a large-scale social computing platform for Professor Shenyang of Wuhan University to develop and encode the research of humanities and social science. NetDraw is a social network analysis software developed by Professor Steve Borgatti, Department of Management, School of Business and Economics, Kentucky State University. 2 Beijing University Fabao: http://www.pkulaw.com/.

190

3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Table 3.5 Composition of policy samples No. Policy type

Number

1

National policy with the keyword “Entrepreneurship Education” in the title

21

2

Local policy with the keywords “Entrepreneurship Education” in the title

105

3

National policy containing the keyword “entrepreneurship education” in the text 257 (excluding category 1)

Total

383

search for relevant policies at the national level and the selection of policy content directly related to entrepreneurship education found a total of 287 relevant policy texts, including 34 administrative regulations, 232 departmental regulations, 20 group provisions and one industry regulation. A total of 383 valid policy texts were obtained (Table 3.5).

3.3.2 Frequency Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education Policies Word frequency analysis is a weighted evaluation method based on text, the frequency fluctuation is related to the surface phenomenon, and the essence of content can be more clearly recognized by frequency analysis. Word frequency analysis is a kind of literature measurement method that, through the frequency of keywords appearing in statistical text, accurately grasps the development of the field and trends. At the same time, in-depth understanding of the policy content structure is an important entry point of text mining.

3.3.2.1

Analysis of High-Frequency Keywords

Due to the number of keywords, this study is difficult to present in its entirety. According to Donohue’s bounded formula for the frequency of words: T = (−1 + √ 1 + 8I1 ) /2 (where T is the threshold for keywords, I1 is the number of keywords with a word frequency of 1, 1911) (Wei, 2006), the threshold for the key words in this study is 60. Therefore, the first 60 high-frequency keywords were selected in this study, and then, the 60 high-frequency keywords were combined with synonyms (e.g., “HEIs” and “higher education institutions”, “university” merged into “higher education institutions”) and function word filtering combing and obtained a total of 47 high-frequency keywords. Table 3.6 shows that entrepreneurship, innovation, education, universities, students, teaching, reform, deepening (strengthening) and so on are the focus of China’s entrepreneurship education policy.

3.3 Text Mining of China’s Entrepreneurship Education …

191

Table 3.6 Distribution of keywords and their frequency in entrepreneurship education policy No.

Keyword

Freq

No.

Keyword

Freq

1

Entrepreneurship

7459

25

Research

454

2

Innovation

5243

26

Plan

445

3

Education

3862

27

Resource

442

4

University

3806

28

Quality

419

5

Student

1303

29

Enterprise

406

6

Teaching

1280

30

Society

390

7

Reform

1147

31

Career

373

8

Deepening

1091

32

Organization

364

9

Cultivation

992

33

Manage

359

10

Program

874

34

Assess

328

11

Practice

862

35

Discipline

317

12

Talent

829

36

Science

317

13

Teacher

747

37

Platform

315

14

Employment

693

38

Mechanism

314

15

Guidance

689

39

Autonomy

300

16

Curriculum

629

40

Academy

299

17

Base

606

41

Encourage

298

18

Launch

591

42

Demonstration

294

19

Build

590

43

Graduates

277

20

Development

528

44

Undergraduate

267

21

Ability

516

45

Fund

263

22

Service

480

46

Technology

259

23

System

466

47

Spirit

249

24

Training

461

From the perspective of the keywords of China’s entrepreneurship education policy, we can summarize the hot spots and trends of the development of entrepreneurship education in China from a macro-perspective, and the characteristics are analyzed as follows: (1)

Entrepreneurship education based on innovation. From the top five keywords, entrepreneurship education and innovation education are inseparable since Premier Li Keqiang in 2014 publicly issued the “mass entrepreneurship, innovation” call, and China’s entrepreneurship education for college students became the core object, to carry out innovative entrepreneurship education. At the same time, from the ranking of the keywords “reform”, “deepening and strengthening”, China’s entrepreneurship education is experiencing the beginning and development period, and promoting the development

192

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

of entrepreneurship education is an important direction of China’s higher education reform. Talent cultivation is the core. From the keywords “cultivate” and “talent”, it can be seen that the essence of entrepreneurship education is the cultivation of entrepreneurial talents and integrating entrepreneurship education into the talent training system. Secondly, the keywords “competence” and “spirit” reflect the goal of cultivating entrepreneurial talents in China, including the cultivation of innovation ability and innovative spirit. In addition, the keywords “employment”, “career” and “graduates” reflect the background of the development of China’s entrepreneurship education, with entrepreneurship to drive employment, entrepreneurship education and career development of college students linked. System construction as a support. From the keywords “system”, “practice”, “teacher”, “guidance”, “curriculum”, “base”, “society”, “enterprise” and “resources” and others, it is clear that the establishment of a comprehensive entrepreneurship education system is an effective support for the training of entrepreneurial talents. The construction of entrepreneurship education system should focus on both theory and practice and consist of the internal and external support system of colleges and universities, including teachers, courses and scientific research inside the university, as well as the construction of social resources outside the university, such as the construction of the practice base. The core elements of the construction of the entrepreneurship education system should include scientific and rational curriculum development, flexible teaching method reform, sound and competent teaching staff construction and the construction of practical service platform. Quality assurance is a focus. The keywords “quality”, “management”, “assessment” and “demonstration” reflect the Chinese government’s focus on the supervision and guarantee of the quality of entrepreneurship education. The establishment of a sound management system is an important guarantee to ensure the implementation of the policy of entrepreneurship education and also an effective guarantee for the healthy development of entrepreneurship education. In 2002, the Ministry of Education selected nine colleges and universities for the first time to pilot entrepreneurship education. Since 2017, two batches of model colleges and universities have been identified to deepen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education, so as to improve the quality of the reform of entrepreneurship education in China and comprehensively improve the level of education and teaching and the quality of personnel training. Science and technology innovation as the direction. The keywords “science and technology” and “technology” reflect the scientific and technological innovation orientation of China’s entrepreneurship education. Paying attention to the training of scientific and technological innovation and entrepreneurial talents is an important direction for the development of entrepreneurship education, such as the implementation of the “Innovation Talent Promotion Plan”, and

3.3 Text Mining of China’s Entrepreneurship Education …

193

adhering to the link between science and technology and educational planning, which drive the realization of China’s innovative national construction strategic objectives. 3.3.2.2

Analysis of Key Characters of Policies at the National and Local Levels

The study selected 278 national-level policies containing the keyword “entrepreneurship education” in the full-text search, collated a total of 96 at the local level (provincial or municipality directly under the central government) with “entrepreneurial education” directly related to the policy text (see Table 3.7) and selected several representative cities (Jiangsu, Liaoning, Fujian, Fujian, Shanghai and Zhejiang) with the most policies issued to perform feature analysis. (1)

National-level policy

The central keywords of the entrepreneurship education policy at the national level (see Fig. 3.11), with the Ministry of Education as the main distribution sector focus on the implementation of the guiding teaching reform and the introduction of relevant plan notifications. As far as talent training is concerned, entrepreneurship leads to employment, pays attention to the cultivation of students’ entrepreneurial spirit and the improvement of entrepreneurial ability, emphasizes the practice base and curriculum construction of entrepreneurship education and pays attention to the allocation of resources and service platforms for entrepreneurship education. (2)

Jiangsu Province Policy: Emphasize on Teaching Practices, Focus on Demonstration Incentives

As shown in Fig. 3.12, Jiangsu Province’s entrepreneurship education policy focuses on teaching reform, to build a high-quality curriculum system and teachers and to emphasize the construction of a practical platform to improve the entrepreneurship education system. In addition, Jiangsu emphasizes the incentive to excellent practical institutions and teachers and students in entrepreneurship education and at the same time is a role model for sharing practical experience and typical cases. Table 3.7 Number comparison of local entrepreneurship education-related policies City

Number

City

Number

Jiangsu

15

Liaoning

13

Shanghai

11

Fujian

10

Zhejiang

6

Beijing, Hunan, Henan, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

3

Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hebei, Shanxi, Gansu, Anhui

2

Guizhou, Shaanxi, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Chongqing, Jilin, Tianjin

1

194

3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

Fig. 3.11 Keyword analysis of national policy (numbers as word frequency)

Fig. 3.12 Keyword analysis of policy in Jiangsu (numbers as word frequency)

Teaching practices: Jiangsu Province pays attention to the reform of teaching methods, promotes research teaching and heuristic teaching and integrates innovative entrepreneurship concepts, principles and methods into professional curriculum teaching. In addition, it pays attention to the construction of entrepreneurial education teachers, regular teacher training work, the construction of innovative and entrepreneurial teacher training base and Jiangsu’s outstanding innovation and entrepreneurial mentor talent pool. At the same time, Jiangsu Province attaches great importance to the construction and sharing of innovative entrepreneurship practice platform, including the professional laboratory, virtual simulation laboratory, entrepreneurship practice center, but also the university outside the science and technology incubator, entrepreneurship park, public creation space and other base construction. In addition, it improves the implementation system of the innovation entrepreneurship training program, sets up provincial college students innovation and entrepreneurship training program projects every year, organizes various types of entrepreneurship competitions and incorporates entrepreneurship into the practical teaching curriculum system.

3.3 Text Mining of China’s Entrepreneurship Education …

195

Demonstration incentives: The reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in Jiangsu Province is led by the construction of model institutions and bases and plays an incentive, radiating and driving role. In 2008, Jiangsu Province issued the “Jiangsu Province, College Students Entrepreneurship Education Demonstration School Construction Implementation Plan”. In 2011, it issued Jiangsu Province, College Students Entrepreneurship Education Demonstration School Acceptance Indicators (Trial)”. In 2017, it introduced “Jiangsu University Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Demonstration Base Identification and Management Measures (2017–2020)”. Generally, through three to four years of academic exploration and indicator evaluation, the formation of distinct characteristics and results of the model colleges, timely summary and sharing can be replicated to promote the entrepreneurial education model and typical experience, the selection and recognition of outstanding results, playing an incentive role. (3)

Liaoning Province Policy: Focus on the Construction of Entrepreneurship Education Teaching Materials and Linking the Applied-orientation Transformation of Undergraduate Colleges and Universities

The reform of entrepreneurship education in Liaoning Province includes teaching, curriculum and teacher construction, the establishment of a special steering committee and the emphasis on the construction of entrepreneurship education materials, in order to form a sound entrepreneurship education system. In addition, Liaoning Province has established the reform of entrepreneurship education with the applied transformation of undergraduate colleges and universities, strengthened practical teaching, in order to actively adapt to the development of economic transformation and market demand and cultivate innovative talents (see Fig. 3.13). Teaching material construction: In Liaoning Province’s entrepreneurship education and teaching reform, in addition to the curriculum and the construction of teachers, it also pays special attention to the construction of innovative and entrepreneurial education materials for college students. In 2016, Liaoning Province set up the General Higher Education Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Steering Committee (2016–2020). It organized innovation and entrepreneurship education with outstanding teachers, entrepreneurs, management scientists, outstanding

Fig. 3.13 Keyword analysis of policy in Liaoning (numbers as word frequency)

196

3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

entrepreneurship workers and other joint preparation of high-quality innovation and entrepreneurship core curriculum teaching materials. It selected some outstanding teaching materials into the 12th Five-Year Plan of Liaoning Province Plan in its construction of teaching materials, increasing the investment and construction of innovative and entrepreneurial teaching materials. Applied-orientation transformation: In order to meet the needs of economic and social development, Liaoning Province linked the transformation of undergraduate universities to applied education projects, set up the project “Higher Education Intension Development—Transformation and Innovation Entrepreneurship Education” in 2016, launched the pilot reform work and reformed the training model of talents. It strengthened the practical teaching environment by establishing the entrepreneurship practice base and enhanced students’ entrepreneurial spirit, practical ability, social responsibility and employment entrepreneurship. (4)

Shanghai Policy: Pay Attention to the Guarantee of Venture Capital and Encourage Special Talents to Start a Business

Shanghai’s entrepreneurship education policy is mostly in the form of entrepreneurship policy, aimed at optimizing the entrepreneurial environment, creating a culture of entrepreneurship and providing resources for entrepreneurship education. At the same time, Shanghai pays special attention to students, high-level talents and scientific and technological talents, emphasizes the implementation of the policy of supporting venture capital and pays attention to the construction of experimental bases and the formation of collaborative education mechanisms (see Fig. 3.14). Experimental base. In 2012, Shanghai established the first experimental base for innovation and entrepreneurship education and carried out regular inspection and acceptance to ensure the quality of education and teaching reform in order to train high-level entrepreneurial talents to meet the needs of innovative national construction. It also linked universities and institutions to create a complete entrepreneurship

Fig. 3.14 Keyword analysis of policy in Shanghai (numbers as word frequency)

3.3 Text Mining of China’s Entrepreneurship Education …

197

nursery, incubation, acceleration of service functional areas and actively build a more open public entrepreneurship service platform. Co-education. Shanghai actively innovates the talent training mechanism, promotes the training of talents and economic and social development, and entrepreneurial employment needs are closely linked, such as the implementation of “excellent engineers”, “excellent legal talent”, “excellent news talent” and other “excellent plans”, to explore the establishment of schools, enterprises and international cooperation of the new mechanism of co-education. This includes the establishment of the Shanghai University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Alliance, the development of regional university alliance credit mutual recognition, the establishment of “Shanghai Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Platform”, sharing entrepreneurial education resources and promoting the exploration of collaborative education mechanism. Financial support. Shanghai actively expands the financing channels of entrepreneurship, such as the implementation of the start-up social insurance premium subsidy policy; increases the support of the entrepreneurship loan guarantee and discount policy; extends the scope of the venture guarantee loan to the young college students who graduate from the university in the city and realize the entrepreneurship in Shanghai and subsidizes the rent of the start-up site in the start-up period. To allow the guiding role of policy venture capital funds, it encourages financial institutions to innovate business to provide financial support for entrepreneurs. Special talents incentive policies. Shanghai provides special entrepreneurship incentives for high-level talent, study-abroad talent, e-commerce and other special areas of talent. In 2016, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government issued Several Provisions to Encourage Returned Students to Work and Start Businesses in Shanghai to optimize the environment for students to start businesses in Shanghai. In addition, it supports the entrepreneurship of scientific researchers, encourages researchers in universities and research institutes to start their own businesses on or off the job and encourages entrepreneurship in high-tech fields such as e-commerce. (5)

Fujian Policy: Paying Attention to the Construction of Curriculum System and Emphasizing the Management of Project Funds

Fujian Province’s entrepreneurship education policy is carried out through project reform as the main way, focusing on teaching research and curriculum construction, promoting the integration of professional education and entrepreneurship education and emphasizing the management of venture education funds (see Fig. 3.15). Establishment of special projects: Since 2015, Fujian Provincial Education Bureau has embarked on a special education innovation and entrepreneurship education reform project. It has so far set up a total of six pilot professional projects and seven quality resource sharing courses. It aims to integrate entrepreneurship education and professional education, the whole process of coverage of professional points

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Fig. 3.15 Keyword analysis of policy in Fujian (numbers as word frequency)

and high-quality sharing of curriculum resources, in order to cultivate students’ innovative spirit, entrepreneurship awareness and innovative entrepreneurship. Curriculum construction: In 2018, Fujian Provincial Education Department issued the guidance for the construction of the curriculum system for entrepreneurship education. It aimed to play the role of the main channel of the classroom, promote the organic integration of professional education and entrepreneurship education and run entrepreneurship education through the whole process of personnel training. The construction of the curriculum system of entrepreneurship education in Fujian Province has three main characteristics: First is the integration and coordination of professional education; the second is the equal emphasis on theory and practice teaching; the third is to integrate entrepreneurship education into the whole process of talent training. Funding management: The Fujian Provincial Finance Department and the Education Department jointly issued a document in 2018, Interim Measures for the Administration of Special Funds for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Fujian Province, in order to standardize the use and management of funds for entrepreneurship education and improve the efficiency of the use of funds. This paper defines the division of responsibilities for the management of venture education funds, the scope of the use of funds, and carries out supervision and management and performance evaluation in order to ensure the steady progress of entrepreneurship education reform. (6)

Zhejiang Policy: School enterprise Cooperation and Co-education, Focusing on Science and Technology

Zhejiang Entrepreneurship Education Policy is based on the construction of the service system of the optimized ecological environment of entrepreneurship, emphasizing the cooperation between schools and enterprises to educate people, the integration and sharing of entrepreneurial education resources and the focus on ingesting entrepreneurship in the field of science and technology (see Fig. 3.16).

3.3 Text Mining of China’s Entrepreneurship Education …

199

Fig. 3.16 Keyword analysis of policy in Zhejiang (umbers as word frequency)

University-industry cooperation. Entrepreneurship colleges are established in colleges and universities, exploring the establishment of a new mechanism for collaborative education and actively absorbing social resources and foreign high-quality educational resources to participate in the training of innovative and entrepreneurial talents. It aims to establish a system for the evaluation of professional settings and the revision of personnel training programs in disciplines in which industries, enterprises, employers and experts are involved. It actively promotes universities and industry enterprises to jointly manage secondary colleges or professional (groups) and builds multiform technical cooperation centers and personnel training platforms. Service system. To optimize the entrepreneurial ecological environment and strengthen the construction of the entrepreneurship service platform for college students, Zhejiang Province universities establish and improve the specialized agencies of college students’ entrepreneurship guidance services, so that “institutions, personnel, venues, funds” are in place and continue to track and assist independent entrepreneurial students. From 2016, the Zhejiang University Students’ Entrepreneurship Improvement Action Plan was implemented; by 2020, 300,000 college students with entrepreneurial intention would have been trained, with a focus on training 20,000 college students with entrepreneurial projects each year. Scientific and technological innovation. Zhejiang Province focuses on scientific and technological innovation and entrepreneurship, promoting the development of emerging industries, “Internet plus” and digital economy industry, and building an industrial innovation platform and a “double-creating” base. It supports the scientific research personnel of universities and research institutes in the province to start their own businesses on the job without prejudice to the interests of the unit. It encourages innovative leading enterprises and industry leaders to provide funds, technologies and platforms to employees and industry chain-related entrepreneurs to form an open industrial ecosystem and to foster and incubate start-ups with cutting-edge technologies and new business models.

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3.3.3 Social Network Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education Policies Social network analysis (SNA) is a set of norms and methods to analyze the structure of social relations and its attributes, taking relationship data as the object of research, focusing on individual relationships and quantitatively studying the relationship between actors in the network (Zhong & Li, 2013). Social network analysis has four main components: structural perspective, relational data, graphical display and quantitative analysis (Freeman, 2004). In this study, the keywords obtained in the preceding paper will be calculated by the common word matrix and the common word network, and the central analysis and cluster analysis are carried out to find the dense characteristics of the whole network and the aggregation structure between the key words, thus revealing the characteristics on the subject of the text of the entrepreneurship education policy.

3.3.3.1

Co-word Matrix

This study uses ROSTCM and Excel software to process high-frequency keywords, number of times of each keyword and other keywords in the policy text. If the two keywords in the policy text occur at the same time, the higher the frequency indicates that the relationship between the two is closer, forming the original co-word matrix (see Table 3.8). The numbers of the two keywords on the diagonal of the matrix are the frequency of the two, such as “entrepreneurship” and “innovation”—two keywords with a common word frequency of 147, that is, a total of 147 policy texts using both keywords. Based on the original co-word matrix, the correlation matrix and the phase matrix can be obtained by calculation. In this study, the Ochiai coefficient divides the number of times the two keywords in the common word matrix, X and Y, by the product of the frequency-opening side of the two keywords X and Y and transforms the multivalue matrix into the relevant matrix of values in the interval of 0,1. The formula is as follows: Ochiai coefficient = 

Frequency of keywords X and Y shows together √ Frequency of keywords X • Frequency of keywords Y

Using the Ochiai coefficient calculation formula, Excel and SPSS 23.0 software, this study converts the values in the common word matrix into the related matrix, as shown in Table 3.9. The value in the similarity matrix indicates the distance between the two keywords—the higher the value, the closer the distance, the higher the correlation degree. To further eliminate error, a dissimilarity matrix is obtained by subtracting 1 from the values in the relevant matrix, which can be used to reflect the degree of difference

93

109

Program

Talents

129

118

Practice

97

116

Cultivation

Curriculum

137

Reform

Guidance

120

Teaching

90

125

Student

123

143

HEIs

Employment

168

Education

Teacher

147

94

117

109

82

107

91

113

112

129

109

116

136

147

147

97

129

123

90

109

93

118

116

137

120

125

143

147

168

92

117

107

84

101

90

110

106

123

110

112

143

136

143

88

107

107

77

94

85

104

100

109

100

112

125

116

125

89

98

97

82

91

79

102

95

105

100

110

120

109

120

90

109

102

79

103

84

101

109

105

109

123

137

129

137

84

96

93

71

108

78

97

109

95

100

106

116

112

116

88

102

99

80

92

83

97

101

102

104

110

118

113

118

73

81

82

67

76

83

78

84

79

85

90

93

91

93

82

91

88

70

76

92

108

103

91

94

101

109

107

109

70

78

76

70

67

80

71

79

82

77

84

90

82

90

84

109

76

88

82

99

93

102

97

107

107

123

109

123

86

109

78

91

81

102

96

109

98

107

117

129

117

129

86

84

70

82

73

88

84

90

89

88

92

97

94

97

Entrepreneurship Innovation Education HEIs Student Teaching Reform Cultivation Practice Program talents teacher employment guidance curriculum

Innovation

Entrepreneurship

Table 3.8 Original co-word matrix

3.3 Text Mining of China’s Entrepreneurship Education … 201

0.075

0.065

0.13

0.127

0.154

0.149

0.168

0.137

0.162

0.2

0.208

HEIs

Student

Teaching

Reform

Cultivation

Practice

Program

Talents

Teacher

Employment

0.21

0.2

0.175

0.148

0.178

0.16

0.162

0.131

0.136

0.073

0.078

1

0.054

Innovation

Education

0.054

Entrepreneurship 1

0.256

0.247

0.203

0.173

0.21

0.188

0.194

0.162

0.165

0.091

1

0.078

0.075

0.151 0.247

0.235 0.367

0.221 0.364

0.189 0.305

0.166 0.27

0.197 0.319

0.174 0.287

0.177 0.283

0.15

0.151 1

1

0.091 0.165

0.073 0.136

0.065 0.13

0.352

0.347

0.3

0.261

0.316

0.279

0.277

1

0.247

0.15

0.162

0.131

0.127

0.404

0.389

0.347

0.294

0.345

0.326

1

0.277

0.283

0.177

0.194

0.162

0.154

0.401

0.391

0.372

0.298

0.355

1

0.326

0.279

0.287

0.174

0.188

0.16

0.149

0.448

0.437

0.378

0.335

1

0.355

0.345

0.316

0.319

0.197

0.21

0.178

0.168

0.375

0.373

0.321

1

0.335

0.298

0.294

0.261

0.27

0.166

0.173

0.148

0.137

0.43

0.42

1

0.32

0.38

0.37

0.35

0.3

0.31

0.19

0.2

0.18

0.16

0.512

1

0.416

0.373

0.437

0.391

0.389

0.347

0.364

0.221

0.247

0.2

0.2

1

0.512

0.426

0.375

0.448

0.401

0.404

0.352

0.367

0.235

0.256

0.21

0.208

Entrepreneurship Innovation Education HEIs Student Teaching Reform Cultivation Practice Program Talents Teacher Employment

Table 3.9 Similarity matrix

202 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

3.3 Text Mining of China’s Entrepreneurship Education …

203

between the two keywords (see Table 3.10). In contrast to the similarity matrix, the larger the value in the dissimilarity matrix, the farther the distance between the two keywords, the farther the relationship is; the smaller the value, the closer the relationship is, the higher the similarity. Using the similarity matrix and the dissimilarity matrix, the internal structural relationship and affinity between keywords can be reflected.

3.3.3.2

Central Analysis

In order to explore the links between various keywords in China’s entrepreneurship policy, this study uses ROSTCM and NetDraw software to carry out a central analysis of the policy text, as shown in Fig. 3.17. Among them, the graph area of the node with a large out-degree or in-degree will be relatively large. By analyzing the nodes with the highest connectivity, we can see that, in addition to the policy terms “guidance” and “advance” and basic core terms “university”, “entrepreneurship”, “innovation” and “education”, the out-degree and in-degree of terms “reform”, “practice”, “students”, “teaching”, “service”, “research”, “employment” and “ability” show a strong dominance. This indicates that the policy of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities in China pays more attention to these topics. At the same time, these words are still in the middle of the network, indicating that the connection with other keywords is very close. In addition, “curriculum”, “system”, “development”, “teacher”, “training”, “spirit”, “talent” and “training” are closely linked and more diverse. It shows several characteristics of entrepreneurship education policy in China: (1) emphasizing the important position of entrepreneurship education in teaching reform; (2) focusing on student practice; (3) combining entrepreneurship with employment; (4) focusing on the construction of curriculum system; (5) focusing on teacher training and (6) focusing on innovative spirit and the training of entrepreneurial talents. In addition, several highly connected keywords such as “quality”, “assurance”, “resources”, “base”, “society”, “autonomy” and “awareness” can be found on the periphery of the central circle. This not only explains the process of the implementation of China’s entrepreneurship education policy, but also emphasizes the quality assurance, social, base and other resources development and mobilization, as well as the cultivation of entrepreneurial awareness. In the outer circle from the far distance of the central circle, we also find the relatively scattered keywords of “science”, “technology”, “demonstration”, “platform”, “enterprise” and “mechanism”. This indicates that under the macro-guidance of China’s entrepreneurship education policy, there are some policies to explore the characteristic path with different entry points, such as entrepreneurship education in the field of science and technology, model institutions’ exemplary role, platform construction, enterprise participation and mechanism construction.

0.925

0.935

0.87

0.873

0.846

0.851

0.832

0.863

0.838

0.8

0.792

HEIs

Student

Teaching

Reform

Cultivation

Practice

Program

Talents

Teacher

Employment

0.79

0.8

0.825

0.852

0.822

0.84

0.838

0.869

0.864

0.927

0.922

0

0.946

Innovation

Education

0.946

Entrepreneurship 0

0.744

0.753

0.797

0.827

0.79

0.812

0.806

0.838

0.835

0.909

0

0.922

0.925

0.849 0.753

0.765 0.633

0.779 0.636

0.811 0.695

0.834 0.73

0.803 0.681

0.826 0.713

0.823 0.717

0.85

0.849 0

0

0.909 0.835

0.927 0.864

0.935 0.87

0.648

0.653

0.7

0.739

0.684

0.721

0.723

0

0.753

0.85

0.838

0.869

0.873

0.596

0.611

0.653

0.706

0.655

0.674

0

0.723

0.717

0.823

0.806

0.838

0.846

0.599

0.609

0.628

0.702

0.645

0

0.674

0.721

0.713

0.826

0.812

0.84

0.851

0.552

0.563

0.622

0.665

0

0.645

0.655

0.684

0.681

0.803

0.79

0.822

0.832

0.625

0.627

0.679

0

0.665

0.702

0.706

0.739

0.73

0.834

0.827

0.852

0.863

0.57

0.58

0

0.68

0.62

0.63

0.65

0.7

0.7

0.81

0.8

0.83

0.84

0.488

0

0.584

0.627

0.563

0.609

0.611

0.653

0.636

0.779

0.753

0.8

0.8

0

0.488

0.574

0.625

0.552

0.599

0.596

0.648

0.633

0.765

0.744

0.79

0.792

Entrepreneurship Innovation Education HEIs Student Teaching Reform Cultivation Practice Program Talents Teacher Employment

Table 3.10 Dissimilarity matrix

204 3 Policy Study on Entrepreneurship Education in China

3.3 Text Mining of China’s Entrepreneurship Education …

205

Fig. 3.17 Central analysis of entrepreneurship education policies in China

3.3.3.3

Cluster Analysis

Cluster analysis, also known as group analysis, is based on the co-present strength between keywords, the co-presenting strength of the keywords to gather and form a cluster. Using SPSS 23.0 software, this study imported the dissimilarity matrix (Table 3.10) into the hierarchical cluster analysis, selected the squared Euclidean distance measure, selected “Ward” as the clustering method and ended up as a tree chart (see Fig. 3.18). Cluster analysis can clearly reflect the progress of the clustering process, show the integration of each clustering process and explain the relationship and sequence of the keywords. The tree chart of high-frequency keyword hierarchy cluster analysis can be seen, the keywords 13, 22, 14, 12, 16, 10, 15 and 11, respectively, form a scattered cluster, the keywords 11, 7, 8 and 9 form clustering and so on. On the whole, the keywords of China’s entrepreneurship education policy are not obvious, but the more obvious are innovative entrepreneurship education, teaching reform projects and student training in colleges and universities, the practice link in personnel training, teacher guidance and employment combination. It can be seen that from the analysis of policy text, China’s entrepreneurship education policy has not yet formed a perfect system. The curriculum, base, service and other elements have not yet formed a cluster effect, and synergy between the various elements is not yet established.

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Fig. 3.18 Tree chart of cluster analysis

3.4 Problems and Suggestions for Entrepreneurship Education Policies 3.4.1 Problems of Entrepreneurship Education Policies 3.4.1.1

Lack of Legal Protection for the Development of Entrepreneurship Education

At present, China’s entrepreneurship education policy pays more attention to specific operational measures, with a lack of entrepreneurship education laws and regulations. Since 1998, 33 administrative regulations related to entrepreneurship education have been issued at the national level, and 11 administrative regulations related to entrepreneurship education have been issued at the local level. Among them, the Administrative Regulations issued by the State Council, only the State Council Office on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions is specifically issued for entrepreneurship education. Other administrative regulations related to entrepreneurship education are basically for other aspects of the introduction of policy documents mentioned. While there are no statutory documents specifically addressing entrepreneurship education, all laws on entrepreneurship education are mentioned in the Independent Innovation

3.4 Problems and Suggestions for Entrepreneurship Education Policies

207

Table 3.11 Local regulations mentioning entrepreneurship education, 1999–2018 No

Time

Name

1

2018

Vocational Education Act in Guangdong Vocational education Province

Content

2

2016

Independent Innovation Promotion Regulations in Hubei

Independent innovation

3

2016

Employment Promotion Act in Shandong Province (2016 revised)

Employment

4

2014

Small and Medium Enterprises Development Regulations in Tianjin

Development of small and medium businesses

5

2012

Employment Promotion Act in Shanxi Province

Employment

6

2010

the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Regulations in Shenzhen

Development of small and medium businesses

7

2009

China’s Employment Promotion Act implemented in Hebei

Employment

8

2009

Employment Promotion Act in Shandong Province (2009 revised)

Employment

9

2002

China’s Vocational Education Act implemented in Tibet

Vocational education

10

2000

Vocational Education Act in Shandong Province

Vocational education

11

1999

China’s Vocational Education Act implemented in Hebei

Vocational education

Promotion Regulations, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Regulations, the Employment Promotion Regulations and the Vocational Education Act (see Tables 3.11). Although the central and local government departments at all levels have issued a number of departmental rules and regulations to promote the implementation of entrepreneurship education, there is no specific provisions for the development of entrepreneurship education. It can be said that legal provisions in China’s entrepreneurship education policy are still blank.

3.4.1.2

Utilitarian Tendency of Entrepreneurship Education Target

The introduction of the government’s entrepreneurship education policy is aimed at promoting employment and developing vocational education. The tendency to instrumentalize and utilitarianize entrepreneurship education development is obvious. Although the number of policy documents on entrepreneurship education has increased year by year, only three of them are central government documents. Thirty-one local government policy documents are directly aimed at the development of entrepreneurship education, and most other policies relating to the development of entrepreneurship education pertain to promoting employment,

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entrepreneurship and career development. According to incomplete statistics, 239 documents on vocational education issued by provincial and municipal government departments at all levels have put forward the requirements for the development of entrepreneurship education (1999–2018), and 261 documents promoting the development of employment entrepreneurship put forward the requirements for the development of entrepreneurship education (2009–18). The development requirements for entrepreneurship education (2015–18) were set out in 60 implementation opinions to promote public entrepreneurship innovation. It can be seen that the development goals of entrepreneurship education are gradually separated from the policy of vocational education and employment entrepreneurship promotion. The position of relative marginality and subsidiary status has gradually become the focus of social attention. However, at this stage, people still pay too much attention to the development of entrepreneurship education. The policy’s utilitarian tendency also led some places and colleges to think that the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities is a small-scale reform involving some students and a few teachers. It is an expedient measure to cope with the increasing pressure of the current economic downturn and the employment difficulties of college graduates. Therefore, the endogenous motivation to deepen the reform of entrepreneurship education is still insufficient.

3.4.1.3

Insufficient Promotion of Entrepreneurship Education Policy

At present, the reform of entrepreneurship education in China is still in the initial stage of implementation. In the context of the intensive introduction of the policy of entrepreneurship education in the central government and various ministries, the proportion of local entrepreneurship education implementation programs, implementation rules, notifications and other policy and regulatory documents has increased significantly, and the trend of increasing popularity has emerged. Local and central entrepreneurship education policies are consistent overall. But compared with the central entrepreneurship education policy, specific provisions of certain areas of the initiative are still not clear, such as the specific source of venture capital, subsidy amount, the location of the start-up site and the definition of area. Some university research has not grasped the crux, and its formulation of policies is not targeted and effective. At the same time, the differences in entrepreneurship education policies between different places are small, the degree of differentiation is not obvious, and the local characteristics are not clear enough. In addition, there is a lag and heterogeneity in the effects of policy. Some places and colleges are still stuck in meetings, documents and oral, have not really implemented the teaching concept, training model and other key links of education and teaching. Therefore, the reform of entrepreneurship education still has the problem of opening up the “last kilometer”. The specific implementation and practical effectiveness of the policies and regulations on entrepreneurship education need to be assessed.

3.4 Problems and Suggestions for Entrepreneurship Education Policies

3.4.1.4

209

Limited Development of Entrepreneurship Education Concept

Although many entrepreneurship education policies mention the idea of popularizing entrepreneurship education and implementing the concept of entrepreneurship education for all, few policies put forward the development requirements of basic education entrepreneurship education. The few are the 2015 “Notice of the Gansu Provincial People’s Government on the Issue of Gansu Province’s Implementation Plan to Promote Public Entrepreneurship and Innovation”, which proposes to promote entrepreneurship innovation knowledge education in basic education, higher education and vocational education. Wuwei Municipal People’s Government’s “Wuwei City to Vigorously Promote the Implementation of the Public Entrepreneurship Innovation Program Notice” proposed vocational education in basic education in a comprehensive popularization of entrepreneurial innovation knowledge education. No other central and local government policies have seen policies making demands on the development of entrepreneurship education in the basic stage, which is not consistent with the current development concept of lifelong entrepreneurship education and does not correspond to the characteristics of the training of entrepreneurial education talents. At the same time, the paper pays more attention to the policy of entrepreneurship education curriculum, teachers, capital and so on, but pays little attention to the research of entrepreneurship education theory, which makes it difficult to really promote the development of entrepreneurship education concept. And the development of ideas also to a certain extent affects the training of entrepreneurial talents. From the current point of view, China’s entrepreneurial talent training is more focused solving regional and local problems, with a lack of global awareness and action, so it is imperative to vigorously promote international entrepreneurship education cooperation.

3.4.2 Suggestions on Entrepreneurship Education Policies Based on the above-mentioned problems in the development of entrepreneurship education in China, in order to promote the implementation of entrepreneurship education policy to guide China’s entrepreneurship education to a more sustainable direction, the relevant government policies can be adjusted in the following three aspects:

3.4.2.1

Unity of Instrument Rationality and Value Rationality

The development of entrepreneurship education has its own inherent characteristics and development law. We should not only pay too much attention to its tool value, but should also be careful to treat the development of entrepreneurship education. Government policy should be able to achieve the organic unity of instrument rationality and value rationality and weaken the utilitarian tendency of entrepreneurship

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education development. While the state carries out macro-guidance on the development of entrepreneurship education, local governments should also put forward specific policy requirements for the implementation of entrepreneurship education at the micro-level, so as to form a top-down policy system of entrepreneurship education. Strengthening the basic theoretical research of entrepreneurship education, carrying out formal discipline planning for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, issuing corresponding degrees and cultivating theoretical talents in entrepreneurship education will not only be a sign of the formalization of entrepreneurship education, but also a realistic need for training teachers in entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurial talent training should be guided by the concept of global entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship education for all and life-long entrepreneurship education. From the scope of talent training, entrepreneurial talent training should look at the world, cultivate innovative entrepreneurial talents with global awareness and vigorously promote international entrepreneurship education cooperation. From the breadth of talent training, there should be not only universal entrepreneurship education, but also high-tech entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, women’s entrepreneurship and other different types of entrepreneurship education. From the perspective of the time dimension of talent training, entrepreneurship education should run through the whole process of primary, secondary and higher education.

3.4.2.2

Unity of Policy Release and Implementation

From the situation of the release of local entrepreneurship education policy in China, it shows a good trend of overall rapid development. However, in practice, the state level should speed up the relevant legislative process in the development of entrepreneurship education, guide colleges and universities in various places to carry out in-depth entrepreneurship education, especially from the policy level to guide entrepreneurship education from the field of higher education to the field of basic education extension. To strengthen the operability of the entrepreneurship education policy, the state should refine the local entrepreneurship education policy and implementation plan and reduce the uncertainty and risk of college students’ failure to start a business. Local policies should have clear measures, increase implementation efforts, establish a long-term mechanism of entrepreneurship education policy and enhance the entrepreneurial confidence of college students. We will strengthen the scientific assessment of local and university entrepreneurship education policies, adjust and optimize the policy direction in a timely manner and ensure the smooth realization of policy objectives. After formulating and issuing policies, government departments should follow up and supervise policies in a timely manner to ensure that policies are not biased

3.4 Problems and Suggestions for Entrepreneurship Education Policies

211

or out of line in the process of implementation. If there are no regulatory and monitoring measures, when these policies reach the next level or the local level, the policy’s enforcement and binding force will be diluted to some extent, and a significant portion of the policy will flow into form and not be put into practice (Dong, 2012). Therefore, it is necessary to carry out the corresponding system design of the entrepreneurship education policy and strengthen the implementation and supervision of the entrepreneurship education policy in colleges.

3.4.2.3

Unity of Macro-Layout and Collaborative Development

At present, China’s entrepreneurship education policy has obvious regional characteristics, the issue of entrepreneurship education policy and geographical location, regional urban economic development has a significant correlation, while the development of entrepreneurship education is also affected by these factors. On the one hand, the national level should make a unified layout of the overall development requirements of entrepreneurship education, pay attention to the policy changes brought about by economic transformation and promote the institutionalization and sustainable development of entrepreneurship education in China. On the other hand, we should make distinctions and focus on the development of entrepreneurship education according to local characteristics. At the local level, on the basis of the overall layout of the country, combined with the economic, social and cultural factors of the region, we should explore the development mode of entrepreneurship education with the characteristics of the times and local characteristics, so as to promote the vigorous development of the country’s entrepreneurship education. At the university level, it is necessary to implement entrepreneurship education in a hierarchical classification and to provide different types of entrepreneurship education courses, training, practices and services for different professional, grade and different groups of students with different needs. In addition, the entrepreneurship education of colleges and universities should integrate the school’s own talent training, discipline advantages, development characteristics and regional economic and social development characteristics to achieve the organic unity of the national macro-layout and regional coordinated development.

References Dong, Z. (2012). Policy analysis of entrepreneurship education in Chinese universities: 1999–2010. Journal of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (social Sciences Edition), 25(1), 107–110. Freeman, L. C. (2004). The development of social network analysis: A study in the sociology of science. Empirical Press.

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Wei, R. B. (2006). Analysis of the Research Subject of Information Science Based on the Keyword. Information Science, 24(9):1400–1404. Zhang, X., Lei, R., & Yang, C. (2017). Text mining: Content analysis based on rostcm and Netdraw. Science and Technology Document Information Management, 31(1), 17–21, 33. Zhong, B., & Li, Y. (2013). The application of social network analysis in the field of education research: Based on the review of core journals of education. Education Research, 9, 27–34.

Chapter 4

Construction of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem

At present, entrepreneurship education ushers in an unprecedented development boom in China. The era of innovation and entrepreneurship calls for entrepreneurship education that adapts to social and economic developments and follows the rules of education. A major problem of the theoretical research and practical exploration of entrepreneurship education is how to promote entrepreneurship education into a healthy and sustainable development track. In the context that the government, society and universities pay much attention to entrepreneurship education, constructing entrepreneurship education ecosystem is an important way to guide the connotative development of entrepreneurship education.

4.1 The View of Ecological Development of Entrepreneurship Education Under GALCHS Vision 4.1.1 Theoretical Basis: From Ecosystem to Ecological Development of Entrepreneurship Education Roy Clapham put forward the concept of “ecosystem” in 1930, and it is used to analyze different material and biological elements and their interrelations in the natural environment. In the 1930s, to describe the structure of social communities, some scholars at the university of Chicago began to introduce the concept of ecology into sociological studies. In the 1950s, to understand the relationship between communities, cities and the environment in human society, human ecosystems became popular as a sociobiological approach. The concept of “ecology” is used not only to explain natural succession, competition and metabolism in nature, but also to explain the complex relationships between society and human systems (Brush, 2014). Entrepreneurship is a complex social phenomenon that involves the © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 X. Xu, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 60, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3724-7_4

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dynamic relationship between nature, society and human beings. In social community structure and operating system, the interaction of policy, finance, education, culture, market, human capital and supporting system forms an entrepreneurship ecosystem seeking sound development. Entrepreneurship is easy to succeed when entrepreneurs have the needed human resources, capital and expert resources, and the environment is encouraged and protected by government policies (Isenberg, 2011). To this end, many international organizations have begun to pay attention to the entrepreneurship ecosystem and analyze its supporting factors. The World Economic Forum (2013) put forward eight pillars of the entrepreneurship ecosystem: market openness, human capital, funding and financing, support systems of mentor consulting, regulations and facilities, education and training, university catalysis and culture. The first three are considered to be the dominant factors in the formation of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2015) put forward nine aspects of the framework conditions of the entrepreneurship ecosystem: financing channels, government policies, government entrepreneurship planning, entrepreneurship education, R&D transfer, commercial and legal basis, market openness, physical infrastructure, and cultural and social norms. On the whole, the core elements of the entrepreneurship ecosystem are enterprises, policies, finance, education, law, resources, entrepreneurship environment and other factors, which form an ecological network around the growth, survival and development of enterprises. Among them, education or human capital development is an essential ecological factor in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. It can be seen that the entrepreneurship education ecosystem is an important branch of the entrepreneurship ecosystem, but it also constitutes a unique internal ecosystem. At present, the academic research on the ecosystem of entrepreneurship education is still in the infant stage. The World Economic Forum (2009) put forward that entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities as an ecological system centers on the individual and intermediaries. Entrepreneurship academic institutions, commercial enterprises and governments can support around the center. Among them, the government provides support and funding, commercial enterprises and other social forces establish partnerships, and as the extension of preschool, secondary, higher education and informal education institutions. University-based entrepreneurship ecosystem (U-BEEs) emphasized that strong institutional support, sustained financial resources and appropriate organizational model are important factors to safeguard the ecosystem of entrepreneurship education within the university (Fetters et al., 2010). It always tends to be hierarchical: individual level (students, teachers, practitioners, managers), group level (faculty group, student group), organizational level (incubator, entrepreneurship center), event level, stakeholder level (government, policymakers, industry, investors) and so on. Among them, the internal ecosystem of entrepreneurship education is the core of the university-based entrepreneurship ecosystem, including three intersection and support areas—entrepreneurship courses, entrepreneurship activities and entrepreneurship research—and relies on the support of external factors such as culture, resources, stakeholders, facilities, schools and local communities (Brush, 2014).

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In conclusion, the university-based entrepreneurship education ecosystem is university-centered and promotes students’ entrepreneurship by effectively dealing with various ecological factors associated with universities, such as government, enterprises, market, capital and training. However, the current research on entrepreneurship education ecosystem has not clarified the basic concept and development goals of entrepreneurship education. In natural ecosystems, different organisms interact, compete and co-exist. According to this idea, the entrepreneurship education ecosystem should be a target functional unit. According to the target level of system operation, talent training is the highest level and innovative and entrepreneurial talents are the core species in the entrepreneurship education ecosystem. Student groups and teacher groups constitute schools (communities). Communities of schools, families, governments, enterprises and other social institutions occupy corresponding ecological niches and form a unique ecological chain of entrepreneurship education in different regions. Among them, the school system (S) is the core of the ecosystem. The governments, families, enterprises and other social institutions input energy into the school as the input environment (IE) and innovative and entrepreneurial talents are exported to the society as human capital. The ecosystem of entrepreneurship education is a functional subject with some unique ecological characteristics. Entrepreneurship education is a kind of vigorous organizational activity. Its successful development needs to rely on various elements inside and outside the school and draw resources continuously. The ecosystem of entrepreneurship education cannot be copied and transplanted directly, so it must be carried out according to the specific entrepreneurship environment. The stakeholders of entrepreneurship education depend on each other, influence each other and develop together. Therefore, to build an entrepreneurship education ecosystem, we should not only analyze the system elements and its operating mechanism, but also propose a top-level design for entrepreneurship education as a whole, and study the concept, positioning and objective of the development of entrepreneurship education ecology.

4.1.2 Analysis of Concept: The Main Connotation of “GALCHS” Ecological View of Entrepreneurship Education According to the mission and internal demand of entrepreneurship education, we put forward the “GALCHS” concept of ecological development of entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship education develops under the interaction of external drive and internal stress. The external driving force mainly includes: Global entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship for all and lifelong entrepreneurship. The main internal stresses are complementary, holistic and sustainable. Global entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship for all and lifelong entrepreneurship are the three main external driving forces for social development. Complementarity, integrity and sustainability

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Fig. 4.1 GALCHS vortex diagram of innovation and entrepreneurship education

are the internal stresses for the development of entrepreneurship education. These six internal and external forces interact with each other under different conditions such as strength, position and heat, and generate mixed forces through collision force, tension and pulling force, forming “entrepreneurship vortex” (see Fig. 4.1). Different “entrepreneurship vortex” forms “entrepreneurship flow,” “entrepreneurship wave” and “entrepreneurship tide,” which jointly promote the rolling development of entrepreneurship education. The direction, speed and length of its development depend on the interaction of these six forces. Therefore, grasping the six forces is particularly important for the ecological development of entrepreneurship education.

4.1.2.1 (1)

External Driving Forces (GAL)

Global entrepreneurship education is the inevitable trend of globalization society.

Entrepreneurship education is an unbounded and interconnected ecosystem. The entrepreneurship education ecosystem composed of a core school is a micro-view system, with multiple micro-systems interconnecting to form a macro-ecosystem of entrepreneurship education in a province, a country and even the whole world.

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Under the background of globalization, according to the needs of national strategic, China is implementing the strategy of “One Belt and One Road” and the in-depth cooperation will give birth to a large number of international entrepreneurship opportunities. Entrepreneurship education should focus on enhancing students’ global entrepreneurship awareness and entrepreneurship ability, and cultivate innovative and entrepreneurial talents with global vision and action ability. (2)

Entrepreneurship for all is the call of the times for mass entrepreneurship and innovation.

Under the background of mass entrepreneurship and innovation, entrepreneurship is not the patent of a few people, but a new normal activity of the whole people. According to the survey, 76.5% of the respondents think that entrepreneurship education should be an education activity of the whole people, and 23.5% of the respondents think that entrepreneurship education should only be carried out in a few excellent groups (college students) (Xu & Zhang, 2012). It can be seen that whether it is social needs or internal needs, entrepreneurship education should be targeted at all people, rather than just a minority of students. (3)

Lifelong entrepreneurship education is the rational choice of sustainable development.

The cultivation of entrepreneurship consciousness and spirit cannot be accomplished overnight but needs to start from a young age. Since the twenty-first century, European and American countries have been actively establishing lifelong entrepreneurship education system (Mei, 2010: 79–80). According to the “Lisbon strategy” of the European Union, entrepreneurship education is an important way to cultivate young people’s entrepreneurship spirit and thus enhance the economic vitality and competitiveness of the European Union. The European Union is trying to build a strategy of entrepreneurship education through primary and secondary education, higher education and adult education. In June 2004, the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education released the standards of national entrepreneurship education content. The standards defined that the entrepreneurship process included five stages: basic cognition, ability awareness, innovation cultivation, entrepreneurship practice and entrepreneurship development. Each of these has different entrepreneurship education goals and contents. Therefore, the construction of China’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem should cover the whole process of preschool education, basic education, secondary education, higher education and post-school education.

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4.1.2.2 (1)

Internal Stress (CHS)

Complementary

The structural elements of the entrepreneurship education ecosystem form a complementary system in function and jointly support the development of entrepreneurship education. The entrepreneurship education ecosystem can be divided into the micro, intermediate and macro-levels. The micro-level refers to the elements of entrepreneurship education, which determine the basic quality of entrepreneurship education, such as curriculum system, faculty, practice platform, hardware facilities and other internal structural elements. The intermediate level refers to the intersection of the internal and external environment of the school, including the school entrepreneurship center, innovation and entrepreneurship experimental base, incubator and other organizations. The macro-level refers to the external environment of entrepreneurship education, which mainly includes the government, enterprises, foundations and other organizations. The above factors play different functions in the entrepreneurship education ecosystem. Among them, internal structural factors, as the leading factors, play a leading role in the growth of innovative and entrepreneurial talents and are irreplaceable. At the same time, the relationships of these elements are interdependent and symbiotic instead of existing in isolation. (2)

Holistic

Entrepreneurship education is a unified whole composed of philosophy, goal, content, system and other elements. The ecosystem of entrepreneurship education is a network composed of ecological niche communities and ecological factors, which are interconnected and interact, and form a complex unity. Centering on the core species of “cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents,” the campus ecosystem (curriculum, extracurricular activities, practice platform, scientific research and other core activities) and the off-campus ecosystem (stakeholders, infrastructure, entrepreneurship education resources, entrepreneurship environment and other supporting elements) carry out overall cooperation. From the perspective of the internal ecosystem of the school, the school should have reasonable overall plans, development goals, guidelines, diversified curriculum system and a unified entrepreneurship education platform. From the perspective of the external ecosystem, the goal should be consistent with the internal ecosystem of the school to provide energy flow (capital) and material flow (basic equipment and resources) for the benign operation of the entrepreneurship education ecosystem. If the internal and external systems form the resultant force, they can display the whole function of entrepreneurship education ecosystem.

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(3)

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Sustainable

The natural ecosystem has the function of self-maintenance and self-regulation, which has the characteristic of continuously maintaining the sustainable development of the natural ecosystem. The entrepreneurship education ecosystem is mainly a socialized system which is different from the natural ecosystem. But sustainability is a principle that the entrepreneurship education ecosystem must persist. Colin & Ross (2014) pointed out that the previous practice of using static methods to study entrepreneurship ecosystems ignored the origin of entrepreneurship ecosystems, the stimulus factors for the formation of entrepreneurship ecosystems and the process of their self-sustainable development (Mason & Brown, 2014). This kind of neglect restricts the function of the entrepreneurship education ecosystem. In the construction of the entrepreneurship education ecosystem, it is necessary to establish the sustainable development mechanism, provide necessary supply source for the integration of internal and external components of ecosystem, form the spillover effect and feedback effect of entrepreneurship system, and promote the sustainable development of entrepreneurship education ecosystem through the virtuous cycle of energy flow, material flow and information flow inside and outside the system. However, at present, the ecosystem of entrepreneurship education in China is still in the embryonic stage and has not reached the developmental state, let alone the steady state. “Steady state” is a state of dynamic balance within an ecosystem. The contents and effects of many elements in the system reach the optimal state of relative stability, which is a sign of the basic maturity of the ecosystem. It is an important mission for the establishment of entrepreneurship education ecosystem to grasp the vortex form with GALCHS as the core element and guide the development and maturity of China’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem.

4.1.3 Path Exploration: Pursuing the Development Path of Entrepreneurship Education Ecology At present, the role of the “niche” of entrepreneurship education in Chinese schools is missing, policy factors are limited, the foundation of ecosystem operation is weak, and all factors and indicators fail to reach the minimum threshold for cultivating innovative and entrepreneurial talents. It is necessary to build an ecological system to promote the sustainable development of entrepreneurship education as soon as possible.

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4.1.3.1

(1)

Analysis on Non-ecological Phenomenon of Entrepreneurship Education in China

The role of “niche” in entrepreneurship education is missing.

On the whole, China’s entrepreneurship environment is not satisfactory. In 2012, China ranked 36th out of 69 countries and regions participating in the global entrepreneurship monitor, ranking in the middle of the scale, with a comprehensive index of 2.8 (full score is 5). There are many reasons for this situation, including entrepreneurship education and training being weak links in the current entrepreneurship process. The school system is the foundation of innovation and entrepreneurship training and education. However, the lack of a niche role in school entrepreneurship education still exists. On the one hand, entrepreneurship education begins in full swing in China’s universities but seems calm in the stage of basic education and secondary education; On the other hand, the ecological niche of universities in the entrepreneurship education ecosystem is in a weak position. Entrepreneurship education of family and society can “fill in” and “replace” the lack of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities (Yan, 2015a, b). The main reasons for the weak ecological position of colleges and universities are the lack of courses, teachers and platforms of entrepreneurship education. (2)

Absence of policy factors in entrepreneurship education.

Since the Chinese government began to promote the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in 1998, the State Council, the Ministry of Education and others have issued dozens of relevant policies, laws and regulations to promote entrepreneurship and the ecological development of entrepreneurship education. Among them, the following 13 documents are more representative documents (see Table 4.1). It can be seen that the relevant laws, regulations and policies issued in China are mainly divided into three types: the first is to promote the growth and development of small business and create a favorable atmosphere of policy and legal for entrepreneurship; the second is to promote entrepreneurship and employment directly; the third is to promote training and education of entrepreneurship. These policies have promoted entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education greatly. However, there is still some room for improvement from the perspective of ecological development. For example, the current policies focus on the specific operational measures but lack legal guarantee for entrepreneurship education; focus on the expansion of activities of entrepreneurship education but lack quality standards and the guarantee mechanism of entrepreneurship education; focus on the alleviation of the current employment pressure but lack overall planning of economic and social development; focus on the solutions of regional and local problems but lack global awareness and action, etc. The ecological development of entrepreneurship

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Table 4.1 Relevant policies and regulations to promote the development of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education in China Year

Policy document

Released unit

Objectives related to the ecological development of entrepreneurship education

1998 Action Plan for Twenty-first Century Invigorating Education

Ministry of Education

Propose goals of entrepreneurship education

2002 Pilot Work Conference of “Entrepreneurship Education” in Ordinary Universities

Ministry of Education

Deploy the pilot of entrepreneurship education

2003 Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Promotion of SMEs

Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress

Promote the development of SMEs

2005 On Further Improving Employment Related Work for College Graduates in 2006

General Office of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security

Promote the employment of college students

2005 Establishment of KAB Entrepreneurship Education (China) Project

Cooperation between the Strengthening Communist Youth League entrepreneurship training Central Committee, the All-China Youth Federation and the International Labor Organization

2007 Notice on Further Ministry of Labor and Strengthening Social Security Entrepreneurship Training to Promote Entrepreneurship and Employment

Strengthening entrepreneurship training

2008 Employment Promotion Law Standing Committee of the of the People’s Republic of National People’s Congress China

Promote employment

2008 Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting Employment with Entrepreneurship

State Council

Promote entrepreneurship and employment

2010 Notice on the plan of implementing of the guidance by undergraduate entrepreneurship

Human Resources and Social Security

Promote student entrepreneurship

(continued)

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Table 4.1 (continued) Year

Policy document

2010 Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Vigorously Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Colleges and Universities and Independent Entrepreneurship Work for College Students

Released unit

Objectives related to the ecological development of entrepreneurship education

Ministry of Education

Promote student entrepreneurship

2012 Notice of the General Office General Office of the of the Ministry of Education Ministry of Education on Issuing the “Basic Requirements for the Teaching of Entrepreneurship Education in General Undergraduate Schools (Trial)”

Put forward basic requirements for entrepreneurship education

2015 State Council on Supporting State Council the Healthy Development of Small and Micro-enterprises

Promote the development of small and medium enterprises

2015 Opinions of the General State Council Office of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Colleges and Universities

Promoting entrepreneurship education

education needs globalization, integrity and forward-looking planning urgently to ensure the sustainability of entrepreneurship education. (3)

The foundation of entrepreneurship education ecosystem is weak.

Education ecosystem is a kind of dissipative structure system, which needs the system to maintain an orderly state in time, space and function depending on the external action (Wu, 1997: 97). Energy input of the system is a prerequisite for the development and maturity of an ecosystem. Only effective energy input can promote the conversion and output of energy among species in the system. In the entrepreneurship education ecosystem, the lack of energy flow and material flow, such as entrepreneurship practice, entrepreneurship incubation and entrepreneurship capital, causes the lack of energy power inputting from the external of the system. In the entrepreneurship education ecosystem, the lack of courses, teachers and other resources makes it difficult for the internal resources to support the effective operation of entrepreneurship education. In terms of scientific guidance of entrepreneurship education system, entrepreneurship education, as an emerging research field, emerges with a large

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number of relevant research results, but lacks the support of discipline and profession. And so far, it has not carried out overall research and analysis at the national level.

4.1.3.2

Strategic Measures for the Construction of the Ecosystem of Entrepreneurship Education

Based on the concept of GALCHS entrepreneurship education and the existing problems in the development of entrepreneurship education, China must accelerate the strategic planning and build an entrepreneurship education ecosystem suitable for the construction of an innovative and entrepreneurial country. (1)

Establish a diverse target system for entrepreneurship education.

Clarifying development goals is the premise of a sustainable development of entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship education has multiple values, including economic, social, cultural, educational and so on. Hence, its goals are multilayered and diverse. Regardless of the manifestation, the core goal of entrepreneurship education is to cultivate entrepreneurial talents and the internal logical starting point and end result of entrepreneurship education is to cultivate the entrepreneurial consciousness and spirit. The establishment of the entrepreneurship education ecosystem must focus on making full use of the external forces that drive the operation of the system. The cultivation of entrepreneurial talents should be guided by the concepts of global entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship for all and lifelong entrepreneurship education. From the perspective of the scope of talent cultivation, we should look around the world to cultivate innovative and entrepreneurial talents with the global consciousness and promote international cooperation in entrepreneurship education vigorously. From the perspective of the breadth of talent cultivation, there should not only be universal entrepreneurship education, but also different types of entrepreneurship education targeted at high-tech entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and female entrepreneurship. From the perspective of the time dimension of talent cultivation, entrepreneurship education should be carried out throughout the whole life of talents’ development. To promote entrepreneurship education in all sectors, levels and types of education in China, we should further clarify the different goals, responsibilities and standards of entrepreneurship education. As far as entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities is concerned, the needs and goals of the individual in entrepreneurship education are different. On the whole, the cultivation objectives of entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities have three levels: cultivating students’ entrepreneurial consciousness, improving their entrepreneurial ability and guiding them to start their own businesses (Xu & Mei, 2015: 2–9). According to the concept of entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurship education should not only focus on the cultivation of thinking and ability but also strengthen the integration with the profession and pay more attention to the cultivation of personality.

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(2)

Pool resources for ecological development of entrepreneurship education.

The cultivation of entrepreneurial talents must rely on various resources provided by the whole society. An effective mechanism of pooling resource is the original driving force for the development of the dissipative structure of the entrepreneurship education ecosystem. We should make full use of all kinds of thrust in the entrepreneurship education ecosystem to complete the core task of cultivating highquality entrepreneurial talents. It is necessary to effectively integrate and develop various entrepreneurial resources of the society, build an entrepreneurship education ecosystem that is in a virtuous circle and have an open and progressive development, including government, universities, enterprises and other organizations, and clarify the different roles and functions of “biome” of government, universities and enterprises in the ecosystem. The central and local governments at all levels can provide external support from the deployment of entrepreneurship education planning, the improvement of entrepreneurship education system, the cultivation of innovation and entrepreneurship culture, and the provision of entrepreneurship education funds. Schools at all levels and types should play a subjective role in the construction and implementation of entrepreneurship education projects, the training of entrepreneurship teachers, the research of entrepreneurship education and the development of evaluation tools for entrepreneurship education and thus make up for the missing role of school education in the ecosystem. Enterprises need to cooperate with schools to carry out entrepreneurship education through various formal and informal projects and provide students with entrepreneurship development funds, entrepreneurship internship opportunities and entrepreneurship practice mentors. (3)

Promote the entrepreneurship education ecosystem into a “steady state.”

Entrepreneurship education ecosystem is an extraordinarily complex system, involving multiple interest groups in the social system. Different interest groups have different driving forces for the ecological development of entrepreneurship education. At present, China’s entrepreneurship education needs to build an ecosystem urgently, and guide the entrepreneurship education system from a budding and developmentally state to a steady state through careful design and joint efforts. In the construction of China’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem, the will of the state should become the most powerful developmental factor. The government is not only the main driving force to promote the development of entrepreneurship education in China but also the core force to construct the entrepreneurship education ecosystem in the future. Entrepreneurship education is a national project and the government should have a sense of national strategy. The government should not only provide a good policy environment for the development of entrepreneurship education, but also establish the concept of the development of entrepreneurship education and design the development strategy of national entrepreneurship education at the top to avoid unnecessary detours as much as possible.

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4.2 Concepts and Strategies for the Construction of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem in American Universities The development of entrepreneurship education in the USA is undergoing a paradigm shift. The concept of entrepreneurship education has left the category of entrepreneurship education courses, and the practical content of entrepreneurship education is more extensive and richer. The implementation of entrepreneurship education is closely related to major teaching, scientific research and market demand. An entrepreneurship ecosystem based on entrepreneurship education, scientific and research innovation and technology transformation has begun to take shape in college campuses. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is not the earliest college that carried out entrepreneurship education in the Los Angeles area, and the construction time of entrepreneurship ecosystem is not long. But because of their reliance on the world’s leading level of scientific research, their large group of alumni, strong regional and global networks and financial support, UCLA has quickly become the rising star of entrepreneurship in Los Angeles and across universities in the USA. Its entrepreneurship ecosystem has grown rapidly. According to the statistics of Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), the number of new enterprises of UCLA ranked the top three of universities in North America and the annual average number of new science and technology enterprises is 15–25 and its entrepreneurship rate is higher than that of all universities in California. In 2015, Forbes released a list of the most entrepreneurial universities in the USA based on the number of students and alumni entrepreneurs and UCLA ranked fifth in the list (Chen, 2015). This paper analyzes the construction concept, composing element, supporting environment and operating mechanism combined with the existing relevant research and field research.

4.2.1 The Concept of Constructing Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem in the University There are three main models for American universities to build an entrepreneurship ecosystem. The first is the bottom-up model, in which teachers and students of grassroots organizations of universities cooperate with regions to play a leading role of entrepreneurship education and technology transfer. The second is the topdown model, which promotes organizational transformation, drives the entrepreneurship education and technology transfer by clarifying the strategies and objectives of innovation and entrepreneurship in universities. The third is the middle-out model, which emphasizes the balance between the strategy of innovation and entrepreneurship in the university and the enthusiasm of grassroots teachers and students. In July 2010, James Ella, the vice president of UCLA and the director of research,

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put forward the initiation to construct the entrepreneurship ecosystem, based on the decentralized entrepreneurship education and practice of original grassroots organizations in UCLA; attempt to reorganize the governance structure of technology transfer; construct entrepreneurship education curriculum of the whole school and the variety extracurricular entrepreneurship activities; build a strong support system of entrepreneurship; and combine the strategy at the school level with the enthusiasm of the grassroots organizations. According to UCLA, entrepreneurship is an important way to increase the impact of invention or innovation and turn good ideas into real benefits, which requires universities to own the abilities to adapt to change, risk, uncertainty, competition and ambiguity (Ouchi & Rauw, 2014).

4.2.2 Multifactor Construction of the Foundation of the University’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem The components of the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem are diverse. Participation subjects, formal courses, extracurricular activities and capital constitute the foundation of UCLA’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.

4.2.2.1

Participants

In the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, participants are mainly divided into individual subjects and organizational subjects. There are three types of individual subject: entrepreneurs on campus, organizers, and providers of resource. Among them, entrepreneurs on campus mainly include student founders, students who are willing to start their own businesses, and faculty members and alumni who participate in entrepreneurship activities. These staff are at the center of the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and all activities and resources revolve around it. The organizers include department leaders, staff members, activity organizers and volunteers who promote entrepreneurship in the university. Such personnel connect campus entrepreneurs with resources and play the role of intermediary, connection and service. Resource providers include staff of the teaching and research team (professor, postdoctoral, researcher, etc.), consulting supervisors (alumni, lawyer, financial adviser, executive president, investor, angel investor, etc.) and funding staff (entrepreneur, venture capitalist, angel investor, etc.), who can provide resources and services for campus entrepreneurs, such as education, training, guidance and financial. This can play an auxiliary, catalytic and accelerating role in students’ entrepreneurship. The status and the function of participation have more or less overlapped. For example, angel investors can provide the startup funding for students’ companies as a capital provider, provide guidance or share the latest market dynamics for campus entrepreneurs as a special guest, or bring more resources of web and network as intermediaries. All participants interact with each other in the

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university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and jointly promote the construction of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Different categories of the main participations in the entrepreneurship ecosystem constitute different categories of stakeholders (entrepreneur team, angel group, etc.), and form the corresponding organization main center. Each main organization center hatches out of a large number of derivative organizations based on their specific objectives and resources and constitutes the network organization of entrepreneurship activities. For example, the four major organizational centers of UCLA entrepreneurship ecosystem are Anderson School of Management, Technology Development Group, Startup UCLA and Bruin Entrepreneurs, respectively representing the four forces of the development of entrepreneurship education in the USA. The Anderson School of Management represents the main body of the traditional organization of entrepreneurship education. Its entrepreneurship education has a long history and great strength and the ecosystem starts from here. The group of technology development means that many offices of technology transfer in American universities implement a series of activities relating to entrepreneurship to promote scientific innovation, intellectual property protection and technology transfer. UCLA, which represents the emerging strength of entrepreneurship education organization in the USA, was founded in 2012 with the support of the Blackstone Launch Pad Foundation, a school-based entrepreneurship program that aims to provide support and educational guidance to teachers, students and alumni around the world to start businesses. Bear Entrepreneur is a student-run campus non-profit entrepreneurship organization, representing students as the main force driving the development of the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

4.2.2.2

Formal Courses

Formal course education is one of the characteristics that distinguish the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem from the general entrepreneurship ecosystem. The formal courses here include general professional courses and formal entrepreneurship education courses in college, which complement each other. The general professional courses strengthen the foundation of knowledge creation for students and provide the knowledge capital for the student from different professional fields to start a business. The formal entrepreneurship education courses can enlighten students’ entrepreneurial thinking, provide students with necessary business, legal, financial and other types of knowledge, and cultivate students’ entrepreneurship skills. UCLA entrepreneurship education courses have a wide range of content, involving four types of entrepreneurship education. The first type is basic entrepreneurship courses, which mainly impart basic entrepreneurship knowledge and stimulate students’ entrepreneurship consciousness and entrepreneurship spirit. The second type includes some courses of basic economic principles and some courses of basic knowledge relating to the entrepreneurship process, such as design of entrepreneurship plan, management of entrepreneurship finance and asset, enterprise management and financing and entrepreneurship

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marketing, entrepreneurship law courses. The third type is entrepreneurship courses of technology commercialization and product development, such as entrepreneurship of real estate and entrepreneurship of biotechnology. The fourth type includes courses about applied research and practice, such as enterprise internship, entrepreneurship field investigation and so on. UCLA entrepreneurship education courses show a new trend of multipoint model and interdisciplinarity. In addition to the Anderson School of Management, the schools of law, biological engineering, engineering and other departments began to offer entrepreneurship education courses, which forms a multipoint model. In addition, different schools in UCLA cooperate in entrepreneurship courses such as the innovation of medical technology and entrepreneurship opportunities of medical technology. The courses set up jointly by Anderson College and the school of biological engineering are designed for students of engineering, dental, design, law, management and medicine. The courses can promote the communication and cooperation of students from different professional backgrounds through cooperation teaching. The courses cover the entire entrepreneurship process of problem analysis, technology development, product design and production, product marketing and promotion. Students have the advantages of different departments, and the success rate of entrepreneurship can be improved through the formation of student entrepreneurship teams with multiple professional backgrounds.

4.2.2.3

Extracurricular Activities

American college entrepreneurship education has begun to go beyond the scope of traditional classroom, and extracurricular activities of various forms and different contents have become a major feature of the university’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem. Extracurricular activities of UCLA include annual business conference, seminar, forum, workshop, training camp, competition, demo day, consulting, project, accelerator, incubator, lab, job and internship of entrepreneurship, etc. Different organizational bodies actively integrate resources from universities, regions and even the whole country and provide students with various forms of entrepreneurship courses, training, consultation and guidance by activities. In addition, the forms of entrepreneurship activities in universities are constantly evolving and iterating, and new forms of activities are constantly emerging. For example, demo day, which originated from Silicon Valley, is an event for start-ups to show their products and business plans. Later, it was combined with the traditional entrepreneurship competition and formed a demo day that is held annually by organizations such as Bear Entrepreneurs and Anderson School of Management. On demo day, there is still a competition relationship between entrepreneurship teams. But the main purpose of the event no longer takes the merits of the business plan as the measure. Most demo days have no bonus and no business plan for selection, but the students’ business plan and ideas can share with the experts in entrepreneurship field by venture capital, helping students to improve the entrepreneurship ideas and expand entrepreneurship contacts. The intensive training camp is also a new high-intensity

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entrepreneurship training that is usually organized by groups outside the campus, ranging from a few days to a few weeks to give students intensive entrepreneurship education courses. In addition, accelerators are generated iteratively on the basis of incubators. Accelerators usually provide entrepreneurs with accelerated training and guidance in a short period of time. Compared with incubators, accelerators are more efficient, targeted and structural.

4.2.2.4

Capital

Capital is the material basis for the formation and development of university’s ecosystem. The capital of university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem mainly includes human capital, financial capital and material capital. Human capital mainly refers to the resources of scientific research, alumni, team of entrepreneurship experts, etc. Not all universities can build an entrepreneurship ecosystem and the key is the quality of human capital. UCLA is a world-class research university with worldclass experts and professors in various fields. The cradle of American high-tech, business finance, film art and other professional talents are the schools of medicine, engineering, art and architecture, Anderson School of Management, etc. In addition, UCLA’s strong alumni force cannot be matched by other universities. Its alumni are all over Los Angeles and all industries and fields in the USA. Through their influence, the alumni bring other resources to UCLA’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. Capital is the “blood” of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. And for college students’ entrepreneurship, capital is also a topic that can never be avoided. Financial capital, both inside and outside UCLA, has injected blood into the development of the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. UCLA has the Salvin Family Foundation, the fund of UCLA venture capital, the fund of startup concept, and the Barry and Meredith Eggers Seed Fund. In addition, angel network groups in Los Angeles areas, such as Angel Coast Technologies and Angel List, can also help students start business. UCLA’s campus labs, students’ entrepreneurship centers and other organizations provide the physical foundation and space for the construction of entrepreneurship ecosystems.

4.2.3 Technology Transformation and Network Mechanism to Maintain the Operation of Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in the University Technological transformation and network mechanisms interconnect the complex and diverse elements of the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, which is the key to the emergence and development of the ecosystem.

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Entrepreneurship Linear Mechanism of Technology Transformation

Zoltan and others pointed that entrepreneurship activities are not simply seizing business opportunities. Knowledge spillover is the main source of entrepreneurship opportunities for endogenous enterprises. The production of new knowledge increases the opportunities of technological entrepreneurship. The development and utilization of knowledge is a necessary condition for the success of growing enterprises. Knowledge spillover comes from knowledge stock. There is a close relationship between the spillover effect and entrepreneurship activities. Knowledge generation and technology transformation are also the reasons why universities can independently develop an entrepreneurship ecosystem (Acs et al., 2008). Important outputs of the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem include two types of companies: start-ups and spin-offs. Among them, start-ups mostly focus on seizing market opportunities and tend to develop markets with huge potential, relying on high technology to launch groundbreaking services, technologies or applications. Spin-off companies usually generate from another institution. Spin-off companies of university mostly generate from laboratories. For example, UCLA generates 30% of its patents each year from the invention of the UCLA California Incubation Center in Nanotechnology Institute, and 50% of start-ups have researchers from the incubation center. According to the process of incubator technology transformation in UCLA, the linear mechanism of technological transformation entrepreneurship in the university entrepreneurship ecosystem is shown in Fig. 4.2. The technology transformation mechanism realizes a linear process from university scientific discovery to entrepreneurship. The USA implements a consistent STEM education from middle school to university, which provides an education platform of professional knowledge for students’ research discoveries. Once students have new research discoveries, they can apply to participate in the corresponding scientific research projects organized by the school, find team partners through the scientific research team platform, obtain scientific research guidance, realize technology transformation and apply for patents and licenses from the University Technology Transformation Office. Subsequently, the university technology platform

Fig. 4.2 Entrepreneurship linear mechanism of technology transformation

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provides students with resources and facilities for transformation from technology to the market. For example, the university’s incubator provides students with cooperation space, advanced equipment, technical guidance and other services required for product development. Students apply for admission to the incubation center. Then the incubation center evaluates and improves the student’s new technology, and uses the new technology to develop a product or service with market value that enables the commercialization of technology development. After the development phase of product, the school’s entrepreneurship platform (various entrepreneurship activities) provides students with guidance, consulting and services in the areas of law, financing and market access.

4.2.3.2

Network Mechanism

Many scholars have pointed out the importance of the Internet to the construction of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Saxenian attributes Silicon Valley’s economic success to its “regional network industrial system” which is relatively open and non-hierarchical (Saxenian, 1994: 59). Johnnyson believes that the interpersonal network is geographically concentrated. Stuart and others proposed that regional social networks play an important role. Regional networks enable entrepreneurs to acquire resources such as knowledge, finance and human resources (Alvedalen & Boschma, 2017). The network connects different elements and promotes the interaction and cooperation between the elements. The operation of the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem is realized through interpersonal and organizational networks. Colin Mason and others point out that the “bridging assets” of ecosystem connect people, startup ideas and resources in the ecosystem. They called those who take communication as a mission as “liaison-animators.” These liaisons usually have other careers of their own, but they are energetic and dedicated. And liaison becomes part of their informal work and activities (Mason & Brown, 2014). As connecting nodes in the interpersonal network, these liaisons connect participants and diverse resources in the ecosystem. They are both part of the interpersonal network and the hub of the interpersonal network. The nodes of the interpersonal network are mainly alumni, entrepreneurship organizations and project leaders. These people have rich human resources and bring them to campus through organizing activities. In the UCLA field survey and interviews, most entrepreneurship mentors and guests stated that they came to UCLA to meet a project leader or a member of a startup organization. Through contact and cooperation between organizations, information exchange is enhanced. Resource sharing and effective allocation of resources are achieved. A network mechanism beneficial to the operation of the entrepreneurship ecosystem is also formed. Organizational networks include campus organization networks and regional organization networks. The entrepreneurship organizations in the UCLA campus are not isolated but constantly generate interaction and cooperation to achieve

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the effective use of resources. For example, the students’ entrepreneurship organization Bear Entrepreneur uses UCLA’s venue to host events and share resources; the UCLA Business Science Center collaborates with UCLA investors, intellectual property offices, and corporate sponsored research to create business science center entrepreneurship team projects. By combining students and mentors from professional fields such as medicine, life sciences, physical sciences, engineering, business and law, the laboratory technology can be transformed and commercialized. The cooperation in campus organization network has spawned a large number of entrepreneurship projects and entrepreneurship cooperation. Regional organizational networks also bring organizational resources to the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. Many UCLA entrepreneurship projects are part of regional entrepreneurship networks. For example, the UCLA California Nanosystems Institute is an important incubation center for UCLA. It is a sub-project of the California Institutes for Science and Innovation. The institute established four forms of project centers (Social Benefit Information Technology Research Center, California Institute of Quantitative Biosciences, Institute of California Nanosystems, and Institute of California Telecommunications and Information Technology) in nine California system universities to promote technological innovation.

4.2.4 The Diverse Environment Supports the Development of the University’s Entrepreneurship Ecosystem The formation of a university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem is inseparable from diverse external environmental support such as government policies, entrepreneurship culture and regional economic development.

4.2.4.1

Government Policy

The US government policy promotes the establishment of a university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem from a macro-environment. In 1958, the introduction of the Small Business Investment Act changed the picture of corporate structure in USA and provided the foundation for the development of university’s spin-off companies. In order to build a national innovation system, the USA introduced the Technology Innovation Act in 1980. In the same year, the Bayh-Dole Act provided universities with patent rights for government-funded research projects and the right to commercialize research results. This provision unlocked a large number of inventions and discoveries in laboratory and became a milestone in the technological transformation of American universities, which greatly stimulated the innovation and entrepreneurship of colleges and universities, especially in the fields of science and engineering in American universities.

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In 2012, the Obama administration signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act in an attempt to disclose and lower audit standards and simplify the process of initial public offerings of companies with annual revenues of less than $1 billion. Compared to the previous company, which can only raise funds from friends, relatives and intermediaries, the law allows companies to crowdfund through the Internet (such as Twitter) and traditional publicity methods. The legalization of crowdfunding has increased the possibility of more funding sources for start-ups (Bijaoui, 2017: 14–15). These laws and regulations have gradually removed obstacles in terms of technology ownership, venue and funding for entrepreneurship in universities and colleges.

4.2.4.2

Entrepreneurship Culture

The entrepreneurship environment, social culture and immigration culture have formed the UCLA campus entrepreneurship culture. The role of the environment in shaping people’s thoughts and behaviors cannot be ignored. The UCLA entrepreneurship environment is divided into two aspects: peer influence and development strategies. Studies have shown that compared to participating in entrepreneurship courses and entrepreneurship competitions, learning the entrepreneurship experience of classmates is more helpful to students’ entrepreneurship (Wright et al., 2016). UCLA entrepreneurship is often presented as a team. Alumni as entrepreneurship mentors and guest speakers are examples of peer influence. Different universities have different development strategies, which all have an impact on students’ entrepreneurship. For example, MIT, which has a strong position in majors such as life sciences, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering, must have different types of entrepreneurship than the Paris Central Academy of Fine Arts, the cradle of the world’s art. UCLA’s strong performance in medical technology and engineering entrepreneurship reflects this. The US advocates individualism and socializing. Almost all UCLA entrepreneurship activities have designed social links, such as social coffee breaks, lunch socializing and formal socializing. In these set social links, students can communicate freely, consult and establish contacts with on-site experts such as angels, venture capitalists, corporate executives and financial consultants. In this way, you can improve your own business plan, answer your business doubts and establish relationships with investors. California is the state with the largest immigrant population in the USA. The diverse and inclusive culture, rich languages and human resources brought by a large number of immigrants form part of UCLA’s unique entrepreneurship culture. At the same time, the large number of immigrants provides many talents in science and engineering to the university.

4.2.4.3

Regional Economic Development

The formation, development and extinction of ecosystems are all affected by the surrounding environment. Ecosystems are interconnected and fade away. The earliest growing entrepreneurship ecosystem in the USA was the Silicon Valley region of

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Northern California. With its advantages in technological development, it quickly grew into the center of entrepreneurship development in the USA. However, in recent years, due to the scarcity of physical resources such as land and space, the development of the Silicon Valley entrepreneurship ecosystem has shown stagnation. However, this has promoted the growth of the entrepreneurship ecology in the Los Angeles area. Start-ups and communities have begun to migrate to Los Angeles and a lot of hot money have also begun to drift to Los Angeles to form investment groups. For example, the Los Angeles area currently has the largest angel investment group in the USA—Tech Coast Angels. In addition, there are some other small angel networks, such as Angel List, Angel Vision Investors, Sacramento Angels and 12 Angels (Barbera Corporate Law, 2014). In 2016, start-ups in Los Angeles received $6 billion in funding. Compared to 2012, the amount of financing for start-ups in Los Angeles has increased sixfold. After San Francisco and New York, Los Angeles has now become the third largest entrepreneurship village in the USA. Its rapidly growing entrepreneurship center, Silicon Beach, has started to become a strong competitor in Silicon Valley. The entrepreneurship ecology in Los Angeles is gradually growing, which provides fertile soil for business entrepreneurship. In recent years, the number of businesses in the area of Los Angeles has increased rapidly. Incubators, accelerators and technology communities are constantly emerging. These resources will undoubtedly provide rich resources and a good entrepreneurship environment for college students in Los Angeles. In addition, the Los Angeles area has a large entrepreneurship support group, which provides good support and ecological development services for the development of local start-ups. For example, Advanced Manufacturing Partners in Southern California and Los Angeles Technology are the more influential entrepreneurship service organizations in southern California. They often organize free training programs and training courses in the Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles South Chamber of Commerce is a community organization dedicated to promoting regional economic development by providing business consulting, business communications, business networks and community services. In addition, regional media, data and network services also facilitate the dissemination and acquisition of students’ entrepreneurship information. The UCLA student entrepreneurship team has benefited from the growth of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Los Angeles area. The development of the regional economy has brought students the economic environment, funds, technical space, partners, training guidance, legal consulting services and other resources needed for entrepreneurship. To sum up, the entrepreneurship ecosystem of American universities is internally composed of four major elements: participants, formal courses, extracurricular activities and capital. The external environment is supported by government policies, entrepreneurship culture, and regional economic development and services. The university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem develops and operates under technology transformation and network mechanisms, forming a continuum of activities. The construction of a university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem cannot be based on one

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party alone; it requires the cooperation of multiple parties in the public and private fields. The university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem is different from the ordinary entrepreneurship ecosystem. On the one hand, it undertakes the task of cultivating talents. Entrepreneurship education is an important factor to promote the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. On the other hand, the scientific research innovation and technological transformation are characteristics of the university’s entrepreneurship. The development of university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem should strengthen the scientific research innovation, technological invention, patent protection, technology transformation and technology commercialization. The development of the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem has been changing, and research on the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem can only be carried out in one stage. Due to the particularity of the relationship between different ecosystem’s elements, each ecosystem has its own special model and structure. The study of the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem cannot be generalized. These are the problems that should be paid attention to in future research.

4.3 Construction of Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem in Chinese Universities Regarding the development momentum of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities, there are mainly two modes of market-driven and government-driven internationally. Due to the potential explicit function of innovation and entrepreneurship education in alleviating college students’ employment pressure, improving the conversion rate of scientific research results and promoting the construction of an innovative country, our country’s innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities has been rapidly developed by the strong promotion of the government after short-term independent exploration. The establishment of nine pilot universities in 2002, the introduction of the International Labor Organization (ILO)’s Know About Business (KAB) course in 2005, opened compulsory entrepreneurship courses with at least two credits in each general university in 2012 and the construction of the Entrepreneurship Academy and Maker Space in 2015 after the Double Innovation Strategy was proposed, all of them have been branded by the government. In the early stages of the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China’s universities, due to the scarcity of entrepreneurship resources and entrepreneurial culture and weak cooperation between schools and enterprises, the government’s attention and support can greatly promote the theoretical researchers and practitioners of universities to pay attention to the development of international innovation and entrepreneurship education,

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improve the awareness of the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship education to promote China’s economic transformation and upgrading and the construction of an innovative country, can also provide resources for the course construction, organizational development, construction and research of training base. Under the impetus of the government, China’s colleges and universities have achieved some results in innovation and entrepreneurship education. Among them, the proportion of self-employed students has significantly increased. For example, according to Employment Report of Chinese College Graduates in 2015, the proportion of selfemployed entrepreneurs of university graduates in 2014 was 2.9%, which was higher than 2.3% in 2013, 2.0% in 2012 and 1.6% in 2011 (MyCOS Research Institute, 2015a, b). However, the innovation and entrepreneurship education in China’s universities has transformed from an early competition to an educational function that highlights talent training, from initial fragmentation and contingency to institutionalization and strategy. In the process of transitioning from just targeting a few elite students to establishing a hierarchical classification system for the entire school, government policies have “failed” to a certain extent because of shortage of teachers, single curriculum, closed environment and weak platforms. In addition to examining the effectiveness of government policies, we should also pay attention to whether universities and society have played an active role. From the perspective of universities, due to the inherent logic of the development of higher education, the center of the higher education system is a cross-matrix formed between disciplines and institutions. Grassroots academic organizations also play an important role in the operation of colleges and universities. Therefore, government policies can play their role in practice only through the active refraction of colleges and universities. Any innovative and entrepreneurship education that passively and blindly follows the trend or does not combine with the actual situation of colleges and universities will affect the practical effect of policy implementation. Some scholars have pointed out that the endogenous driving force for the development of innovative and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities should be effectively strengthened to prevent the practical problems of nominally “strengthening” but actually “blurring” or even “failure” (Wang, 2016b). From a social perspective, alumni, entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders can provide human resources, funding, experience and other resources for innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities, which is an indispensable external supporting factor. Therefore, in the innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem composed of the government, universities and society, it is necessary to further clarify the functional positioning and action strategies of the three to form a situation where the three mutually promote and support each other and ensure the sustainable and healthy development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China’s universities.

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4.3.1 Government: Strengthening Guidance of Strategic Planning, Highlighting the Pertinence and Effectiveness of Policies The government is the policymaker, resource provider and quality monitor of innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities. According to the author’s incomplete statistics, from 1998 to 2016, the central ministries and commissions issued a total of 169 policies, laws, regulations or implementation opinions relating to innovation and entrepreneurship education. These have grown rapidly since 2009, which shows that the government attaches importance to innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities. The degree continues to increase. However, the effectiveness of these policies lacks empirical analysis. In the future, policies of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China’s universities should not only focus on strategic issues but also focus on the specificity and effectiveness of specific content.

4.3.1.1

Strengthen the Strategic Planning of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education

Strengthening the strategic planning and legalization of innovation and entrepreneurship education has become an important trend in the development of international innovation and entrepreneurship education. For example, the Obama administration proposed Startup America to integrate the strengths of the public and private sectors to create and encourage more high-growth companies across the USA. The plan proposes that the public sector should provide support and convenience for entrepreneurship in the following five areas: increasing funds to support entrepreneurship; strengthening the connection between entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship mentors; reducing entrepreneurship obstacles; accelerating the transformation of groundbreaking technological innovation from the laboratory to the market; and releasing market opportunities in industries such as healthcare, clean energy and education (Mei & Chen, 2015). In the twenty-first century, the European Union has formulated a series of strategies to promote entrepreneurship education, including Lisbon Strategy (2000), European Green Paper on Entrepreneurship (2003), European Entrepreneurship Action Plan (2004), Building an Entrepreneurship Culture (2004), European Oslo Entrepreneurship Education Agenda (2006), Entrepreneurship Education Toward Greater Cooperation and Coherence (2010), Entrepreneurship Education in European Schools (2012), 2020 Entrepreneurship Action Plan (2013), etc. For China, innovation and entrepreneurship education in university and college is not an expedient solution to the employment problem. Instead, we should make long-term plans for the vision, philosophy, goals and tasks of China’s medium- and long-term innovation and entrepreneurship education through scientific and legalization methods, promoting transformation and upgrading of the economy, and the construction of an innovative country with innovative high-quality talents.

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Highlight the Relevance and Effectiveness of Policies

Monitor Group (2016) conducted a survey of entrepreneurs from 22 countries including North America, Europe and Asia and found that many traditional entrepreneurship policies have not been effective because these policies have not really met the actual needs of entrepreneurs. Different from traditional policies such as reducing the administrative burden in entrepreneurship, building more incubators and gaining more venture capital, the survey shows that the following four policies are more important for the success of entrepreneurship: the first is to increase innovation and entrepreneurship awareness, including establishing correct innovation and entrepreneurship values and attitudes; the second is to improve entrepreneurship skills at different educational stages, which is a decisive factor for the success of entrepreneurship but is often overlooked; the third is to provide systematic financing policies, not just to enable entrepreneurs to get venture capital; the fourth is to reduce taxes and provide incentives for entrepreneurship and introduce policies to encourage the commercialization of R&D results. In addition, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2015–16) has ranked the construction of entrepreneurship ecosystems in 62 countries (scores from 1 to 9 indicate increased effectiveness), and its indicators include 12 items which are entrepreneurship financing, government policy, government entrepreneurship projects, entrepreneurship education in primary and secondary school, the transformation of R&D (see Fig. 4.3) (Kelley et al. 2016). It can be seen that China scores higher on the two indicators of entrepreneurship support policy and the establishment

Fig. 4.3 China’s score on entrepreneurship environment in a global entrepreneurship observation, 2015–16

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of physical facilities of entrepreneurship education, which are 5.78 points and 6.92 points and ranked third and 16th, respectively. In the elementary and middle school education stages, the three indicators—the degree of attention to entrepreneurship education, business and legal infrastructure, and culture and social norms—scored very low: 2.59 points, 4.34 points and 4.98 points, respectively. The rankings were also relatively low: 43rd, 51st and 23rd, respectively. This shows that entrepreneurship education in primary and secondary schools was paid insufficient attention, commercial and legal infrastructure is weak, and entrepreneurship culture in society as a whole is not strong in China’s current entrepreneurship policy, which makes it difficult to form an effective support for college students’ entrepreneurship. The three indicators are exactly what the Monitor Group recommends that countries should pay special attention to when formulating related entrepreneurship policies. Therefore, in the future, China should further highlight the pertinence and effectiveness of policies when promoting the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities. China should improve it from the following three aspects: the first is to treat entrepreneurship education as a process of lifelong learning, and focus on the cultivation of students’ entrepreneurship consciousness from the elementary and middle school stage to help students of primary and secondary school establish correct values and attitudes on innovation and entrepreneurship; the second is to provide financial support for college students’ entrepreneurship. On the one hand, the government can set up entrepreneurship funds to support the commercialization of R&D results and focus on early stage entrepreneurship enterprises. On the other hand, it can encourage angel investors and venture capitalists to invest in high-growth start-ups through policies of tax incentives. For example, the legislature of New York State recently passed a bill that will establish tax-free zones on systems in campuses of the State University of New York and the City University of New York and private colleges to cultivate and develop entrepreneurship businesses around the university. The third is to further refine and implement the entrepreneurship policy, reduce the risk of entrepreneurship and enhance the identity of social and cultural on innovation and entrepreneurship.

4.3.2 Universities: Improve the Organizational Model of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Universities are the concrete implementers of innovation and entrepreneurship education. They are responsible for the system design, curriculum development, teacher cultivation, entrepreneurship training and cooperation with stakeholders outside the school. In the future, China’s universities will need to further improve the organizational model of innovation and entrepreneurship education, update the content of innovation and entrepreneurship education and improve the way of innovation and entrepreneurship education.

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4.3.2.1

(1)

Improve the Organizational Model of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education

Establish a disciplinary system for innovation and entrepreneurship education

From the perspective of the development track of international entrepreneurship education, the establishment of a discipline system is an important way to ensure the legitimization of innovation and entrepreneurship education. Only by establishing a sound talent training system and scientific research system for innovation and entrepreneurship education, can innovation and entrepreneurship education be truly integrated into the development strategy of universities. In terms of talent training, according to the National Survey of Entrepreneurship Education in the USA 2012– 2014 (2016), in the survey of the 206 four-year universities, 76 universities offer undergraduate majors in entrepreneurship; 93 universities offer undergraduate minor majors; 27 universities have programs of graduate certificate; 43 universities have MBA entrepreneurship degrees; 24 universities have master degrees in entrepreneurship; 23 universities have doctoral degrees in entrepreneurship. The establishment of an entrepreneurship discipline system from undergraduate to doctoral level has effectively guaranteed the cultivation of entrepreneurship talents in the USA. Talent training system of entrepreneurship education is still in its infancy in China, and it currently appears in the form of general courses, minor programs or entrepreneurship practices. It is necessary to further consider the construction of the curriculum system and degree system. Research level is also an important indicator of the maturity of the discipline development. In terms of the research on innovation and entrepreneurship education, despite the rapid increase in the number of related achievements in China, the research paradigm and research methods still need to be further improved. As far as the construction of research teams is concerned, the state of “drifting” in disciplines makes teachers engaged in innovation and entrepreneurship education and research lack a sense of subject belonging (Wang,), which has greatly affected the enthusiasm of these teachers to continue to promote innovation and entrepreneurship education. Therefore, to establish a disciplinary system of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China, we need to pay attention to the specific background of the discipline development in our country, to establish a complete curriculum system and develop corresponding teaching materials, to train teachers who can serve the theory and practice of entrepreneurship education, to carry out relevant research on entrepreneurship education and create corresponding high-level journals. (2)

Improve the model of College of Entrepreneurship

The establishment of College of Entrepreneurship is a useful attempt to break the barriers of universities in China and promote interdisciplinary exchanges. Heilongjiang University established the School of Entrepreneurship Education when it was identified as one of the nine pilot schools for entrepreneurship education in the

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country in 2002, and opened an experimental class of innovation and entrepreneurship for the whole school students in an mode of “optional course”; Wenzhou University established the Institute of Entrepreneurship Talents in 2009, responsible for teaching management, entrepreneurship practice and entrepreneurship research of entrepreneurship education for the students of the whole school; College of Entrepreneurship of Shanghai Jiaotong University was established in 2010. On the one hand, these provide general courses for the students of the whole school. And on the other hand, they provide special courses, pre-incubation and seed funds for students who have a strong desire, and form a layered education model that cover on the surface and breakthrough on the point. With the promulgation of the Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Innovative and Entrepreneurship Education in Colleges and Universities in 2015, some local policies such as the Opinions of the Department of Education in Zhejiang on Actively Promoting the Construction of Entrepreneurship Colleges (2015); the implementation of the Notice on Entrepreneurship Leadership for College Students in Guangdong Province (2014–17) (2014); and the Implementation Plan of Shanghai Municipality for Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Universities (2016), the number of College of Entrepreneurship in universities have grown rapidly. Up to the beginning of April 2016, universities in Zhejiang have established 99 colleges of entrepreneurship of various types (Wang, 2016a). About one-third of the 125 universities in Guangdong Province have established a College of Entrepreneurship (He & Yin, 2015). With the establishment of a College of Entrepreneurship in China’s universities, how to plan in the long run becomes particularly important. At present, there are two main types of colleges of entrepreneurship in China. One type is an entity college represented by the Institute of Entrepreneurship Talents in Wenzhou University. The institute has dedicated faculties. They are responsible for various entrepreneurship education courses throughout the university, managing college students’ entrepreneurship training bases and providing fund support, carrying out research on entrepreneurship education, exploring new models of entrepreneurship talent training such as “3 + 1” and “4 + 2” simultaneously. The second type is the virtual body college represented by College of Entrepreneurship in Shanghai Jiaotong University, which mainly relies on the school of management, the office of academic affairs, the department of student affairs, the committee of youth league or employment guidance center and other departments. The college can coordinate the entire school’s general entrepreneurship courses, entrepreneurship plan competition, entrepreneurship nursery incubation, financial support and connection with entrepreneurship mentor. How to construct the College of Entrepreneurship in the future? How to establish relationships with other colleges and functions? How to overcome the shortage of teachers and courses? How to establish a clear mechanism to ensure the smooth operation of the College of Entrepreneurship? These are issues that need further thinking and clarification.

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Integrate entrepreneurship education into professional education

Because feasible ideas are often combined with specific major, interdisciplinary research has become an important development trend for entrepreneurship education in universities around the world. At present, many universities in the world provide entrepreneurship minor courses for students of different majors. Some universities encourage different colleges to develop entrepreneurship education programs that suit their professional characteristics and issue degrees that integrate entrepreneurship education and professional education. For example, Arizona State University’s School of Engineering offers a Bachelor of Science degree in Technology Entrepreneurship and Management and the School of Journalism offers entrepreneurship programs of digital media. Many universities in the USA provide interdisciplinary art entrepreneurship project. According to statistics, as of May 2013, at least 75 universities in the USA provided 102 projects relating to art entrepreneurship (Katzj et al., 2014). Compared with foreign countries, on the whole, whether it is for minors and crowd-creation spaces or the model of College of Entrepreneurship for schoolwide students, China promotes entrepreneurship education in a relatively centralized manner by relying on the School of Management. The practice of spreading entrepreneurship education to various departments is still relatively lacking. In the future, universities should continue to strengthen subject support and institutional incentives, reinforce the role of teachers of different majors in promoting entrepreneurship education and explore diverse forms of interdisciplinary entrepreneurship education.

4.3.2.2

(1)

Update the Content of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education

Focus on knowledge entrepreneurship

At different stages of the development of the university, knowledge-related activities have always been an important sign that the university is different from other types of institutions. Innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities not only needs to cultivate the consciousness and abilities needed for entrepreneurship but also needs to transform university knowledge into real productivity through entrepreneurship. There are many forms of knowledge entrepreneurship, such as technology entrepreneurship, culture or creative entrepreneurship. The economic transformation of the USA has largely benefited from the transformation of the innovation result and the rise of high-impact entrepreneurship activities since the 1980s. For example, in the past two or three decades, the number of alumni entrepreneurs in MIT has been rising, and the field of entrepreneurship has focused on emerging industries such as computer software, health/medicine, energy, biotechnology and medical equipment (Roberts et al., 2015). Stanford-related entrepreneurship enterprises have created more than 5.4 million jobs and an annual revenue of about 2.7 trillion US dollars. If these enterprises are formed into independent countries, their

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economic aggregate will rank 10th in the world (Eesely & Miller, 2012). American entrepreneurs are good at starting with the innovation of technological, product and service, breaking the inherent structure of the industry; Chinese entrepreneurs are better at finding new applications of traditional industries on network platforms and highlighting innovations in operating models. But on the whole, the knowledge content of undergraduate’s entrepreneurship projects in China is still low. Therefore, universities need to further strengthen the connection between innovation and entrepreneurship, developing innovation-driven entrepreneurship education. (2)

Emphasize social entrepreneurship education

Social entrepreneurship education pays attention to the important missions undertaken by universities in solving major social problems, emphasizes the cultivation of students’ sense of social responsibility, guides students to focus on practical problems and cultivates their ability to solve social problems with entrepreneurship thinking and action. Since entering the twenty-first century, social entrepreneurship education has developed rapidly in the USA, Britain, India and other countries. Especially in the USA, since 2005, social entrepreneurship education in universities has shown a trend of spreading from the school of business to the whole school. By 2011, there were 148 universities in the USA offering certificate programs, majors or second degrees in social entrepreneurship education (Kim & Leu, 2011). For example, Yale University’s programs of social entrepreneurship education are based on schoolwide interdisciplinary innovation centers such as Center of Engineering Innovation and Design, Center of Biomedical and Interventional Technology, Center of Business and Environment, Center of Innovational Health and Center of Clinical Research. They guide students concerned about public health, educational inequity, environmental challenges, poverty, etc. In addition, according to the National Survey of Entrepreneurship Education in the USA from 2012 to 2014 (2016), 40% of the universities participating in the survey provide specialized social entrepreneurship education courses, and degree programs cover all levels from undergraduate majors to doctoral programs. The percentages of different types of social entrepreneurship education programs are as follows: undergraduate majors (25%), undergraduate minors (23%), graduate certificate programs (6%), MBA programs (21%), master of science (8%), doctoral programs (5%). At present, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shandong University, Wenzhou University and other universities have established social entrepreneurship platforms to explore the entrepreneurship practice of public welfare. This requires drawing on international experience and combining with the real problems of China’s social development to guide students to provide economic and market-oriented solutions to social problems and cultivate students’ sense of social responsibility. (3)

Carry out global entrepreneurship

With the rise of the global entrepreneurship revolution, the global entrepreneurship market provides opportunities for SMEs. According to statistics, 31% of EU exports are created by SMEs (Morris et al., 2013: 180). As a result, entrepreneurship is

244

4 Construction of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education …

increasingly becoming a “cross-border” behavior. For example, American universities cooperate with universities or companies in Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa and other places to provide students with entrepreneurship experience projects during summer vacation which are connected or independent to the curriculum. These overseas entrepreneurship experience projects can help students understand the culture, entrepreneurship policies and entrepreneurship environment of different countries in an “immerse” way, and conduct empirical investigations in cooperation with local college students to discover problems and entrepreneurship opportunities. In China, the master project Global Entrepreneurship Management in Zhejiang University and the Tsinghua-Berkeley Global Technology Entrepreneurship Project jointly developed by Tsinghua University and the University of California at Berkeley also provide students with a cross-border learning experience. Some local universities have also launched cross-border teaching of e-commerce to help students expand the global market. However, on the whole, most universities in China have not yet paid attention to issues relating to global entrepreneurship. Students also lack a global entrepreneurship education experience, which hinders the cultivation of global entrepreneurship sense and abilities.

4.3.2.3

(1)

Improving the Way of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education

Promote learning of entrepreneurship experience

College students’ entrepreneurship activities are practical, risky and uncertain. But traditional teaching in classroom is difficult to develop students’ ability to handle unpredictable events. On the basis of the concept of the learning circle experience proposed by David Kolb, Michael H. Morris and others proposed the fourquadrant theory of “Entrepreneurship Specific Experience-Entrepreneurship Reflection and Observation-Entrepreneurship Abstraction Summary-Entrepreneurship Action Application” (Morris et al., 2013: 92–108). It emphasizes that innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities should help students build their own entrepreneurship experience through entrepreneurship lectures, case analysis, team building, role-playing and entrepreneurship simulation. At present, various links of the learning circle of innovation and entrepreneurship education experience in China’s universities are developing unevenly. It is also difficult to form an entrepreneurship education system that promotes each other and rises cyclically. Therefore, in the future, Chinese universities should clarify the concept of entrepreneurship experience learning, improve the organizational structure of entrepreneurship education, build a curriculum system of entrepreneurship education based on experience, form a sufficient teaching staff with a reasonable structure and create a campus environment suitable for entrepreneurship experience learning.

4.3 Construction of Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem …

(2)

245

Carry out lean entrepreneurship learning

In the era of the Internet and the tide of globalization, rapid changes in the market have brought more ambiguity to college students’ entrepreneurship. To address this challenge, both Steve Blank and Eric Ries proposed the idea of lean entrepreneurship. Ries pointed out that the entrepreneurship process should emphasize minimum viable products, customer feedback and rapid iteration, that is, “take out the minimum viable products as soon as possible and immediately put them into the market to communicate with users and then quickly improve based on the feedback, even abandoning most of the original assumptions” (Bu, 2015). At present, many universities, including Stanford University, University of California in Berkeley, Harvard University and New York University, have set special lean entrepreneurship courses. Meanwhile, MIT and other schools have regarded the principle of lean entrepreneurship as the core content of entrepreneurship education. Traditional entrepreneurship education programs often consider the entrepreneurship plan as the core of the curriculum system. Throughout the curriculum system, students are required to develop a detailed entrepreneurship plan and describe the company’s financial situation in the next five to ten years. Lean entrepreneurship education requires students to develop minimal viable products, go out of the classroom to test, seek the feedback of consumer and improve the strategies of entrepreneurship (Blank, 2013). By introducing lean entrepreneurship into the classroom, teachers provide students with entrepreneurship strategies that are different from traditional thinking. For Chinese universities, from the perspective of teaching or research, lean entrepreneurship is a new concept. With the increasing influence of lean entrepreneurship at the practical level, universities need to introduce the concept of lean entrepreneurship into teaching and scientific research gradually, further improving the success rate of entrepreneurship for college students. (3)

Use technical means

With the rapid development of digital technology and large-scale online open courses, governments and universities have increasingly paid attention to the introduction of technical means into entrepreneurship education projects to make up for the shortage of teachers and courses. For example, the Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Universities states: “Regions and universities should accelerate the information of high-quality courses in innovation and entrepreneurship education and launch a number of online courses, such as resource-sharing MOOCs, open video courses, etc.” On the practical level, the development of a number of MOOC websites and social media has provided students with a wide range of sources for entrepreneurship information. Teachers can also use these online course resources to carry out entrepreneurship teaching reforms and guide students to learn autonomously after class, hypothesis verification and self-reflection by introducing “flipping classrooms,” “blended learning,” etc. But it also puts forward higher requirements for teaching and autonomous learning.

246

4 Construction of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education …

4.3.3 Society: Improve Financial Channels and Build Professional Social Service Institutions Society is a strong support for innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities. Social forces not only influence the concept of innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities but also provide sufficient funds and human support for innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities. For example, to develop schoolwide entrepreneurship education programs, the Kauffman Campus Initiative of the Kauffman Foundation and the Faculty Entrepreneurship Fellows Program (FEFP) of the Coleman Foundation provide a large number of funds to support universities in expanding entrepreneurship education into different disciplines. Many entrepreneurship faculty and entrepreneurship centers in American universities are established by entrepreneurs. In addition, as part of the Entrepreneurship America Planning, the Startup America Partnership emphasizes the development of an entrepreneurship ecosystem and strengthens the relationship between entrepreneurship mentors and entrepreneurs. The program unites independent entrepreneurs, SMEs, universities, foundations and other institutions to create innovative and high-growth businesses. In recent years, Chinese enterprises and social organizations have continued to assist college students in innovative and entrepreneurship activities in the form of bases, funds, teachers and platforms, having achieved some good results. Specifically, the first is to take industry companies as the lead, build innovation and entrepreneurship bases including traditional physical incubation parks and innovative incubation platforms such as the Internet, connect with market trends closely and support entrepreneurship projects for college students. The second is to respond to national policies and provide college students with venture capital guarantee, loan, investment and follow-up guidance services. The third is to build entrepreneurship platforms for undergraduates, form medium-to-long-term cooperative relationships with universities and governments, provide undergraduates with entrepreneurship tutors, skills training, project practice and other resources to promote communication. But on the whole, the participation of social forces in innovation and entrepreneurship education is still at the exploratory stage and the collaborative system needs to be continuously improved.

4.3.3.1

Build Professional Institutions of Social Service

Relevant incubation institutions in China have grown rapidly in the short term. They are prone to centralization and homogeneity. They cannot provide specialized and segmented services for entrepreneurship projects at different stages and in different fields. According to statistics, as of 2015, there were nearly 3000 incubated technology business and more than 2300 crowd-creation spaces around the country, mainly concentrated in the southeastern coastal areas. Venue provision is the mainstream service of incubator bases in China (accounting for 81.2%), while incubators providing special services such as administration, talent, physical equipment and

4.3 Construction of Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem …

247

financial assistance account for only about one-fifth. Entrepreneurs hope that incubators can provide more professional guidance such as marketing, entrepreneurship plan guidance and human resource management. In contrast, the American entrepreneurship incubator focuses on differentiation and vertical development. According to statistics from National Busi-Incubation Association of the USA, there are 37% of incubators focused on technology and 54% of business incubators focused on different entrepreneurship areas (including art, manufacturing, agriculture, etc.) and provide segmented services. The distribution of business incubators in the USA is relatively balanced: 47% of the incubators are located in cities and 53% are in suburban and rural areas. Therefore, for different stages and fields of entrepreneurship projects, building a professional social service system that is interconnected and focused on each other can promote the incubation and growth of early stage entrepreneurship projects more specifically.

4.3.3.2

Improve Access of Social Financing

The shortage of funds is the main problem that restricts the entrepreneurship of college students in China. In 2015, the Entrepreneurship Status Report of Youth in China (2016) pointed out that 64.2% of respondents believe that lack of sufficient funds is the main difficulty in the entrepreneurship process. According to statistics of Employment Report of Chinese College Students (2015): The funding for selfemployment of undergraduates in 2014 mainly depends on parents/relative investment or loans and personal savings (80% for undergraduates and 78% for higher vocational colleges), while government funding (both undergraduates and higher vocational colleges are 2%) and the proportion of commercial venture capital (2% for undergraduates, 1% for higher vocational colleges) is small. The above facts show that, on the one hand, college students in our country lack the knowledge and skills in financing. Also, the consciousness of seeking social funds actively is weak, which leads to the failure of effective connection between social fund support and college entrepreneurship projects. On the other hand, there are many restrictions, including conditions, procedures and costs. The availability of social financing is low. Therefore, while the society provides diversified funding support, it is necessary to lower the threshold of social financing for college students, simplify procedures, improve the system, strengthen propaganda and education and help entrepreneurs choose financing channels actively.

4.3.3.3

Improve Social Cooperation Mechanisms

China’s social forces cooperate with universities to promote innovation and entrepreneurship education in a single mode, mostly in the form of capital injection, entrepreneurship forums, etc. Only a few can provide a comprehensive support system. The complexity of entrepreneurship education and the marketability of entrepreneurship activities determine that universities have a strong willingness to

248

4 Construction of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education …

cooperate with enterprises. However, due to the small expected profit and slow effect of cooperation of entrepreneurship education between enterprises and universities, the willingness of enterprises to cooperate is weak (Xu, 2015). To improve the coordination mechanism of social participation, we should start with the needs of the school and the enterprise, implementation model, evaluation system and guarantee incentives, strengthen the internal motivation of the enterprise to seek the cooperation with university and explore the docking model of college students’ entrepreneurship projects and social support.

References Acs, Z. J., Braunerhjelm, P., & Carlsson, A. B. (2008). The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 32(1), 15–30. Alvedalen, J., & Boschma, R. (2017). A critical review of entrepreneurial ecosystems research: Towards a future research agenda. European Planning Studies, 25(6), 887–903. Bijaoui, I. (2017). SMEs in an Era of Globalization: International Business and Market Strategies. Springer Nature. Blank, S. (2013). Why the lean start-up changes everything. Harvard Business Review, 5, 3–9. Brush, C. G. (2014). Exploring the concept of an entrepreneurship education ecosystem. In S. Hoskinson & D. F. Kuratko (Eds.), Innovative Pathways for University Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century (pp. 25–39). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Bu, F. (2015). Can innovation and entrepreneurship be a science? The lean startup: How today’s entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses. Peking University Business Review, 2, 118–123. Chen, L.Y. (2015). Startup schools: America’s most entrepreneurial universities 2015. https:// www.forbes.com/sites/liyanchen/2015/07/29/americas-mostentrepreneurial-research-universit ies-2015/#36230c043823 Employment report of Chinese college students: Rising proportion of self-employment in 2015. (2015). http://edu.ce.cn/xw/201507/23/t20150723265219-1.shtml Eesley, C. E., & Miller, W. F. (2012). Impact: Stanford University’s Economic Impact via Innovation and entrepreneurship. Stanford, CA: Stanford University. Fetters, M. L., Greene, P. G., Rice, M. P., & Butler, J. S. (Eds.). (2010). The development of university-based entrepreneurship ecosystems: Global practices. Edward Elgar Publishing. GEM. (2015). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2014 global: Report. https://www.gemconsortium. org/report/gem-2014-global-report He, B., & Yin, L. (2015). How to define the emerging construction of the college of entrepreneurship in Guangdong Universities? http://news.southcn.com/g/2015-06/12/content126236314.htm Isenberg, D. (2011). The entrepreneurship ecosystem strategy as a new paradigm for economic policy: Principles for cultivating entrepreneurship. The Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project, 5, 7. Katzj, A., Roberts, J., Strom, R., & Freilich, A. (2014). Perspectives on the development of cross campus entrepreneurship education. DE URUYTER, 4(1), 13–44. Kelley, D., Singer, S., & Herrington, K. (2016). Global entrepreneurship monitor 2015/16 global report. https://www.gemconsortium.org/file/open?fileId=49480 Kim, M., & Leu, J. (2011). The field of social entrepreneurship education: From the second wave of growth to a third wave of innovation. In U. Ashoka & D. D. Brook (Eds.), Social Entrepreneurship Education Resource Handbook (5th ed., pp. 4–5). Ashoka U. Barbera Corporate Law, P. C. (2014). 31 angel investor groups in California. https://www.barber acorporatelaw.com/blog/2014/4/2/30-angel-invester-groups-in-california

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Chapter 5

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

Empirical study is an important aspect of and direction for entrepreneurship education research. This study, based on theoretical and prior empirical studies, focuses on three themes: current entrepreneurship education, its intrinsic and extrinsic determinants, and efficiency of entrepreneurial courses. In order to learn about the status quo, we examined and compared entrepreneurship education in Chinese Mainland, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong by using questionnaires. We analyzed their general situations and features, hoping to give advice and statistic support on creating a better climate of college entrepreneurship education as well as more efficient educational methods and content. The study of its determinants mainly focused on the impact of individual regulatory focus and of environmental information on decision-making of college entrepreneurs, justifying that educators should pay attention to individual differences and course design. As for entrepreneurial courses, a case study was conducted: the undergraduate compulsory MOOC course, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, at Zhejiang University, where its design and efficiency were evaluated.

5.1 Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei 5.1.1 Questions Raised Entrepreneurship education in Chinese Mainland (referred to as CM hereafter) has entered the key period of transition from quantity- to quality-centered enhancement. It should meet social and economic needs, learn from overseas practice, and focus on quality-based development. As for Chinese Taipei (referred to as CT hereafter), apart from its supportive policy for college entrepreneurs, its universities have © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 X. Xu, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 60, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3724-7_5

251

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5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

been working to optimize entrepreneurship course structure, teaching methods, and faculty structure. Hong Kong (HK) has come up with a unique idea and a model of entrepreneurship education based on its special economic and social development. The three places now face a new historical mission. They must overcome difficulties, embrace challenges as opportunities, advance entrepreneurship education reform and boost its development. The fruitful studies of entrepreneurship education in CM, CT and HK over the past few years have provided a good theoretical foundation for practice and further explorations. However, there is a blank for comparative research, let alone the empirical study. This study, a comparative analysis of college students’ satisfaction with entrepreneurship policy and climate, of student entrepreneurial quality, and of college entrepreneurship educational content, aims to offer suggestions on improving the overall climate for entrepreneurs as well as college entrepreneurship education.

5.1.2 Methodology 5.1.2.1

Participants

The questionnaire was distributed in both web-based and paper forms to 800 students in six universities in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei (including masters and PhD students). Of the recycled questionnaires, 641 were valid: 255 from CM (166 males, 139 females), 147 from HK (49 males, 98 females) and 239 from CT (106 males, 133 females).

5.1.2.2

Tools

The entrepreneurship education questionnaire was created on the basis of measurement tools such as Entrepreneurial Intentions Scale created by Krueger et al. (2000) and College Student Entrepreneurial Competence Scale by Ma En, et al. (as cited in Xu, 2017). The questionnaire consisted of two sections: open-ended and closed-ended. In the open-ended section were multiple-choice questions and true/false questions. This section covered three aspects: intended career fields, entrepreneurship education background (referred to as EE background hereafter) and entrepreneurship education needs (referred to as EE needs hereafter). The intended career fields question provided five choices: economics, politics, science and technology, education and culture. The three EE background questions enquired whether the person attended any relevant lecture or credit-bearing course of entrepreneurship education or had any entrepreneurial skills training experience. The EE needs part asked about students’ needs in entrepreneurship education in terms of the leading role, educational content and teachers.

5.1 Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education in Chinese Mainland …

253

In the closed-ended section were three sub-questionnaires: entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial quality and student satisfaction with entrepreneurship education. The Entrepreneurial Intention Sub-Questionnaire, with two questions, tested those who wanted to start their own business about their intended career goal and what preparations they already made. The sub-questionnaire had an internal consistency of 0.821. A five-point rating scale was used. The Entrepreneurial Quality Sub-Questionnaire, with a total of 30 questions, covered five dimensions: entrepreneurial knowledge, decision-making, communication skills, management skills and entrepreneurial spirit. Factor analysis showed that the sub-questionnaire had good construct validity: It had a clear structure with a cumulative variance of 62.767%; each item was highly loaded on a corresponding factor. The respective internal consistency of each dimension and the sub-questionnaire was 0.941, 0.881, 0.797, 0.791, 0.851 and 0.947. A five-point rating scale was used. The Student Satisfaction with Entrepreneurship Education Sub-Questionnaire, with a total of 20 questions, covered five dimensions: satisfaction with its policy, environment, course structure, faculty and outcome. Factor analysis showed that the sub-questionnaire had good construct validity: It had a clear structure with a cumulative variance of 63.208%; each item was highly loaded on a corresponding factor. The respective internal consistency of each dimension and the sub-questionnaire was 0.964, 0.977, 0.924, 0.886, 0.928 and 0.963. A five-point rating scale was used.

5.1.2.3

Data Processing

Data was processed by SPSS 21.0 software.

5.1.3 Results Analysis 5.1.3.1

Entrepreneurial Intention and Intended Career Fields of the CM, CT, and HK Student Group

The entrepreneurial intention survey entailed two aspects: whether the participants set entrepreneur as their career goal, and whether they were preparing for it (see Table 5.1). As the data showed, no significant difference was found among the three regional groups (CM, CT and HK) in terms of aiming to be an entrepreneur: The students in general had weak entrepreneurial desire, as each group score was below the median. An outstanding between-group difference was demonstrated in terms of preparations (F = 14.542, p < 0.001). A later analysis of ours showed that the HK group had by far the strongest entrepreneurial intention among the three; the CT group had much stronger entrepreneurial intention than the CM group. The scores matched the reality, as all the participants were students from comprehensive universities with a variety of choices about the future.

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5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

Table 5.1 Comparison: entrepreneurial intention of the CM, HK and CT student group Intention

Regions CM (N = 255) HK (N = 1470)

CT (N = 239)

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

Aiming to be an entrepreneur

2.56

0.974

2.71

0.974

2.73

1.037

Making relevant preparations

1.96

0.843

2.48

0.975

2.20

1.035

F

2.128 14.542***

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **stands for P < 0.01, ***stands for P < 0.001 CM Chinese Mainland; HK Hong Kong; CT Chinese Taipei

A frequency analysis was conducted of the sample’s intended entrepreneurial career fields: economics, politics, science and technology, education and culture (see Table 5.2). A common tendency as well as difference in the intended fields could be concluded. The common tendency was that the three regional groups were all highly attracted to education and culture while least attracted to politics. The difference was that the CM student group also showed a high interest in science and technology (47.5%) and economics (37.8%). The comparison of the data was also done on the three regions within each field by a chi-square test. Remarkable between-group differences were found in student attitudes toward economics, science and technology, and education: the CM group showed a much higher tendency in starting a business in science and technology and economics than the HK and CT groups (χ 2 = 38.317, p < 0.001; χ 2 = 9.454, p < 0.01); in turn, the HK and CT groups showed much stronger entrepreneurial intention in education than the CM group (χ 2 = 15.451, p < 0.001). There was no remarkable between-group difference in culture and politics (p > 0.05). Table 5.2 Preference analysis: intended entrepreneurial career fields of the CM, HK and CT student groups Regions

Economics

Politics

Science and technology

Education

Culture

CM

90 (37.8%)

26 (10.9%)

113 (47.5%)

109 (45.8%)

111 (46.6%)

HK

35 (23.8%)

17 (11.6%)

41 (27.9%)

92 (62.6%)

63(42.9%)

CT

58 (27.8%)

13 (6.2%)

45 (21.5%)

111 (53.1%)

116 (55.5%)

χ2

9.454**

6.964

38.317***

15.451***

1.686

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **stands for P < 0.01, ***stands for P < 0.001 CM Chinese Mainland; HK Hong Kong; CT Chinese Taipei

5.1 Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education in Chinese Mainland …

255

Table 5.3 Analysis: EE background of the CM, HK and CT student group Background

Regions CM

HK

CT

χ2

Credit-bearing EE course study

93 (36.5%)

49 (33.3%)

33 (13.8%)

35.423***

Entrepreneurial skills training experiences

63 (24.7%)

46 (31.3%)

46 (19.2%)

7.267*

Lecture experiences on entrepreneurship knowledge

102 (40%)

70 (47.6%)

75 (31.4%)

10.517**

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **stands for P < 0.01, ***stands for P < 0.001 CM Chinese Mainland; HK Hong Kong; CT Chinese Taipei; EE entrepreneurship education

5.1.3.2

Entrepreneurship Education Background of the CM, CT and HK Student Groups

A frequency analysis of the sample’s entrepreneurship education background reveals significant between-group differences in the student experiences of relevant lectures, credit-bearing courses and entrepreneurial skills training (see Table 5.3). As the table shows, in terms of entrepreneurship education course study, the CM group has by far the highest percentage, and the HK group has a much higher percentage than the CT group. What the three regional groups have in common is the highest percentage of attending lectures on entrepreneurship knowledge among the three forms of education.

5.1.3.3

Entrepreneurship Education Needs of the CM, HK and CT Student Groups

See Table 5.4 for the analysis of student needs for the leading role, the educational content, and the teachers of entrepreneurship education in CM, HK and CT. According to the results, the three regional groups agreed on the answer to whom should be the leading role of entrepreneurship education regarding options universities, entrepreneurship parks and parents: primary responsibility of universities, medium responsibility of entrepreneurship parks and minor responsibility of parents. However, opinion varied in terms of the rest three options government, corporations and students: the CT group put more emphasis on the responsibility of government and corporations than the CM and HK group; the CM and CT group valued student responsibility more than the HK group. In terms of the educational content needs, there was no significant between-group difference in entrepreneurial spirit, entrepreneurial knowledge and planning: The shared order was entrepreneurial knowledge > planning > entrepreneurial spirit. However, differences existed in student needs for learning team building skills and business models: the CM group expressed by far the highest demand for learning

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5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

Table 5.4 Preference analysis: EE needs of the CM, HK and CT student group Needs Leading role

Educational content

EE teachers

Regions χ2

CM

HK

CT

Government

109 (42.7%)

61 (41.5%)

127 (53.1%)

Universities

189 (74.1%)

93 (63.3%)

179 (74.9%)

Corporations

107 (42.0%)

70 (47.6%)

148 (61.9%)

Entrepreneurship parks

118 (46.3%)

67 (45.6%)

96 (40.2%)

2.104

Parents

29 (11.4%)

18 (12.2%)

44 (18.4%)

5.612

Students

118 (46.3%)

39 (26.5%)

126 (52.7%)

Entrepreneurial spirit

84 (33.2%)

51 (34.7%)

72 (30.4%)

0.950

Entrepreneurial knowledge

137 (54.2%)

82 (55.8%)

137 (57.8%)

3.538

Team building skills

182 (71.9%)

74 (50.3%)

114 (48.1%)

32.593***

Business models

159 (62.8%)

107 (72.8%)

118 (49.8%)

21.835***

7.154* 8.818 20.397***

26.092***

Planning

125 (49.4%)

65 (44.2%)

100 (42.2%)

2.647

Professors

45 (17.8%)

25 (17.0%)

57 (24.9%)

3.933

Enterprisers

214 (84.6%)

128 (87.1%)

193 (84.3%)

2.785

EE specialized teachers

135 (53.4%)

74 (50.3%)

157 (68.6%)

11.743**

Parents

14 (5.5%)

17 (11.6%)

26 (11.4%)

6.103*

Others

12 (4.7%)

14 (9.5%)

21 (9.2%)

4.372

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **stands for P < 0.01, ***stands for P < 0.001 CM Chinese Mainland; HK Hong Kong; CT Chinese Taipei; EE entrepreneurship education

team building skills among the three student groups; for learning business models, the CM and HK groups had a much higher demand than the CT group. In terms of student needs for EE teachers, no outstanding difference was found among the three groups: the three regional groups all mostly regarded enterprisers to be the suitable EE teachers, then specialized teachers, professors and parents. After a further chi-square test, it was discovered that the CT group was more inclined than the CM and HK groups to approve of specialized teachers (χ 2 = 11.743, p < 0.01) and parents (χ 2 = 6.103, p < 0.05) as EE teachers; the concept of parents in the role of EE teachers was least approved of by the MC group among the three regional groups. There was no remarkable between-group difference in student needs for treating professors and enterprisers as EE teachers (p > 0.05).

5.1 Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education in Chinese Mainland …

5.1.3.4

257

Entrepreneurial Quality of the CM, HK and CT Student Groups

After comparing the entrepreneurial quality of the three regional groups, little between-group difference was found in entrepreneurial spirit, but there were outstanding differences in entrepreneurial knowledge, decision-making, communication skills, and management skills (see Table 5.5). A further data analysis showed that the HK group in general received a much higher score on entrepreneurial knowledge, decision-making, communication skills and management skills than the CM and CT groups; the CT group in general received a much higher score on entrepreneurial knowledge and decision-making than the CM group, a similar score on communication skills with the HK group, and a similar score on management skills with the CM group. A difference analysis of the five dimensions of entrepreneurial quality within each region showed that the CM group generally received a higher score on entrepreneurial spirit, communication skills, and management skills than on entrepreneurial knowledge and decision-making, while the HK and CT groups received a lower score on entrepreneurial knowledge than on the rest four items. Table 5.5 Comparison: entrepreneurial quality of the CM, HK and CT student group Entrepreneurial quality

Regions CM (N = 255)

HK (N = 147)

CT (N = 239)

M

M

M

SD

SD

F

SD

Entrepreneurial knowledge

2.400

0.689

2.826

0.782

2.541

0.798

14.975***

Entrepreneurial decision-making

2.977

0.688

3.339

0.751

3.170

0.725

12.475***

Entrepreneurial communication skills

3.242

0.682

3.442

0.681

3.396

0.665

5.143**

Entrepreneurial management skills

3.258

0.716

3.615

0.710

3.303

0.715

12.819***

Entrepreneurial spirit

3.248

0.757

3.363

0.735

3.228

0.765

F

64.509***

23.737***

50.483***

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **stands for P < 0.01, ***stands for P < 0.001 CM Chinese Mainland; HK Hong Kong; CT Chinese Taipei

2.801

258

5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

Table 5.6 Comparison: student satisfaction with entrepreneurship education in CM, HK and CT Satisfaction with

Regions CM (N = 255)

HK (N = 147)

CT (N = 239)

M

M

SD

M

SD

F

SD

Policy

3.219

0.643

3.033

0.703

2.642

0.663

49.563***

Environment

3.278

0.679

3.097

0.808

2.546

0.760

59.682***

Course structure

2.744

0.821

3.321

0.751

3.147

0.438

15.691***

Faculty

3.005

0.885

3.435

0.735

3.345

0.682

7.431*

Outcome

2.693

0.909

3.337

0.732

3.198

0.628

16.933***

F

17.566***

4.401**

32.014***

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **stands for P < 0.01, ***stands for P < 0.001 CM Chinese Mainland; HK Hong Kong; CT Chinese Taipei

5.1.3.5

Student Satisfaction with Entrepreneurship Education in CM, HK and CT

A one-way analysis of variation (ANOVA) test was carried out. As a result, remarkable between-group differences were found in student satisfaction with entrepreneurship education in terms of its policy, environment, course structure, faculty and outcome (see Table 5.6). A later analysis showed that, among the three regional group scores on policy and environment, the CM group score was notably the highest, and the HK much higher than the CT group; among the three regional group scores on course structure, faculty and outcome, the HK and CT scores were similar, both higher than the CM. This result indicated that there was much to be done to promote entrepreneurship education in Chinese Mainland in terms of its course structure, faculty and outcome. The result also reflected the high expectations of students in Chinese Mainland toward entrepreneurship education in today’s climate of “popular entrepreneurship”. The ANOVA test of student satisfaction within each region discovered that the CM group was more satisfied with entrepreneurship education in terms of its policy, environment and faculty than with its course structure and outcome, while the HK and CT groups were more satisfied with its course structure, faculty and outcome than with its policy and environment.

5.1.3.6

A Demographic Analysis: Entrepreneurial Intention, Entrepreneurial Quality, and Satisfaction with Entrepreneurship Education of the CM, HK, CT Student Groups

A comparative analysis was conducted of gender-related features, parental entrepreneurial background and personal entrepreneurial experiences in terms of

5.1 Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education in Chinese Mainland …

259

entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial quality and satisfaction with entrepreneurship education of the CM, HK and CT student groups (see Tables 5.7, 5.8 and 5.9 for results). (1)

Gender-Related Features.

In terms of entrepreneurial intention, there was no considerable difference among either the three male groups or the three female groups. The HK group received by far the highest score on relevant preparations among the three regional groups for both genders. The fact that males received a higher score than females on aiming to be an entrepreneur and making relevant preparations within each regional group showed that, in general, males possessed stronger entrepreneurial intention than females. In terms of entrepreneurial quality, the HK male group hit the highest score on every dimension, while the HK female group hit the highest score on three out of five dimensions: entrepreneurial knowledge, decision-making and management skills. No significant difference was found among either the three male groups or the three female groups in entrepreneurial spirit scores. Similarly, no significant difference was found among the three female groups in entrepreneurial communication skills scores. In terms of students’ satisfaction with entrepreneurship education, the highest score among both genders on strategy and environment both came from the CM group, while the lowest score among males on course structure, faculty and outcome and among females on course structure and outcome also come from the CM group. No remarkable difference was found among the three female groups in faculty scores. (2)

Entrepreneurial Family Background.

There was no outstanding between-group difference in the scores on entrepreneurial intention of the participants with an entrepreneurial family background. However, in terms of relevant preparations of the participants without an entrepreneurial family background, a significant between-group difference was that the HK group score is much higher than the CM and CT groups’ score. In terms of entrepreneurial quality, the participants with an entrepreneurial family background showed little difference in the scores on communication skills and entrepreneurial spirit; a significant difference was that the HK group, among the three regional groups, hit the highest scores on entrepreneurial knowledge, decisionmaking and management skills. As for the participants without an entrepreneurial family background, the remarkable between-group difference was that the HK group had a much higher score than the CM and CT groups on every dimension of the entrepreneurial quality. This result reflected the entrepreneurship-friendly environment in Hong Kong, as students without an entrepreneurial family background there still hit higher scores on entrepreneurial quality than those in Chinese Mainland and Chinese Taipei. In terms of satisfaction with entrepreneurship education, the participants in the three places, regardless of having an entrepreneurial family background or not, all reported remarkably different levels of satisfaction on every dimension.

Gender CT

2.624

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **stands for P < 0.01, ***stands for P < 0.001 CM Chinese Mainland; HK Hong Kong; CT Chinese Taipei

7.128***

2.567

2.643 ± 0.120 3.359 ± 0.138 3.252 ± 0.122 10.428*** 2.737 ± 0.110 3.324 ± 0.104 3.121 ± 0.145

Outcome

3.035 ± 0.111 3.409 ± 0.106 3.267 ± 0.146

2.970 ± 0.121 3.477 ± 0.139 3.400 ± 0.124

Faculty

4.194* 5.912**

2.633 ± 0.109 3.442 ± 0.127 3.167 ± 0.110 14.810*** 2.837 ± 0.100 3.255 ± 0.094 3.118 ± 0.131

3.319 ± 0.069 3.184 ± 0.106 2.452 ± 0.072 34.964*** 3.239 ± 0.063 3.010 ± 0.075 2.639 ± 0.064 25.563***

3.293 ± 0.061 3.045 ± 0.094 2.548 ± 0.065 34.701*** 3.145 ± 0.056 3.022 ± 0.067 2.737 ± 0.057 17.057***

3.067 ± 0.064 3.298 ± 0.076 3.179 ± 0.065

3.246 ± 0.070 3.497 ± 0.108 3.289 ± 0.073

Entrepreneurial spirit

2.068

5.736**

3.338 ± 0.066 3.862 ± 0.101 3.257 ± 0.069 11.841*** 3.189 ± 0.060 3.492 ± 0.072 3.340 ± 0.062

Management skills

2.054

3.231 ± 0.063 3.580 ± 0.096 3.381 ± 0.066

Communication skills

4.493*

3.252 ± 0.057 3.373 ± 0.068 3.408 ± 0.059

9.370***

2.394 ± 0.069 2.985 ± 0.106 2.777 ± 0.072 12.788*** 2.404 ± 0.063 2.746 ± 0.075 2.353 ± 0.064

3.695*

9.823***

1.556

F

Decision-making 2.978 ± 0.066 3.566 ± 0.102 3.221 ± 0.069 12.236*** 2.975 ± 0.061 3.226 ± 0.072 3.129 ± 0.062

Entrepreneurial knowledge

HK

2.504 ± 0.084 2.724 ± 0.101 2.598 ± 0.087

CM

Female (M ± SD)

1.878 ± 0.080 2.378 ± 0.095 2.045 ± 0.082

7.155**

2.052 ± 0.087 2.694 ± 0.134 2.387 ± 0.091

Making relevant preparations

CT 2.003

HK

F

2.621 ± 0.092 2.673 ± 0.142 2.896 ± 0.097

CM

Male (M ± SD)

Aiming to be an entrepreneur

Satisfaction with Policy entrepreneurship Environment education Course structure

Entrepreneurial quality

Entrepreneurial intention

Variables

Table 5.7 Comparison: gender-related difference in entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial quality, and satisfaction with entrepreneurship education of the CM, HK and CT student groups

260 5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

Family background

3.642* 1.652 3.650* 0.553

Decision-making 3.105 ± 0.112 3.615 ± 0.149 3.216 ± 0.125

3.268 ± 0.106 3.583 ± 0.141 3.321 ± 0.118

3.256 ± 0.112 3.772 ± 0.149 3.341 ± 0.125

3.325 ± 0.118 3.449 ± 0.158 3.227 ± 0.132

Communication skills

Management skills

Entrepreneurial spirit

HK

CT 2.266

F

3.115 ± 0.052 3.348 ± 0.068 3.228 ± 0.053

3.257 ± 0.049 3.587 ± 0.064 3.299 ± 0.050

3.237 ± 0.046 3.416 ± 0.061 3.409 ± 0.047

2.952 ± 0.049 3.228 ± 0.064 3.160 ± 0.050

2.371 ± 0.051 2.744 ± 0.067 2.505 ± 0.052

3.877*

9.286***

4.311*

9.659***

9.616***

1.935 ± 0.065 2.476 ± 0.085 2.137 ± 0.066 13.708***

2.519 ± 0.068 2.677 ± 0.090 2.711 ± 0.070

CM

Do not have entrepreneurial parent(s) (M ± SD)

4.210*

3.100 ± 0.175 3.735 ± 0.195 3.192 ± 0.217

2.858 ± 0.174 3.500 ± 0.195 3.205 ± 0.216

Faculty

Outcome

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **stands for P < 0.01, ***stands for P < 0.001 CM Chinese Mainland; HK Hong Kong; CT Chinese Taipei

2.979 ± 0.092 3.366 ± 0.093 3.382 ± 0.105 3.571*

2.648 ± 0.092 3.301 ± 0.092 3.199 ± 0.104 13.428***

5.701**

2.738 ± 0.084 3.290 ± 0.084 3.158 ± 0.095 11.658*** 4.199*

2.764 ± 0.159 3.464 ± 0.178 3.099 ± 0.197

3.390 ± 0.115 3.261 ± 0.154 2.303 ± 0.129 20.304*** 3.254 ± 0.051 3.032 ± 0.066 2.601 ± 0.052 41.977***

3.244 ± 0.104 3.348 ± 0.139 2.515 ± 0.116 10.664*** 3.207 ± 0.046 3.129 ± 0.060 2.675 ± 0.047 39.470***

7.732**

2.549 ± 0.117 3.266 ± 0.156 2.765 ± 0.130

Knowledge

2.078

2.073 ± 0.148 2.522 ± 0.197 2.545 ± 0.165

Making relevant preparations

CT 0.076

HK

F

2.756 ± 0.156 2.870 ± 0.208 2.818 ± 0.174

CM

Have entrepreneurial parent(s) (M ± SD)

Aiming to be an entrepreneur

Satisfaction with Policy entrepreneurship Environment education Course structure

Entrepreneurial Quality

Entrepreneurial Intention

Variables

Table 5.8 Comparison: entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial quality, and satisfaction with entrepreneurship education of the CM, HK and CT student groups with/without an entrepreneurial family background

5.1 Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education in Chinese Mainland … 261

6.955**

2.946 ± 0.046 3.210 ± 0.066 3.148 ± 0.048 3.230 ± 0.044 3.379 ± 0.063 3.372 ± 0.046 3.259 ± 0.047 3.586 ± 0.068 3.289 ± 0.049 3.112 ± 0.049 3.245 ± 0.071 3.208 ± 0.051

3.205 ± 0.043 3.142 ± 0.062 2.653 ± 0.045 46.016***

3.390 ± 0.151 3.653 ± 0.116 3.960 ± 0.301 2.178

3.239 ± 0.161 3.713 ± 0.123 3.700 ± 0.321 2.521

3.575 ± 0.167 3.760 ± 0.128 3.700 ± 0.335 0.368

3.300 ± 0.147 3.235 ± 0.113 2.600 ± 0.294 1.610

Communication skills

Management skills

Entrepreneurial spirit

Satisfaction with Policy entrepreneurship Environment education Course structure

1.540

8.842***

2.595 ± 0.085 3.251 ± 0.096 3.136 ± 0.099 14.620***

3.424 ± 0.231 3.553 ± 0.153 3.667 ± 0.541 0.211

Outcome

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **stands for P < 0.01, ***stands for P < 0.001 CM Chinese Mainland; HK Hong Kong; CT Chinese Taipei

2.929 ± 0.086 3.319 ± 0.099 3.297 ± 0.101

3.568 ± 0.234 3.720 ± 0.155 4.000 ± 0.548 0.340

Faculty

5.739**

2.677 ± 0.079 3.253 ± 0.090 3.114 ± 0.091 12.868***

3.234 ± 0.213 3.491 ± 0.141 3.286 ± 0.500 0.608

3.600 ± 0.163 3.265 ± 0.125 2.400 ± 0.326 5.057* 3.248 ± 0.048 3.009 ± 0.069 2.542 ± 0.050 54.163***

Decision-making 3.336 ± 0.158 3.769 ± 0.121 3.829 ± 0.316

3.095*

6.842**

Entrepreneurial quality

knowledge 3.592*

2.285

2.681 ± 0.166 3.279 ± 0.127 3.000 ± 0.332 4.606* 2.376 ± 0.049 2.689 ± 0.070 2.508 ± 0.050

CT

8.413***

HK

1.911 ± 0.060 2.301 ± 0.086 2.152 ± 0.062

Entrepreneurial intention

2.500 ± 0.205 3.088 ± 0.158 3.200 ± 0.411 1.824

CM

F

Making relevant preparations

CT

Have no entrepreneurial experience (M ± SD) 2.519 ± 0.064 2.540 ± 0.093 2.705 ± 0.067

HK

F

3.000 ± 0.220 3.265 ± 0.169 3.400 ± 0.440 0.481

CM

Have entrepreneurial experience (M ± SD)

Experience

Aiming to be an entrepreneur

Variables

Table 5.9 Comparison: entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial quality and satisfaction with entrepreneurship education of the CM, HK and CT student groups with/without personal entrepreneurial experience

262 5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

5.1 Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education in Chinese Mainland …

263

A further comparative analysis of the sample’s family background discovered that it applied to every investigated region that those who had an entrepreneurial family background all achieved a higher score than those who did not have on entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial quality and satisfaction with entrepreneurship education. Therefore, having an entrepreneurial family background had an important impact on student entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial quality and satisfaction with entrepreneurship education. (3)

Personal Entrepreneurial Experience.

In terms of entrepreneurial intentions, among participants who had no entrepreneurial experience, the HK group had a remarkably higher score than the CM and CT groups had on relevant preparations. In terms of entrepreneurial quality, among the participants with entrepreneurial experience, both the HK and CT groups had a higher score than the CM group on entrepreneurial knowledge and decision-making. Among the participants without any entrepreneurial experience, the highest score on every dimension of entrepreneurial quality all came from the HK group. In terms of satisfaction with entrepreneurship education, there was a notable between-group difference among participants who had entrepreneurial experience: The CM group score was considerably higher than the HK and CT groups’ scores on the entrepreneurial environment. However, for those without any entrepreneurial experiences, significant between-group differences were discovered on every dimension of satisfaction with entrepreneurship education: Compared to the HK and CT groups, the CM group was much more satisfied with policy and environment while much less satisfied with course structure, faculty and outcome. A further comparative analysis revealed that, within each regional group, participants with some entrepreneurial experience received a higher score than those without. This result indicated that personal entrepreneurial experience had an important impact on students’ entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial quality and satisfaction with entrepreneurship education.

5.1.4 Conclusions and Suggestions 5.1.4.1

Conclusions

Based on the data, a few conclusions can be made as follows: (1)

(2)

Students in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei do not have strong entrepreneurial intention. Students in Hong Kong have stronger intention to prepare than those in Chinese Mainland and Chinese Taipei. Male students have stronger entrepreneurial intention than female students. Students in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei show the highest tendency toward entrepreneurship career choices in education or culture, and

264

(3)

(4)

(5) (6)

(7)

5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

lowest in politics. Regarding career choices in economics and science and technology, students in Chinese Mainland show a much stronger interest than those in Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei. A large percentage of students in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei have attended lectures on entrepreneurship knowledge, and a smaller percentage has received entrepreneurial skills training. Regarding creditbearing courses on entrepreneurship, Chinese Mainland education shows a certain advantage over Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei education. Students in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei emphasize the primary responsibility of universities and the auxiliary responsibility of entrepreneurial parks for entrepreneurship education. The responsibility of the government and corporations is emphasized more by students in Chinese Taipei than the other two places; student responsibility is emphasized more by students in Chinese Taipei and Chinese Mainland. The common needs of students in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei are to learn: entrepreneurial knowledge > planning > entrepreneurial spirit. Students in Chinese Mainland are more eager to learn teambuilding skills compared to those in Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei. Students in Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong express stronger needs for business models learning than those in Chinese Taipei. With regard to entrepreneurship education teachers, enterprisers are most desired by students in the three places, followed next by specialized teachers, then professors, and then parents with professional expertise. Students in Hong Kong have considerably better entrepreneurial quality than students in Chinese Mainland and Chinese Taipei. Students in Chinese Mainland are fairly satisfied with entrepreneurship education policy and environment, and less satisfied with its course structure, faculty, and outcome. Students with an entrepreneurial family background show stronger entrepreneurial intention, better entrepreneurial quality and higher satisfaction with entrepreneurship education than those with a non-entrepreneurial family background. Students with entrepreneurial experiences show stronger entrepreneurial intention, better entrepreneurial quality and higher satisfaction with entrepreneurship education than those without any entrepreneurial experience.

5.1.4.2

Suggestions

To promote entrepreneurship education, the study results suggest that we must have the foresight to implement reforms in the following fields. (1)

Improve the social and policy environment for innovation and entrepreneurship to ensure sustainable development of entrepreneurship education.

5.1 Analysis of Entrepreneurship Education in Chinese Mainland …

265

Sustainable development of entrepreneurship education depends on a good social and policy environment. Governments at all levels in Chinese Mainland have taken a series of measures to improve the social environment and support innovation and entrepreneurship. The study results show that students in Chinese Mainland are fairly satisfied with the entrepreneurship education policy and environment. However, there are still a number of problems: Efforts need to be made in improving the innovation and entrepreneurship policy outcome, in establishing platforms that provide desired services for entrepreneurs, in encouraging entrepreneurs to fulfill their roles, and so on. Therefore, stakeholders should work together to modify development strategies, such as to implement and publicize innovation and entrepreneurship policies, to rectify and optimize innovation and entrepreneurship platforms, to attract and support innovative and entrepreneurial personnel, and so on. (2)

Optimize mechanisms for cultivating entrepreneurial skills to provide highquality entrepreneurship education.

The institutional mechanisms for entrepreneurship education serve the basis of highcaliber personnel training. As the study results suggest, student satisfaction level with the EE course structure, EE faculty and EE outcome in Chinese Mainland is moderately low. Indeed, universities in Chinese Mainland have encountered some problems in terms of training objectives, faculty structure, course structure, pedagogy, etc., related to entrepreneurship education. Therefore, the institutional mechanisms for entrepreneurship education require prompt optimization to meet the needs of economic and social development and of personnel cultivation. College entrepreneurship education should put great effort in: transforming students into high-caliber personnel by enhancing core innovative and entrepreneurial capacity; building a classified, diverse, collaborative EE faculty based on the faculty needs; creating an EE course system based on the student needs, which is professional, project-based and for general purposes; stepping up efforts to advance reforms of pedagogy that is oriented, practical and skill-building based on the reform needs. (3)

Establish exchange mechanisms for entrepreneurship education to foster the integrated economic and social development in Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei.

Entrepreneurship education is the cornerstone of integrating economic and social development in the three places and of building a community with a shared future. Training high-caliber entrepreneurial personnel is not only the common goal of the three places, but also the core competitiveness in achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. As the study results show, college entrepreneurship education in each of the three places has its own characteristics. At present, however, problems exist such as poor communication channels, lack of close cooperation and so on. To solve these problems, we should enhance the coordinated development of entrepreneurship education, which would not only be beneficial to training entrepreneurial personnel but also important for the Chinese nation to build a sense of cultural identity. Therefore, Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei

266

5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

should focus on cultivating high-caliber entrepreneurial personnel through joint training programs, joint entrepreneurial parks and student interaction, so as to pool and share entrepreneurship education resources and to promote sustainable economic and social development.

5.2 Analyzing Determinants of College Student Decisions of Entrepreneurship or Employment 5.2.1 Questions Raised In the context of economic transformation and upgrading, the opinion that entrepreneurship drives national economic growth and social development is increasingly recognized by society. A growing number of college students who are influenced by social background today possess strong entrepreneurial intention. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s China Report 2016 (Wang et al., 2017), China’s entrepreneurial activity index (15.53) exceeded that of developed countries such as the USA (13.81), the UK (10.66), Germany (5.27) and Japan (3.83). A total of 70.29% of the Chinese interviewees regarded entrepreneurship as a good career choice and the youth as the leading role of entrepreneurship activities in China (Entrepreneurship Research Center on G20 Economies, 2018). Chinese College Graduates’ Employment Report 2017 also showed that the number of Chinese graduates who started business right after graduation nearly doubled from 1.6% in 2011 to 3.0% in 2017. The year 2017 saw 7.95 million new graduates and over 200,000 student entrepreneurs in China. However, the average success rate was only 5% (MyCOS Research Institute, 2017). There are many factors that influence the success rate. Apart from factors such as policy, funds and experience, the ability to identify risks as well as good decision-making skills are two essential factors for successful entrepreneurship. Overseas researchers found that new entrepreneurs would have higher failure rate than intrapreneurs and spinout entrepreneurs from large enterprises (Aidis et al., 2008). New entrepreneurs rely more on intuitive inference and subjective perception when making business decisions, which often leads to a higher risk of wrong decision-making and thus lower success rate (Arenius & Clercq, 2005). Over 50% of new entrepreneurs who had a good entrepreneurship education (especially men) tended to have cognitive bias such as overconfidence and self-overestimation and would therefore rely less on an objective perception of entrepreneurial risks (Brixy et al., 2013). Entrepreneurial risk decision-making refers to when a person (an entrepreneur), confronted with risk and uncertainty, makes a decision in a dilemma during launching a business. Risk preferences are a multidimensional structure that can be seen either as a loss or an opportunity. Making a choice between entrepreneurship and employment can also mean either loss or benefit, namely facing a dilemma with risk and uncertainty. Therefore, the entrepreneurship-or-employment decision-making (referred to

5.2 Analyzing Determinants of College Student Decisions …

267

as “E/E decision-making” hereafter) is risky. This study mainly explores the decisionmaking behavior of college students who have not yet started a business when faced with a choice of entrepreneurship or employment. This study also investigates college student entrepreneurial decision-making preference, so as to provide suggestions for college entrepreneurship education. As Tversky and Kahneman’s (1985) research shows, decision-making behavior depends largely on the external representation of the risk task and the internal representation of the decision-maker. External representation mainly entails the characteristics of the risk task in situational decision-making. The internal representation mainly consists of personal traits, personal background, entrepreneurial attitude, etc. (Fan & Wang, 2004; He, 2006). Frame representation (gain frame/loss frame) and probability representation (precise probability/fuzzy probability) are two important dimensions of external information; regulatory focus is an important and stable personal trait in terms of internal representation. Many studies have considered the separate impact of external information features and internal regulatory focus on decision-making behavior. However, few studies have examined college students’ entrepreneurial risk decision-making, still less on the interaction between the intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Based on previous studies, this study continues to explore how external information representation (gain/loss frame, precision/fuzzification) and individual regulatory focus would affect the E/E decision-making of college students, by setting specific decision-making situations. This study also considers how the two external information representation (gain/loss frame, precision/fuzzification) interact with regulatory focus. See Fig. 5.1 for the theoretical concept of the study. Regulatory focus refers to a specific way or tendency that an individual exhibits while practicing self-regulation in goal-pursuing. On the one hand, regulatory focus can be divided into promotion focus and prevention focus, aiming at gains and losses, respectively. Individuals in a promotion focus state are more sensitive to the positive outcome, while those in a prevention-focused state are more sensitive to the negative outcome. On the other hand, regulatory focus can also be divided into situational or chronic. Situational regulatory focus refers to an individual’s temporary tendency that can be induced by specific experimental conditions. Chronic regulatory focus reflects an individual’s stable personality traits in terms of self-regulation, which are mainly shaped by parenting (Molden & Finkel, 2010). This study uses regulatory focus as

Fig. 5.1 Research concept of college students’ E/E decision-making

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5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

the primary individual variable of entrepreneurial decision-making. It utilizes the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire to measure and distinguish the chronic regulatory focus of the participants, and the “dual-task start-up method” to induce situational regulatory focus. In this way, this study examines the tendency of college students in different regulatory focus states while making entrepreneurial decisions. We hypothesized that (Hypothesis 1) promotion- than prevention-focused college students were more inclined to take risks, i.e., the promotion- than prevention-focused participants in the E/E decision-making situation were more inclined to choose to face the risk of starting a business. Information representation refers to the way the external information is described. There are two forms of information representation: framing and probability. Framing effect means that describing a same occurrence in a different manner will have a different result. As Tversky and Kahneman’s research (1985) has discovered, message framing would affect risk decision-making; i.e., one’s final decision patterns may be reversed when the same decision problem is framed in a different way in a specific decision-making situation. Kahneman and Tversky believes that there is asymmetry between an individual’s perception of a loss condition and that of a gain condition: He tends to be more sensitive to the former and thus ends up getting more pains from the loss than happiness from the same amount of the profit. Therefore, people in the loss condition are inclined to take risks, while they in the gain condition are liable to remain conservative. Based on this theory, this study sets up two frames (loss/gain frame) where college student preference in E/E decision-making is considered, respectively. We hypothesized that (Hypothesis 2) college students given the loss-framed message were more inclined to start a business than those given the gain-framed message. Probability representation refers to a way of describing the probability of a risk event of experimental materials. Probability representation can be divided into precise representation and fuzzy representation. Studies have found that, when facing a choice between a risk event with definite probability and the other one with indefinite probability, most people choose the former, i.e., option that is not fuzzy (Keren & Gerritsen, 1999). Kramer and Budescu (2005) and Zhang et al. (2015) have discovered that the ambiguity aversion behavior in general tends to increase in frequency as the ambiguity degree increases. This study explores the influence of precise/fuzzy information representation on college students’ E/E decision-making, by manipulating information representation through providing a precise or fuzzy description of the risk probability of the decision task. We hypothesized that (Hypothesis 3) there were significant differences in how different forms of information representation affected the E/E decision-making of the participants. Given fuzzy information, the participant would avoid risks; given precise information, the participants would seek risks. In other words, in entrepreneurship-or-employment situations, individuals given fuzzy representation of information would be less liable to start a business than those given precise representation. Environmental information and individual factors often interact. Studies have revealed that usually environmental information does not influence individuals by itself alone, as individuals in different regulatory focus states respond very differently

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to message framing. Promotion-focused individuals are more sensitive to the positive outcome, while prevention-focused individuals are more sensitive to the negative outcome. When framing matches regulatory focus, the same message becomes more persuasive. This phenomenon is called the regulatory matching effect (Malaviya & Brendl, 2014). A matching effect occurs when an individual in a promotion focus state has anticipated a positive outcome. Similarly, this matching effect also occurs if a prevention-focused individual is required to anticipate a negative outcome. Regulatory matching can make an active response more active and a negative response more negative (Cesario et al., 2004). Accordingly, individuals in the different regulatory focus states may respond differently to gain/loss message frame as well as precise/fuzzy message features in an entrepreneurial situation. This study examines how the regulatory focus and information features interact in college student E/E decision-making, by combing the regulatory focus and situational decision tasks that are framed differently. Firstly, we set up four experimental conditions by controlling regulatory focus types and message frames: gain frame and promotion focus, gains frame and prevention focus, loss frame and prevention focus, and loss frame and promotion focus. We hypothesized that (Hypothesis 4), in an E/E decision-making situation, regulatory focus and message frame could match each other and result in a matching effect; i.e., given a gain-framed message, a promotion-focused person would be more sensitive to gains than a preventionfocused person; given a loss-framed message, a prevention-focused person would be more sensitive to losses than a promotion-focused person. Secondly, we set up another four experimental conditions by controlling regulatory focus types and information features: precise probability and promotion focus, precise probability and prevention focus, fuzzy probability and prevention focus, and fuzzy probability and promotion focus. We hypothesized that (Hypothesis 5), regulatory focus and information representation could interact in an entrepreneurial decision-making situation; i.e., given precise representation, the promotion-focused participant would care more about gains and stability than the prevention-focused one; given a fuzzy representation, the promotion-focused participant would show a higher propensity for risky options than a prevention-focused one, while the prevention-focused participant would be more likely to be risk-averse. In other words, comparing promotion- and preventionfocused participants confronting an E/E decision task, the former would show a higher propensity for employment while the latter for entrepreneurship.

5.2.2 Methodology 5.2.2.1

Participants

Three independent groups of experimental participants were recruited by advertisement in a university. None of them had any prior entrepreneurial experience or had participated in any similar experimental project before.

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Table 5.10 E/E decision-making situations Li San is about to graduate from college. He is considering whether to start a business or get employed after graduation. He compares the two career choices mainly in terms of capital and income, working hours, competence and self-worth If you were Li San, you would choose () 1. To get employed 2. To start a business To get employed

To start a business

Capital and income

Capital investment is not needed; income is not high but stable

Capital investment is required; income is probably high but involves risk-taking

Working hours

Fixed working hours; total freedom outside of working hours

Flexible working hours; may engage with work outside of working hours

Competence and experience Should do well in your own job, Have to ensure that everything thus have less opportunity to is going on well, thus have more improve your ability opportunity to improve your ability Self-worth

Woke as a staff member under relatively low pressure

Be a boss under great pressure

Note E/E stands for “entrepreneurship or employment”

The first group was experimented on to discover how regulatory focus affects student E/E decision-making. The Regulatory Focus Questionnaire screened 58 valid participants, who were then divided into two groups of 29 people each: promotionfocused group and prevention-focused group. The valid participants were composed of 27 males and 31 females at an average age of 20.24 (SD = 1.10). All of them completed an E/E decision-making task (see Table 5.10). The second group was experimented on to discover how framing affects students’ E/E decision-making. The participants for this experiment were 40 college students: 23 males and 17 females, at an average age of 20.53 (SD = 0.85). They were randomly divided into two groups of 20 people each: gain-framed group and loss-framed group. Decision options for the gain-framed group were described in a gain frame and for the loss-framed group in a loss frame. All the participants were instructed to choose whether to start a business or to get employed in the respective framed condition (see Table 5.11). The third group was experimented on to explore the impact of precise/fuzzy information on students’ E/E decision-making. The participants for this experiment were 40 college students: 19 males and 21 females, at an average age of 20.63 (SD = 0.98). They were randomly divided into two groups of 20 people each: precise representation group and fuzzy representation group. The risk of the decision task was described as an exact probability for the precise representation group and as a fuzzy probability for the fuzzy representation group. All the participants were instructed to choose whether to start a business or to get employed in the respective experimental condition (see Table 5.12). The fourth group was experimented on to examine how the matching of regulatory focus and message framing affects students’ E/E decision preference. The

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Table 5.11 Comparison: E/E decision-making in gain-framed/loss-framed situations Li San is about to graduate from college. He is considering whether to start a business or get employed after graduation. He compares the two career choices mainly in terms of capital and income, working hours, competence and self-worth If you were LI San, you would choose () 1. To get employed 2. To start a business To get employed

To start a business

Capital and income (gain frame)

Capital investment is not needed; earns an annual income of 60,000 yuan; no risk-taking is involved

Capital investment is required; 30% chance to earn an annual income of 200,000 yuan, and 70% chance to earn nothing

Capital and income (loss frame)

Capital investment is not needed; earn 140,000 yuan per year less than starting a business successfully

Capital investment is required; 30% chance to lose nothing, and 70% chance to lose 200,000 yuan per year

Working hours

Eight working hours per day; total freedom outside of working hours

Flexible working hours; may engage with work outside of working hours

Competence and experience

Should do well in your own job, Have to ensure that everything thus have less opportunity to is going on well, thus have more improve your ability opportunity to improve your ability

Self-worth

Work as a staff member under relatively low pressure

Be a boss under great pressure

Note E/E stands for “entrepreneurship or employment”

participants for this experiment were 72 college students: 32 males and 40 females, with an average age of 20.89 (SD = 1.12). They were randomly divided into four groups of 17–19 people each: gain-framed and promotion-focused group; gainframed and prevention-focused group; loss-framed and prevention-focused group; and loss-framed and promotion-focused group. A 2 (message frame: gain frame or loss frame) × 2 (regulatory focus: promotion focus or prevention focus) betweensubject factorial experiment was conducted. The situational regulatory focus of the participants was induced by “the dual-task startup method.” The E/E decision-making situation was described in gain/loss frame (see Table 5.11). The fifth group was experimented upon to discover how the interaction of information features with regulatory focus affects one’s propensity for risk decisions. The participants for this experiment were 72 college students: 32 males and 40 females, with an average age of 20.89 (SD = 1.12). They were randomly divided into four groups of 17–19 people each: precise representation and promotion-focused group; precise representation and prevention-focused group; fuzzy representation and prevention-focused group; and fuzzy representation and promotion-focused group. A 2 (information features: precise probability or fuzzy probability) × 2 (regulatory focus: promotion focus or prevention focus) between-subject factorial experiment was conducted. The E/E decision-making situation was described as precise/fuzzy probability (see Table 5.12).

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Table 5.12 Comparison: E/E decision-making in situations with precise/fuzzy probability Li San is about to graduate from college. He is considering whether to start a business or get employed after graduation. He compares the two career choices mainly in terms of capital and income, working hours, competence and self-worth If you were Li San, you would choose () 1. To get employed 2. To start a business To get employed

To start a business

Capital and income (fuzzy probability)

Capital investment is not Capital investment is required; needed; earns an annual income have a 20–40% chance to earn of around 60,000 yuan an annual income of 200,000 yuan

Capital and income (precise probability)

Capital investment is not Capital investment is required; needed; earns an annual income have a 30% chance to earn an of 60,000 yuan annual income of 200,000 yuan

Working hours

Eight working hours per day; total freedom outside of working hours

Flexible working hours; may engage with work outside of working hours

Competence and experience Should do well in your own job, Have to ensure that everything thus have less opportunity to is going on well, thus have more improve your ability opportunity to improve your ability Self-worth

Work as a staff member under relatively low pressure

Be a boss under great pressure

Note E/E stands for “entrepreneurship or employment”

5.2.2.2

Tools

Situational materials for E/E decision-making. We set up situational tasks in the gain/loss frame according to the study of Duan Jinyun et al. on message framing (Duan, 2008; Duan et al., 2013). The gain-framed situation was: getting employed guaranteed an annual income of 60,000 yuan; starting a business only had a 30% chance to earn an annual income of 200,000 yuan, and 70% to earn nothing. The lossframed situation was: an individual getting employed annually earned 140,000 yuan less than an individual starting a business; the entrepreneur bore a 30% chance to lose nothing per year and 70% to lose 200,000 yuan per year (see Table 5.11). According to the study design of Duan (2008) and Zhang et al. (2015) on risk probability, we designed situational tasks with precise/fuzzy probability. The precise version was having a 30% chance to earn an annual income of 200,000 yuan; the fuzzy version was having a 20% to 40% chance to earn an annual income of 200,000 yuan (see Table 5.12). The Regulatory Focus Questionnaire revised by Yao et al. (2008). The questionnaire, with a total of 10 questions, covered two dimensions: promotion focus (six questions) and prevention focus (four questions). It used a five-point rating scale. It had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.77 for promotion focus and 0.73 for prevention focus.

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The dual-task startup method consisted of the recall task and the pencil-andpaper maze task. The recall task induced a promotion focus by describing hopes and aspirations and induced a prevention focus by describing responsibilities and obligations (Higgins et al., 2001). The promotion-focused group was asked to recall and write down the most important hopes and aspirations they had ever had. The prevention-focused group was asked to recall and write down their most important responsibilities and obligations they had ever had. The pencil-and-paper maze task applied two mazes designed by Friedman and Forster (2001) to induce promotion focus and prevention focus, respectively. To induce promotion focus, the participant should help the mouse get out of the maze to eat cheese. To induce prevention focus, the participant should help the mouse get out of the maze to escape the eagle’s paws. The decision-making situations, designed based on the student interviews, reflected what factors college students would consider while making entrepreneurial risk decisions.

5.2.2.3

Statistical Processing

Data was processed using SPSS 19.0.

5.2.3 Results Analysis 5.2.3.1

Impact of Regulatory Focus on E/E Decision Preference

As Table 5.13 showed, in the E/E decision-making situation, 55.17% of the participants in a promotion focus state chose to get employed, and 44.83% chose to start a business; 79.31% of the prevention-focused participants chose employment, and 20.69% chose entrepreneurship. Studies showed that when the employment gains were an exact number, the participants in either regulatory focus state preferred employment. After a chi-square test, it was discovered that the prevention-focused Table 5.13 Difference test: E/E decision preference of promotion-focused/prevention-focused participants Decision-making situation

Regulatory focus

A

B

Entrepreneurship or employment

Promotion focus

16 (55.17%)

13 (44.83%)

Prevention focus

23 (79.31%)

6 (20.69%)

4.30*

8.73**

χ2

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **stands for P < 0.01, ***stands for P < 0.001

χ2 1.00 33.64***

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Table 5.14 Difference test: E/E decision preference of participants in gain frame/loss frame Decision-making situation

Message framing

To get employed

To start a business

χ2

Entrepreneurship or employment

Gain frame

16 (80.00%)

4 (20.00%)

36.00***

Loss frame

11 (55.00%)

9 (45.00%)

1.00

χ2

4.63*

9.63**

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **stands for P < 0.01, ***stands for P < 0.001

participants showed a much stronger inclination for employment than the promotionfocused participants (χ2 = 4.30, P < 0.05), and that the promotion-focused participants showed much stronger inclination to start a business than the preventionfocused participants (χ2 = 8.73, P < 0.01). No significant difference was found in the promotion-focused group choice of employment or entrepreneurship (χ2 = 1.00, P > 0.05), while for the prevention-focused group, a larger percentage chose to get employed than to start a business (χ2 = 33.64, P < 0.001). As the result showed, regulatory focus would affect students’ entrepreneurial risk decision-making. The prevention-focused students had a higher risk aversion tendency than the promotion-focused students; in turn, the promotion-focused students had a higher tendency to face the risk than the prevention-focused students. Hypothesis 1 was supported.

5.2.3.2

Impact of Message Framing on E/E Decision-Making

See Table 5.14 for the result of student decisions in different message frame. As the results indicated, the participants in the gain-framed condition showed a much stronger preference for employment over entrepreneurship (χ2 = 36.00, P < 0.001), and their preference for employment was stronger than that of those in the loss-framed condition (χ2 = 4.63, P < 0.05); a much stronger preference for entrepreneurship was seen in the participants in the loss- than gain-framed condition (χ2 = 9.63, P < 0.01); no significant difference was seen in the choices of the participants in the loss-framed condition (χ2 = 1.00, P < 0.05). Therefore, there was framing effect on students’ E/E decision-making. Participants in the gain-framed condition were inclined to be conservative, while those in the loss-framed condition were inclined to take risks. Hypothesis 2 was supported.

5.2.3.3

Impact of Precise/Fuzzy Information Representation on E/E Decision-Making

As Table 5.15 shows, in the entrepreneurship-or-employment scenario, 55% of the participants given a precise description of information preferred getting employed,

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Table 5.15 Difference test: E/E decision preference of the participants in different information representation χ2

Decision-making scenario

Information representation

A

B

A/B

Precise probability

11(55%)

9 (45%)

Fuzzy probability

15(75%)

5 (25%)

χ2

3.08

5.71*

1.00 25.00***

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **for P < 0.01, ***for P < 0.001; A = to get employed, B = to start a business E/E stands for “entrepreneurship or employment”

and 45% chose to start a business; while for those given a fuzzy description of information, 75% preferred getting employed, 25% starting a business. Therefore, our findings indicated that the participants, given the two types of information representation, generally preferred the employment choice. After a further chi-square test, it was found that, given fuzzy probability, a much larger percentage chose to get employed than start a business (χ2 = 25.00, P < 0.001). As for those given precise probability, no significant difference was found between the two choices (χ2 = 1.00, P > 0.05); a much stronger preference for entrepreneurship was seen in those provided with precise than with fuzzy probability (χ2 = 9.63, P < 0.01); no significant difference was seen in the preference for employment between the two groups (χ2 = 3.08, P > 0.05). Therefore, as the result showed, the way of information representation would influence student entrepreneurial risk decision-making. Students given fuzzy representation tended to avoid risk, while those given precise representation tended to take risks. Hypothesis 3 was supported.

5.2.3.4

Impact of Regulatory Matching on E/E Decision-Making

See Table 5.16 for decision preference result of the participants under different regulatory matching. Table 5.16 Difference test: E/E decision preference of the participants under different regulatory matching χ2

Gain frame Prevention promotion

χ2

Loss frame Prevention promotion

Employment

12 (63.16%)

14 (73.68%)

0.88

12 (70.59%)

9 (52.94%)

2.61

Entrepreneurship

7 (36.84%)

5 (26.32%)

1.92

5 (29.41%)

8 (47.06%)

4.26*

χ2

6.76**

23.04***

17.64**

0.36

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **for P < 0.01, ***for P < 0.001 E/E stands for “entrepreneurship or employment”

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As the results showed, a much larger percentage of the participants in the gainframed condition, regardless whether they were in the prevention or promotion focus state, chose to get employed than to start a business (χ2 = 6.76, P < 0.01; χ2 = 23.04, P < 0.001). In the loss-framed condition, a much larger percentage of the preventionfocused participants chose to get employed (χ2 = 17.64, P < 0.001), while for the entrepreneurship choice, it was much more preferred by those in the promotion focus state than those in the prevention-focused state (χ2 = 4.26, P < 0.05). We did an ANOVA test, with message frame and regulatory focus as the independent variables, decision preference in the E/E scenario as the dependent variable. The results revealed a notable interactive effect of regulatory focus and message frame, F(1.68) = 7.70, P < 0.01 (see Table 5.17; Fig. 5.2). Further simple effect analysis indicated that promotion-focused participants in the gain-framed condition became more sensitive to gains, more risk-averse and less entrepreneurial; the Table 5.17 ANOVA of message frame and regulatory focus on E/E decision preference Source of variation

SS

df

MS

F

P

Regulatory focus

0.01

1

0.01

0.06

0.802

Message frame

0.35

1

0.35

1.59

0.211

7.70**

0.007

Regulatory focus* message frame

1.68

1

1.68

Error

14.83

68

0.22

Total

153.00

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **for P < 0.01 E/E stands for “entrepreneurship or employment”

Fig. 5.2 Impact of message frame and regulatory focus on E/E decision-making

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prevention-focused participants in the loss-framed condition became more aware of potential losses under risk and demonstrated stronger preference for employment; while promotion-focused participants in the loss-framed condition became more risk-taking and entrepreneurial. Studies showed that matching regulatory focus and message frame produced an impact on students’ E/E decision-making. Hypothesis 4 was supported.

5.2.3.5

Impact of Precise/Fuzzy Representation and Regulatory Focus on Entrepreneurial Risk Decision-Making

As the results of decision preference in different interaction conditions (see Table 5.18) showed, for the precise scenario, remarkably more of prevention- than promotion- focused participants chose to start a business (χ2 = 5.00, P < 0.05), and more of the promotion-focused participants chose to get employed than to start a business (χ2 = 15.00, P < 0.001). In the familiar/unfamiliar precise scenario, a remarkably larger percentage of the promotion-focused participants chose the familiar items than the unfamiliar ones (χ2 = 9.00, P < 0.01). In the fuzzy scenario, markedly more of the prevention-focused participants chose to start a business than to get employed (χ2 = 25.00, P < 0.001); more of the prevention- than promotionfocused participants chose to get employed (χ2 = 5.00, P < 0.05); more of the promotion- than prevention-focused participants chose to start a business (χ2 = 8.33, P < 0.01). In the familiar/unfamiliar fuzzy scenario, both the prevention- and promotion-focused participants chose the familiar items much more than unfamiliar ones (χ2 = 49.00, P < 0.001; χ2 = 4.00, P < 0.05); more of the prevention- than promotion-focused chose the familiar items (χ2 = 4.31, P < 0.05); more of the promotion- than prevention-focused chose the unfamiliar items (χ2 = 11.36, P < 0.01). The results indicated that external information representation and individual regulatory focus interactively affected risk decision-making. In precise representation, the promotion-focused participants preferred employment and familiar items, indicating that they cared about gains and stability and were risk-averse. However, the Table 5.18 E/E decision preference when message frame interacted with regulatory focus Decision-making scenario

Precise representation Prevention focus N = 18

Promotion focus N = 20

Employment

9 (50%)

14 (70%)

Entrepreneurship

9 (50%)

6 (30%)

χ2

16.00***

χ2

Fuzzy representation

χ2

Prevention focus N = 20

Promotion focus N = 20

3.33

15 (75%0

10 (50%)

5.00*

5.00*

5 (25%)

10 (50%)

8.33**

25.00***

Note *stands for P < 0.05, **for P < 0.01, ***for P < 0.001 E/E stands for “entrepreneurship or employment”

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prevention-focused participants preferred entrepreneurship and unfamiliar items, indicating that they were risk-seeking. Hypothesis 5 was supported.

5.2.4 Conclusions and Suggestions 5.2.4.1

Conclusions

When making a decision of entrepreneurship or employment, college students would be influenced by individual regulatory focus and external information representation. Regulatory focus, a stable personality trait that plays a role in entrepreneurial decision-making behavior, forms an important psychological basis for effective entrepreneurship education. The way the information is presented also affects decision-making behavior. A few conclusions are made as follows: 1. 2.

3.

Prevention-focused students show a propensity for risk aversion; promotionfocused students show a propensity for risk-taking. Framing effect plays a role in student E/E decision-making. College students tend to be conservative in the gain-framed condition and risk-taking in the loss-framed condition. A decision becomes more affirmative when information representation matches regulatory focus. Given a fuzzy representation, students show a propensity for risk aversion; given a precise representation, students show a propensity for risk-taking. External information representation and individual regulatory focus affect risk decisionmaking interactively.

5.2.4.2

Suggestions

Individual psychological characteristics and tendencies are stable personality traits of entrepreneurs. They would affect college student entrepreneurial decision-making and behavior and therefore form an important psychological basis for effective entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship education should work to be more effective and student-oriented, taking into account individual psychological difference. (1)

Design entrepreneurship education courses to be “matched” or “mismatched”.

Individuals in the different regulatory focus state have different psychological tendencies. Therefore, entrepreneurship education course design should respect student regulatory focus difference and diversify information presentation accordingly, i.e., entrepreneurship education courses can be designed in two “opposite” orientations: the “matched” pattern or “mismatched” pattern. The “matched” course pattern refers to a course design where the course content description matches student regulatory focus, and learning materials are presented in

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a student-sensitive manner. In this way, students learn the course as message frame matches regulatory focus. The “mismatched” course pattern refers to a course design where teachers intentionally make information presentation mismatch student regulatory focus; by adopting training strategies corresponding to the weak part of regulatory focus, teachers steer students’ attention to the weak part and practice to improve it. For example, providing promotion-focused students with more loss- than gain-framed information so as to make them care about the potential loss and increase risk awareness; providing prevention-focused students with more gain- than loss-framed information so as to make them focus on positive objectives and dispel defensive mentality. (2)

Setup an experience-based learning environment, avoid formulaic preaching.

Entrepreneurship education courses should enhance the practical value of entrepreneurship education. The courses should entail setting a variety of business simulations for students to experience and make risk decisions. Students should be granted more opportunities to access information about how to start a business. Teachers can set up various E/E decision-making situations where students experience risk decision-making and learn from experiences about the reality and themselves and finally improve their entrepreneurial competence. Teachers must describe risks correctly to college students, train student ability to identify and evaluate risks, and increase student risk awareness and entrepreneurial responsibility. Formulaic preaching and exaggeration must be avoided in today’s entrepreneurship education. (3)

Build a well-organized entrepreneurial team after considering individual differences.

Students in different regulatory focus states have very different attitudes toward risk. Promotion-focused students tend to have a high risk appetite and low risk aversion, more inclined to take risks; prevention-focused students tend to have high risk aversion and low risk appetite, more likely to be cautious or conservative. Entrepreneurial teams all composed of promotion-focused members are prone to be aggressive and ignore risks. However, an entirely prevention-focused team may miss opportunities due to fear. Therefore, a good entrepreneurial team structure should encourage students in different regulatory focus states to cooperate and complement one another. (4)

Build a well-organized entrepreneurial team after considering individual differences.

Chronic regulatory focus is a stable personal trait that would affect every aspect of student cognition. If college students are clearly aware of their regulatory focus and its features, they would have a better understanding of their response to the environmental information and adopt strategies that are in line with their own regulatory focus to analyze and tackle entrepreneurial problems more flexibly and effectively. Therefore, college student entrepreneurship education should help students to understand

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their own psychological tendency, their way of predicting and tolerating risks, and impact of psychological tendency on environmental information identification and individual decision-making behavior. After having a good understanding of themselves, students are able to make more rational judgments on business prospects and more rational entrepreneurial behavior.

5.3 Course Design for Entrepreneurship Education and Its Efficiency Evaluation 5.3.1 Questions Raised Consensus is gaining ground over recent years on “who,” “how,” “what” and “whom” to teach in college entrepreneurship education. However, research on how to develop entrepreneurship education and evaluate its courses has been relatively inadequate. The efficiency evaluation of entrepreneurship education has become a focal issue. Taking a MOOC entrepreneurship course at Zhejiang University for the 2017–2018 academic year, for example, this study explores the efficiency of the course from two dimensions: “process factors evaluation” and “impact evaluation.”

5.3.2 Methodology 5.3.2.1

(1)

Course Design and Research Design

Course design.

Introduction to Entrepreneurship was an undergraduate compulsory course for general entrepreneurship education at Zhejiang University. This course, featuring professor lectures and student teamwork, applied the MOOC method of teaching that encourages independent study and discussion through the online platform. This course aimed to impart entrepreneurial knowledge, build entrepreneurship awareness, cultivate innovative spirit, enhance entrepreneurial competence, and therefore lay a foundation for innovative and entrepreneurial personnel training. The course content mainly comprised three sections: concept of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship; key steps to starting a business; current entrepreneurship education at home and abroad and its future trends. The 10-part video-based course provided a video lesson series, supporting textbooks, and abundant high-quality business cases. Relevant questions, suggested reading materials and various examples of entrepreneurial practices were also offered at the end of each video to help review knowledge, deepen learning and broaden horizons.

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281

The MOOC course, compulsory for all first-year students, was available during each of the four semesters (spring, summer, autumn and winter semesters, with an eight-week course time each). The assessment of this course was composed of inclass performance (20%) and a final online test (80%, objective questions). A total of 6118 students completed the course (1110 in the fall semester, 1808 in the winter semester, 2146 in the spring semester, 1064 in the summer semester). Their scores, regardless of semester, all showed a normal distribution. (2)

Research Design and Procedure.

A questionnaire survey was conducted to do a process factors evaluation of the course. When the course finished, a voluntary process factors evaluation questionnaire was posted on the course website by the teaching team. Data collection was completed within weeks six to eight in the fall semester. The experimental and questionnaire methods were adopted to explore how this course would influence student psychology and behavior. Two quasi-experimental designs were used, by between-subjects designs, to examine how entrepreneurship outcome variables of the subjects would differ as the subjects were in different situations. At the end of the course, a series of voluntary questionnaires about the course impact was posted on the course website. The first quasi-experiment was designed to explore the difference of entrepreneurship outcome variables among students who engaged in learning to different degrees. In this study, student engagement (predictor variable) was reflected by course website visits, discussion participation and average weekly online hours, each reported by students themselves. Entrepreneurship outcome variables (dependent variables) included four variables: entrepreneurial emotion, entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial competence and cognition of business hindering factors. By analyzing how entrepreneurship outcome variables varied among students who reported their course website visits (over five times/week, three to five times/week, one to three times/week, less than one time/week), discussion participation (very inactive, inactive, unclear, active, very active), and average online time per week (over two hours/week, one to two hours/week, 0.5 to one hour/week, less than 0.5 h/week), this experiment helped investigate how course study would influence entrepreneurial emotion, intention, competence, and cognition of business hindering factors. Besides, in order to test the authenticity of the student reports (average online hours per week, for example), the researcher did a matching analysis between the data reported by students and the actual online hours recorded by the system. The results showed that students who reported “over two hours/week” had average online time of 17.94 h in a semester, the “one to two hours/week” students were online for 12.25 h, the “0.5 to one hour/week” students were online for 11.1 h, the “below 0.5 h/week” students were online for 4.39 h (F = 10.70, P < 0.001). Therefore, the self-reported student engagement was accurate, as consistent with the actual online hours recorded by the system. Data collection was completed within weeks six to eight in the fall semester. The second quasi-experiment was designed to explore the differences of entrepreneurship outcome variables between the experimental group (students who

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studied the course) and the comparison group (students who did not study the course), namely the impact of the entrepreneurship education course. The experimental group was formed by 177 random students who completed both the winter semester course study and the impact evaluation questionnaire. The comparison group was formed by 177 students in the same year of study who did not start the course yet; they were also instructed to complete the impact evaluation questionnaire. Data collection was completed within week eight in the winter semester.

5.3.2.2

Participants

Sample 1: 394 students in the fall semester course who participated in the process factors evaluation questionnaire survey: 207 males (52.54%) and 187 females (47.46%); 75 (20.05%) had entrepreneur parent(s) or close relative(s), 315 (79.95%) did not have; five (1.27%) had entrepreneurial experience, one (0.25%) had entrepreneurial competition experience, 388 (98.48%) had no entrepreneurial experience. The average age of Sample 1 was 17.8 years old. Sample 2: 363 students in the fall semester course who had participated in Experiment 1 and had the relevant dependent variables (course impact evaluation) measured: 173 males, 189 females and one unknown; four had entrepreneurial experience, 350 had no entrepreneurial experience, nine were unknown. The average age of Sample 2 was 17.85 years old. Sample 3: The experimental group (study group): 177 students chosen from the winter semester course who had the dependent variables (course impact evaluation) measured: 91 males (51.42%) and 86 females (48.58%). The comparison group (nonstudy group): 177 random students chosen from those who neither started the course nor completed the same questionnaire measurement: 88 males (49.72%) and 89 females (50.28%). It was confirmed there was no significant between-group difference in gender, age, major and entrepreneurial background. The average age of Sample 3 was 17.84 years old.

5.3.2.3

(1)

Tools

Process Factors Evaluation Scale.

The MOOC evaluation model proposed by Yao Kai et al. was used (Yao et al., 2017). The Process Factors Evaluation Scale covered five dimensions, altogether 25 items: instructional design, teaching content, interface design, media technology and course management. It used the five-point Likert scale for scoring: 1 for strongly disagree; 2 for basically disagree; 3 for uncertain; 4 for basically agree; 5 for strongly disagree. The higher the score, the higher the student satisfaction with the MOOC course. In

5.3 Course Design for Entrepreneurship Education …

283

addition, the questionnaire also added some questions to learn students’ opinions on the problems of teaching. (2)

Impact Evaluation Scale.

Entrepreneurial Passion (EP) Scale. Student entrepreneurial emotions were measured by the EP Scale created by Cardon et al. (2013). The EP Scale comprised 13 questions, including three factors: to create, build and develop passion. It was tested to have a clear structure, with a cumulative variance of 62.99%; each item was highly loaded on a corresponding factor. The respective internal consistency of each dimension and the sub-questionnaire was 0.850, 0.816, 0.737 and 0.888. This scale used the five-point Likert scale for scoring. Entrepreneurship Barriers Understanding (EBU) Scale. The EBU Scale, revised based on the evaluation index of Stamboulis and Barlas (2014), covered five dimensions of evaluation index: scale of ability, scale of time and effort, scale of capital, channel barrier and policy barrier. Scales of ability, time and effort, and capital were intrinsic barriers. Channel and policy barriers were extrinsic barriers. The EBU Scale was tested to have a good construct validity: It had a clear structure with a cumulative variance of 56.01%; each item was highly loaded on a corresponding factor. The respective internal consistency of each dimension and the sub-questionnaire was 0.809, 0.740, 0.795, 0.869, 0.782 and 0.945. This scale used the five-point Likert scale for scoring; the higher the score, the more perceived barriers to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial Intention (EI) Scale. The EI Scale was revised based on the scale created by Krueger, Reilly and Carsrud (as cited in Liñán & Chen, 2009). The original questionnaire comprised seven questions. However, due to the repeated meanings after Chinese translation, one question was deleted. Therefore, the revised questionnaire had six questions altogether. The EI Scale used the five-point Likert scale for scoring. The internal consistency of entrepreneurial intention was 0.896. Entrepreneurial Competence (EC) Scale. Revised on the basis of the four-factor entrepreneurial competence model proposed by Rezaei Zadeh et al. after 2016 (2016), the EC structure included three factors: creative thinking; motivation and willpower; interpersonal skills and leadership. Interpersonal communication skills and leadership of the original model had been combined into one factor, namely interpersonal skills and leadership. Factor analysis showed that this questionnaire had a good construct validity: It had a clear structure with a cumulative variance of 65.40%; each item was highly loaded on a corresponding factor. The respective internal consistency of each dimension and the questionnaire was 0.938, 0.945, 0.941 and 0.975. This scale used the five-point Likert scale for scoring.

5.3.2.4

Data Processing

Data was processed by SPSS 21.0 software.

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5.3.3 Results Analysis 5.3.3.1

Process Factors Evaluation Results

See Table 5.19 and Fig. 5.3 for the frequency result and the mean result of Sample 1’s evaluation of the course. The frequency analysis and factor mean analysis showed that student feedback on the course was overall good: The average score was Sect. 3.3. Students spoke highly of teaching content, media technology and course management, but not the acceptance of the MOOC method of teaching and its appeal. Student opinions on the MOOC method of pedagogical delivery could be divided into the following five aspects: students may not complete study tasks as scheduled, namely procrastination can occur (79.95%); unable to communicate with teachers face-to-face the minute, they had any question (63.45%); may not study attentively, as online teaching lacks supervision (57.61%); student-to-student interaction was not effective (56.85%); questions cannot be answered promptly online (54.31%).

5.3.3.2

(1)

Impact Evaluation Results

Basic information of the study of the sample students.

See Table 5.20 for student self-reported course website visits, discussion participation and average weekly online hours. (2)

Descriptive statistical results of the entrepreneurship dependent variables.

See Table 5.21 for the descriptive statistical results of the entrepreneurship dependent variables based on the measurement data of Sample 2. The results showed that the entrepreneurial intention of the sample students was overall not very strong; the average scores of entrepreneurial passion and competence were relatively high; the participants were, in some degree, aware of the barriers to entrepreneurship. (3)

Impact of course study on entrepreneurship variables.

An ANOVA test was carried out to examine how different discussion participation, online study time and website visits would affect student entrepreneurial passion (referred to as EP hereafter), entrepreneurial intention (referred to as EI hereafter), entrepreneurial competence (referred to as EC hereafter) and entrepreneurship barriers understanding (referred to as EBU hereafter). As Fig. 5.4 shows, the more actively the participants engaged in the course discussion, the higher the EP score (F = 11.05, P < 0.001), EI score (F = 8.91, P < 0.001) and EC score (F = 15.55, P < 0.001); the differences all reached a notable level. However, discussion participation did not have a significant impact on EBU (F = 0.73, P > 0.05).

Instructional design

50 (12.69%) 52 (13.20%)

55 (13.96%) 43 (10.91%) 44 (11.17%) 47 (11.93%)

Effective lecturing

Effective examples and demonstrations

Effective communication and collaboration

Effective learning exercises

Reasonable feedback on learning 45 (11.42%) exercises

51 (12.94%)

36 (9.14%)

57 (14.47%)

57 (14.47%)

57 (14.47%)

23 (5.84%)

Expanded resources are provided 30 (7.61%)

Course encourages learning motivation and interest

40 (10.15%)

Course content is well-organized 35 (8.88%) 39 (9.90%)

14 (3.55%)

27 (6.85%)

Course covers a wide range of knowledge

39 (9.90%)

28 (7.11%)

35 (8.88%)

Course content is well-designed

Learning objectives are specific

32 (8.12%)

Disagree

Course content is consistent with 37 (9.39%) the goal

Totally disagree 30 (7.61%)

Course specifications are detailed and clear

Course content

31 (7.87%)

Second-level index

First-level index

Table 5.19 Frequency analysis: student evaluation of the course (n = 394)

76 (19.29%)

70 (17.77%)

67 (17.01%)

72 (18.27%)

81 (20.56%)

74 (18.78%)

60 (15.23%)

48 (12.18%)

74 (18.78%)

42 (10.66%)

59 (14.97%)

56 (14.21%)

46 (11.68%)

Uncertain

141 (35.79%)

145 (36.80%)

154 (39.09%)

159 (40.36%)

122 (30.96%)

126 (31.98%)

164 (41.62%)

187 (47.46%)

152 (38.58%)

174 (44.16%)

177 (44.92%)

173 (43.91%)

192 (48.73%)

Agree

80 (20.30%)

82 (20.81%)

78 (19.80%)

84 (21.32%)

79 (20.05%)

80 (20.30%)

92 (23.35%)

106 (26.90%)

93 (23.60%)

137 (34.77%)

95 (24.11%)

96 (24.37%)

95 (24.11%)

Totally Agree

(continued)

3.40

3.42

3.43

3.52

3.29

3.29

3.59

3.80

3.58

3.96

3.68

3.66

3.74

Mean

5.3 Course Design for Entrepreneurship Education … 285

Course management

Media technology

Interface design

First-level index

Table 5.19 (continued)

34 (8.63%) 37 (9.39%)

Course team is well managed

Course development and management is of good quality

37 (9.39%)

Teacher is not camera-shy 34 (8.63%)

28 (7.11%)

Clear, correct subtitles

Good supporting policy

28 (7.11%)

35 (8.88%)

Useful operation helps 29 (7.36%)

34 (8.63%)

Valid operation

Good layout of text and pictures

35 (8.88%)

Reasonable screen layout

Videos are clear and smooth

40 (10.15%)

52 (13.20%)

Reasonable assessment

Reasonable orientations to the course

Totally disagree

Second-level index

21 (5.33%)

20 (5.08%)

26 (6.60%)

27 (6.85%)

11 (2.79%)

18 (4.57%)

20 (5.08%)

22 (5.58%)

28 (7.11%)

21 (5.33%)

33 (8.38%)

62 (15.74%)

Disagree

71 (18.02%)

74 (18.78%)

71 (18.02%)

52 (13.2%)

34 (8.63%)

39 (9.90%)

34 (8.63%)

50 (12.69%)

47 (11.93%)

55 (13.96%)

70 (17.77%)

72 (18.27%)

Uncertain

170 (43.15%)

162 (41.12%)

160 (40.61%)

172 (43.65%)

201 (51.02%)

197 (50.00%)

189 (47.97%)

187 (47.46%)

175 (44.42%)

183 (46.45%)

160 (40.61%)

133 (33.76%)

Agree

95 (24.11%)

104 (26.40%)

103 (26.14%)

106 (26.90%)

120 (30.46%)

112 (28.43%)

122 (30.96%)

100 (25.38%)

110 (27.92%)

100 (25.38%)

91 (23.10%)

75 (19.04%)

Totally Agree

3.67

3.72

3.69

3.72

3.95

3.88

3.90

3.75

3.76

3.74

3.58

3.30

Mean

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5.3 Course Design for Entrepreneurship Education …

287

Fig. 5.3 Sample 1’s process factors evaluation of the MOOC course Table 5.20 Basic information of the study of the sample students (n = 363) Course website visits Discussion participation

1 time and less/week

1–3 times/week 3–5 times/week

34 (9.37%)

159 (43.80%)

Over 5 times/week

/

110 (30.30%) 60 (16.53%)

Very inactive Inactive

Uncertain

12 (3.31%)

54 (14.88%)

113 (31.13%) 157 (43.25%) 27 (7.44%)

0.5–1 h/week

1–2 h/week

62 (17.08%)

139 (38.29%) 144 (39.67%)

Average online Below hours 0.5 h/week 18 (4.96%)

Active

Very active

Over 2 h/week

/

Table 5.21 Descriptive statistical results of entrepreneurship-dependent variables (n = 363) Variables

Minimum

Maximum

Mean

EP total score

2.08

5.00

3.86

0.57

1.20

5.00

4.01

0.57

To create passion

Standard deviation

To build passion

1.00

5.00

3.73

0.75

To develop passion

1.00

5.00

3.81

0.68

EBU total score

1.00

5.00

3.34

0.52

Understanding intrinsic barriers

1.00

5.00

3.35

0.53

Understanding extrinsic barriers

1.00

5.00

3.32

0.59

EI total score

1.00

5.00

2.70

0.82

EC total score

1.00

5.00

3.49

0.50

Creative thinking

1.00

5.00

3.43

0.51

Motivation and willpower

1.00

5.00

3.80

0.55

1.00

5.00

3.34

0.75

Interpersonal skills and leadership

Note EP entrepreneurial passion; EBU entrepreneurship barriers understanding; EI entrepreneurial intention; EC entrepreneurial competence

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5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

Fig. 5.4 Impact of discussion participation on entrepreneurship variables

As Fig. 5.5 shows, the more website visits, the higher the EP score (F = 7.82, P < 0.001), EI score (F = 6.88, P < 0.001) and EC score (F = 9.33, P < 0.001); the differences all reached a notable level. However, website visits did not have a significant impact on EBU (F = 0.33, P > 0.05). As Fig. 5.6 shows, the longer the average online time, the higher the EP score (F = 6.19, P < 0.001), EI score (F = 2.56, P < 0.05) and EC score (F = 6.08, P < 0.001); the differences all reached a notable level. However, average online time did not have a significant impact on EBU (F = 0.06, P > 0.05).

Fig. 5.5 Impact of course website visits on entrepreneurship variables

5.3 Course Design for Entrepreneurship Education …

289

Fig. 5.6 Impact of average online time on entrepreneurship variables

Overall, significant differences could be seen among students with different degrees of learning engagement in EP, EI and EC: the greater the student engagement in learning, the higher the EP, EI and EC scores relatively. However, no marked difference was seen among students with different degrees of learning engagement in EBU, though there was a tendency that EBU got better as learning engagement increased. (4)

Differences between the study group and the non-study group.

A paired-sample t-test was done on entrepreneurship dependent variables to compare the study group and the non-study group (see Table 5.22 for the t-test result). As the results show, in terms of entrepreneurial emotions, the study group had higher scores on both to create passion and to build passion than the non-study group, but the between-group difference was not very significant. The average score of each group for to create passion and to build passion was massively higher than the mean score, which indicated that both groups had a relatively high ability to create and build passion, as well as a tendency to enhance their enthusiasm for learning the course. However, the study group’s score for to develop passion was notably lower than the non-study group’s score (F = 6.633, P < 0.001), showing that students’ level of developing passion dropped after learning the course. It can be interpreted that students probably learnt from the course that business was easier to launch than to maintain. As they gained a more rational understanding of business launch and development, their level of passion development decreased accordingly. In terms of EBU, the study group’s scores on all dimensions of intrinsic and extrinsic barriers were lower than the non-study group’s scores. It revealed that learning this course would help students understand the various barriers during the process of launching a business and also improve students’ cognitive attitudes toward those barriers.

3.281 3.160

Motivation and willpower

Interpersonal skills and leadership

0.734

0.642

0.729

0.793

0.600

0.607

0.609

0.786

0.629

0.822

0.818

0.709

3.554

3.647

3.832

3.200

3.148

3.053

3.048

2.932

2.933

3.345

3.596

3.989

0.923

0.858

0.839

1.112

0.416

0.469

0.689

0.675

0.570

0.854

0.853

0.613

Standard deviation

Study group (n = 177) Mean

Note * stands for p < 0.05, ** stands for p < 0.01, *** stands for p < 0.001 EP entrepreneurial passion; EBU entrepreneurship barriers understanding; EI entrepreneurial intention; EC entrepreneurial competence

3.580

Creative thinking

3.490

Capital barrier

EC

3.387

Time and effort barrier 2.739

3.339

Ability barrier

3.295

Policy barrier

EI

Intrinsic EBU

3.373

Channel barrier

To develop passion

Extrinsic EBU

3.483 3.848

To build passion

Entrepreneurial emotions

EBU

3.932

To create passion

Variables

Standard deviation

Non-study group (n = 177) Mean

Group

Table 5.22 Differences between the study group and non-study group in entrepreneurship-dependent variables

4.549***

4.677***

2.949**

4.670***

6.646***

5.709***

4.269***

4.508***

6.697***

5.633***

1.331

0.833

T

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5.3 Course Design for Entrepreneurship Education …

291

The study group’s scores on every dimension of EI and EC were significantly higher than the non-study group’s scores, which suggested that learning this course significantly improved students’ entrepreneurial intention and competence.

5.3.4 Results Analysis 5.3.4.1

Conclusions

The efficiency evaluation of entrepreneurship education and its courses has become an important subject of entrepreneurship education that cannot be ignored in the today’s context of “widespread innovation and entrepreneurship education.” How to choose the subject of evaluation, what content to look at, how to strike evaluation standards, what evaluation methods to use, etc., these questions are all worth considering. This research combines process evaluation and impact evaluation to explore the efficiency of the entrepreneurship MOOC courses. Based on the data results, a few conclusions can be made: Firstly, student evaluation of the entrepreneurship MOOC course is overall good. Among the five evaluation elements, instructional design is relatively low (M = 3.41); the remaining four elements all reach 3.70 or above: course content (M = 3.74), interface design (M = 3.71), media technology (M = 3.86) and course management (M = 3.69). Secondly, students give a relatively low evaluation of the MOOC method of pedagogical delivery. In their opinion, lecturing, course role of inspiring motivation, communication and cooperation in teaching and learning leave much to be desired. Thirdly, learning an entrepreneurship MOOC course has changed student entrepreneurial cognition, emotion and intentional behavior and has corresponding significance for entrepreneurial passion, intention, competence, and entrepreneurship barriers understanding. Learning this course, to be specific, improves student entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial competence, entrepreneurship barriers understanding and their ability to development entrepreneurial passion. Fourthly, entrepreneurship MOOC courses have some problems common to all MOOC courses. More than half of the students think this course may beget problems such as insufficient learner autonomy, procrastination, indirect teacher–student communication, ineffective student–student interaction, delayed response to online questions and so on. This study mainly attributes these problems to two aspects: Firstly, it is not well grounded to make entrepreneurship education courses compulsory for all students, as not all students are interested and some of them only make a perfunctory effort in learning the course. Secondly, MOOC courses require learner autonomy, namely students need to be able to arrange learning activities well without direct teacher supervision. Many of the freshmen who just graduated from high school have not switched from the close guidance of high school teachers. Still dependent on face-to-face teaching, they are unable to quickly adapt to this new MOOC method of teaching.

292

5.3.4.2

5 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: An Empirical Study

Suggestions

Firstly, optimize instructional design in terms of teaching content and pedagogical delivery method. Teachers should follow the most recent subject trends and update the teaching content accordingly. For example, add cutting-edge knowledge of entrepreneurship education at home and abroad and supplement updated practical cases, so as to provide both theoretical and practical basis for the course. In addition, the method of pedagogical delivery should also be optimized continuously. For example, incorporate new technological elements like animation to increase student motivation and interest in learning. Secondly, improve the interaction mechanism. Improve teaching quality by strengthening teacher–student and student–student interaction: invest more teacher and classroom resources to provide offline coaching which promotes teacher–student offline interaction; add advice posts about core entrepreneurial issues to encourage students to participate in discussion; build study teams to promote student–student interaction, etc. Thirdly, improve the course assessment. Build a more reliable assessment system by combining process evaluation and outcome evaluation at a reasonable ratio. For instance, when appropriate, introduce a diverse examination system step by step that is entrepreneurship-oriented, practical and effective. Last but not least, rectify the defects of the MOOC method of pedagogical delivery. There are two main problems of entrepreneurship education MOOC courses in terms of foundation for learning: Firstly, as this course is compulsory for all students at Zhejiang University, students’ psychological acceptance of entrepreneurship education needs to be improved. Some students are not interested in entrepreneurship and therefore only make a perfunctory effort in learning this course. Secondly, many students lack the learner autonomy highly required by MOOC course study. Habitually dependent on face-to-face teaching, many of the freshmen who have just graduated from high school are unable to meet the requirements of this new MOOC teaching, such as learner autonomy, self-management and proactive inquiry spirit. Therefore, enhancing learner autonomy is a difficult issue that college MOOC course development should focus on in the future.

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Chapter 6

Training Strategy of Key Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talents

Talent is the engine of innovation and development, and the core driving force for the transformation of economic development mode. In the new period, China needs to focus on cultivating and introducing various types of innovative and entrepreneurial talents. In addition to widely recognized scientific and technological entrepreneurial talents, international entrepreneurial talents, social entrepreneurial talents and regional entrepreneurial talents should also be included. International entrepreneurial talents are entrepreneurial human resources who are proficient in relevant foreign languages, familiar with international rules, and have an international perspective. International entrepreneurial talent investment and trade cooperation are essential parts of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In the background of economic transformation and high-quality production capacity cooperation, a large number of international innovative entrepreneurs can utilize entrepreneurial opportunities and trade cooperation in countries along the BRI and promote the “bringing in” and “going out” of enterprises. Social entrepreneurship helps to demonstrate social justice and promote sustainable economic development. The mind-set of GDP-oriented traditional economic development has led to multiple social problems, such as environmental pollution, a widening wealth gap, inequitable educational opportunities and a declining corporate ethic. On a large scale, these social problems caused the insufficient efficacy of the traditional industrial structure, which has impeded the economic sustainable development of some Chinese provinces. Social entrepreneurial talents are in not only possession of innovative entrepreneurial thinking but also a strong sense of social mission. Regional entrepreneurial talents, based on the cultural background, entrepreneurial value and entrepreneurial style of the region, could form their own entrepreneurial location-specific advantages and in turn nurture local development. Therefore, regional entrepreneurs are of great significance to enhance local innovation capacity, reinforce economic strength and consolidate social development.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 X. Xu, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 60, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3724-7_6

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6.1 Economic Structural Reform and Cultivating Entrepreneurial and Innovative Talents in the Background of Belt and Road Initiative BRI is China’s overall strategy of opening up in the new period, and structural reform is an urgent requirement to adapt to and lead the “new normal” of economic development. As a strategic measure to promote sustainable economic development of the “new normal,” BRI is of great significance in assisting supply-side structural reforms. The driving forces of structural reform are human capital, technological innovation and entrepreneurship. In the context of in-depth adjustment of the international and domestic economic pattern, BRI, the overall strategy of China’s opening up in the new period, essentially lies in “promoting reform by opening up, development by reform and transformation by development” (Zhang & Liu, 2015). The structural reform focusing on the supply side is the strategic choice and path to promote the construction of BRI. In fact, structural reform is a reform agenda advocated by multilateral cooperation mechanisms and international organizations like the World Bank, OECD, G20. It is the key to solving the deep-rooted contradictions accumulated in the long-term economic development of China. It is the urgent requirement to adapt and lead the “new normal” of economic development. To solve the current difficulties in economic development and realize the upgrading and development of manufacturing from extensive growth to intensive growth, we must accelerate structural reform (Li, 2015). The driving force of structural reform lies in system reform, structural optimization and elemental upgrade; the core of it lies in innovation, and the key of it lies in entrepreneurship. Fundamentally, structural reform is to stimulate the infinite creativity of all people and to promote “mass entrepreneurship and innovation,” which is a principal part of structural reform and structural adjustment (Li, 2015). In the future, the sustainable growth of China’s economy will require joint promotion from BRI and supply-side structural reform. Innovation and entrepreneurship will be common choices for the international community, including China, to seek economic stability and sustainable development.

6.1.1 Belt and Road Initiative Facilitating the Economic Structural Reform Structural reform refers to the promotion of changes in the economic structure through systems and incentives, thus achieving efficient and sustainable production, investment and employment (Li, 2013). At present, China’s structural reform and its focus on the supply side emphasize starting from improving the quality of supply, using reforms to promote structural adjustment, rectifying distortions in the allocation of factors, expanding effective supply, increasing total factor productivity and promoting a sustainable and stable development of the economy and society.

6.1 Economic Structural Reform and Cultivating Entrepreneurial …

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Supply-side structural reform is not only related to endogenous variables such as factor supply, but also affected by exogenous variables such as institutional and policy factors. As a strategic measure to promote sustainable economic development in the “new normal,” the construction of BRI is of great significance to promote supply-side structural reforms.

6.1.1.1

Endogenous Variables and Factor Supply

With the profound changes in China’s social development and major adjustments in the international economic structure, China’s extensive economic growth, for a long time achieved from the demographic dividend and some resource advantages, has increasingly become a bottleneck hindering further development. The potential for economic development released by the disintegration of the traditional “urban–rural dual system” is also exhausted. Under such circumstances, it is imperative to seek a sustainable driving force for economic growth, create a replacement model and avoid falling into the middle-income trap. The general law of world economic development shows that after undergoing initial growth driven by factor inputs, long-term sustainable growth depends on the improvement of total factor productivity. Total factor productivity mainly refers to the increase in productivity due to factors such as technological progress, organizational optimization, specialization and production innovation. This actually reveals that manpower is the key factor of production, and the source of economic growth lies in human labor. Therefore, improving human capital should be the main driving force for economic growth. From the perspective of improving total factor productivity, the requirements of the BRI and supply-side structural reform on human factors and human capital are highly compatible. It can be said that in order to interconnect countries along the BRI, it is necessary to attach importance to the “hard connectivity” of infrastructures such as transportation, the “soft connectivity” of rules and regulations and, more importantly, “personnel connectivity” through culture and education. A series of important measures and documents of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the state have all sent the signal of prioritizing talents of the BRI. The Opinions on Education Opening up in the New Era, issued jointly by the General Office of the Central Committee of CPC and the General Office of the State Council, also proposed tasks such as implementing Belt and Road educational activities, promoting educational cooperation among countries along the route, enhancing educational connection and improving talent cultivation and training. The latest Advance the Education Actions for Jointly Building the Belt and Road Initiative by the Ministry of Education clearly defined “providing talent support” as a major task. The role of talents strengthened by the BRI will undoubtedly contribute to the improvement of total factor productivity and the transformation of economic development driven by technological and innovative progress.

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6.1.1.2

6 Training Strategy of Key Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talents

Exogenous Variables and Institutional Supply

An important condition for maintaining sustainable economic development is the systematic, institutional and policy environment. Similarly, to promote the increase of total factor productivity, it is also the function of the system and the power of the market (21st Century Business Herald, 2016). In the current unsettling situation of sustainable economic growth, the upgrading of the industrial structure and the restructuring of the global value chain urgently require the removal of bottleneck constraints, promoting a new round of institutional change and innovation of institutional mechanisms, releasing the potential of productivity through reform and opening up, and breaking the barriers to competition and the flow of factor resources, making full use of the market in resource allocation, enhancing the combined effectiveness of factors, stimulating the innovation and vitality of economic entities, thus achieving sustainable and stable development in the full participation and deep integration of the international economy. The emphasis of supply-side structural reform is to make full use of the market’s decisive role in resource allocation (Gao, 2016). By improving the market mechanism, the distortion of factor allocation caused by excessive reliance on administration in the allocation of resources has been rectified. As a response to international economic relations in the new period, BRI aims at building a more active and comprehensive new pattern of opening up and a new framework for international cooperation, forming a “reversed transmission mechanism” for comprehensively deepening the reform in China, and preparing the institutional rules and growth momentum so that the Chinese economy can stably transform from “bringing in” to “going out.” In fact, supply-side structural reforms point to the increasing levels of both domestic market supply and international demand–supply. This is completely consistent with the overall concept of BRI, as “going out” itself is an important aspect of promoting structural reform in the context of this initiative (Gao, 2016). In the post-financial crisis era, the Chinese economy has to cope with the oppressive competition of developed countries and seek high-end industrial development by “upstream investment” in developed countries; at the same time, it has to cope with the exclusive and challenging competition of rising economies and transfer excess domestic capacity through investment in less developed countries (Li, 2013). As a result, it is crucial to find a larger platform for economic growth. BRI has provided such a platform to a large extent, and to a great extent, the construction of BRI provides this platform. Though opening up, the construction of BRI expands effective demand and adds an international market to the previous single domestic market (Huang, 2016). Thus, it creates conditions for effective resource allocation and industrial transfer to construct some Chinese-led global value chains.

6.1 Economic Structural Reform and Cultivating Entrepreneurial …

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6.1.2 Economic Structural Reform Dependent on Triple Driving Forces Human capital, technological innovation and entrepreneurship, known as the new “troika,” are important driving forces for supply-side structural reform (Chen, 2016). To a large extent, sustained economic growth can only be achieved if these three driving factors are given due attention and effectively stimulated.

6.1.2.1

Human Capital

Human capital is usually composed of the knowledge, ability and technology of economic value embodied in the laborer. It is a reflection of laborer quality and has always been an important concept in the growth theory. Many economists often use this concept to explain the original driving force behind economic growth. In an earlier analysis focusing on workforce factors, Schultz, the “father of human capital,” pointed out that compared with other factors, the complementing and replacing role of human capital has become increasingly important. He even believes that the core of economic development is the development and dissemination of actual knowledge and human intelligence, and the future of humanity is determined by the development of human knowledge (Schultz, 1990). Since the 1980s, the new economic growth theory characterized by technology endogenesis has brought human capital into the economic growth model more evidently; it has claimed that technological progress in the theoretical framework of economic growth is an important source of economic growth; technological progress has been argued to be the result of human capital investment such as knowledge overflow, education and training, and development of scientific research (Zou & Dai, 2003). The innovation-driven economic development model places higher demands on workers’ skills and creativity. Only in this way can industrial development achieve a higher end of the value chain. The implementation of the innovation development strategy requires the economy to have human capital stock and structure that is compatible with economic development and requires workers to have corresponding education and skill levels. According to past experience, human capital investment contributes to increasing the creativity and mobility of human capital, making its returns higher than physical capital investment. In this sense, the richer the human resources an economy has, the better its economic performance will be. China’s population structure has undergone tremendous changes in recent years. Judging from the changes in the working-age (15–59 years old) population, we could tell that in 2003, the annual growth of the population in this age group began to decline, and in 2012 the proportion of the population in this age group fell for the first time. As the demographic dividend diminishes and labor costs enter a period of cyclical rise, China has accelerated toward the Lewis Turning Point where the characteristic of unlimited labor supply has begun to disappear. In the future, China’s sustainable development requires human resources development and human capital investment

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as strategic priorities; China must effectively improve in its human resource structure, especially in facing the urgent challenge—the shortage of high-end R&D and skilled personnel—that restricts innovation and development. China should transform from relying on demographic dividend to human capital dividend to support the strategic transformation of the economic structure (Liu, 2016).

6.1.2.2

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial spirit means daring to take risks, be creative and strive tenaciously. Entrepreneurship is not only the most valuable driving force of the market economy, but also an important engine of supply-side structural reform. President Xi Jinping once pointed out: “The vitality of the market comes from people, especially from entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship” (Xi, 2016). Cultivating and encouraging entrepreneurship is the key to solving the problem of youth unemployment in the current construction process of BRI. On the one hand, youth unemployment has become a major global issue today. According to statistics, there are currently around 200 million unemployed people worldwide, 74.5 million of whom are young people aged 15–24. The global youth unemployment rate has reached 13.1%, almost three times the adult unemployment rate (ILO, 2014). This situation deteriorates when it is compounded by the employment difficulties caused by the expansion of higher education in countries along the BRI, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. For example, the gross enrollment rate of higher education in China grew to 40% in 2015, and the average college graduates reached more than 6.8 million (MOE, 2016). A large number of college graduates entering the job market have brought about severe pressure on structural unemployment. On the other hand, the continuous improvement of the free-trade systems of the countries along the BRI will release more and more employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, but the number and quality of university students’ participation in entrepreneurship in these countries are not ideal. According to the 2015 China College Student Employment Report, the proportion of self-employed entrepreneurs of college graduates in 2014 was 2.9%, far below the level of 20% for US college students. Even the vocational college graduates in the Pan-Yangtze River Delta region with the highest proportion of self-employment are only 4.6% (MyCOS Research Institute, 2015). The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor China Report states that although the ranking of entrepreneurial activity indexes for Chinese citizens aged 18–64 is constantly rising, there is a lack of highly educated entrepreneurs, and more entrepreneurs concentrate in low-tech industries to take advantage of labor costs (GEM, 2016). Therefore, cultivating entrepreneurial spirit and capacity will effectively alleviate the employment pressure of college students and provide an alternative for college students to work. Meanwhile, cultivating college students’ entrepreneurial abilities can also fully reveal the potential of college graduates and improve economic productivity.

6.1 Economic Structural Reform and Cultivating Entrepreneurial …

6.1.2.3

301

Technological Innovation

Technological innovation is essential in promoting the development of productivity. At present, China’s economic growth is showing a downward trend. It seems to result from insufficient demand, but it is in fact the insufficient effectiveness on the supply side, especially the lack of technological innovation, that inhibits economic vitality. Therefore, the key to whether the economic structure can achieve strategic adjustment is whether it can innovate throughout the entire process of supply-side structural reform. As the traditional driving forces for economic growth are gradually weakening, we must accelerate the implementation of innovation-driven development strategies in order to transform the driving forces and create new engines for economies. Technological innovation can discover and form new economic growth points and solve a series of challenges brought by structural overcapacity, resource dependence and the process of breaking excessive dependence on resources. Technological innovation can also transform traditional industries, cultivate emerging industries and lead to industrial transformation upgrade. HEIs are important in promoting technological innovation. By participating in R&D and entrepreneurial activities where they carry out innovative practices in technology, products, formats, marketing and management, students can effectively improve the quality of product supply, promote the industry to move to the mid- to high end and form new competitive advantages. Take the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an example. Graduates of this university have used the technological breakthroughs achieved in their laboratories to create 25,800 knowledge-based high-tech companies focusing on software, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and consulting. These companies employ about 3.3 million employees and have annual sales of $2 trillion. If these companies form an independent country, the benefits will be comparable to the 11th-ranked economy in the world (Roberts & Eesley, 2011). We could tell that university science and technology innovation and its derivative high-tech entrepreneurship play an important role in promoting economic development. The US Forbes magazine on Comparison of Entrepreneurs Under 30 in China and the USA shows that young Americans are mainly in R&D and are good at starting with technology, product and service innovation. They are freely creative in fields such as the Internet, biopharmaceutics, new energy and media, seeking to break the existing pattern of the industry. Young Chinese entrepreneurs mainly focus on the market side, that is, to find new applications of traditional industries on the network platform, and the scientific research results of universities and colleges and their contribution to application transformation are limited. College students are a specialized group with knowledge as their core competitiveness, and innovation characterized by creativity, knowledge and technology has given them an irreplaceable and important role. Cultivating college students’ innovation ability can build a bridge between college laboratories and market demand, and provide talent support for an economy driven by innovation.

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6.1.3 The Analysis of Talents in Countries Along the BRI President Xi Jinping has stressed the need to build the BRI into a road of innovation (Xi, 2017). It shows that the construction and cooperation of BRI is not a transfer of excess capacity, a low-end cooperation in economy and trade, nor a low-end labor export, but a comprehensive innovation cooperation based on an innovative cooperative system and mode, innovative science and technology, and innovative talents. Therefore, in the BRI economic cooperation and development mode, China’s previous mode of GDP growth, which relied on large-scale resource consumption, cannot be exported to the countries along the route. They ought to jointly explore more advanced cooperation mode relying on “mechanisms, talents, technology and innovation” with the countries along the route. This requires technological innovation as the fundamental support. HEIs are the source of scientific and technological innovation, the experimental field for institutional innovation, the cradle for the cultivation of innovative talents and the innovation-driven engine that promotes economic growth (Xin & Kan, 2018). The effectiveness of the BRI construction is inseparable from the support of innovative and entrepreneurial talents. Universities and enterprises in BRI countries are important sites for cultivating and training innovative and entrepreneurial talents. Governments, universities, enterprises and social organizations all shoulder their due missions and responsibilities in cultivating innovative and entrepreneurial talents. Different experts and scholars around the world have different understandings of the definition of innovative and entrepreneurial talents. For example, in 1991, the Tokyo International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation Education proposed that innovative entrepreneurial talents are pioneering talents with an original and adventurous spirit, entrepreneurial ability, independent working ability as well as technical, social and management skills; other experts pointed out that innovative and entrepreneurial talents in HEIs are those with innovative thinking and mind-sets, who can use initiate business with the acquired professional knowledge and innovation skills (Zhang, 2017). From various definitions, we can tell that the main prerequisites for innovative entrepreneurship are talents with higher education qualifications and talents engaged in research and development. The countries along the BRI have different levels of economic development, and the demand for innovative and entrepreneurial talents and the quality of the training system vary widely. Analyzing the status quo and problems of the development of innovative and entrepreneurial talents and summarizing the characteristics of innovative and entrepreneurial talents in various regions in BRI countries is the key to advancing the BRI, which requires innovative and entrepreneurial talents as support. From the perspective of the economic development levels of 65 countries1 along the route (as shown in Table 6.1) with a population of about 3.3 billion, the average GDP 1

In terms of country selection, according to the official Web site’s instructions, the Belt and Road initiative is a global open cooperation discussed and built together, and can be joined regardless of the size, poverty or strength of the country. There is no specific scope in terms of these characteristics. The countries selected in this article are based on some of the representative countries that have

6.1 Economic Structural Reform and Cultivating Entrepreneurial …

303

Table 6.1 Economic development levels of countries along the “Belt and Road” Income group

Country name (GDP per capita, USD/person)

High-income group (21 countries)

Singapore (85,208.80), Israel (35,431.60), South Korea (34,549.20), Lithuania (27,729.80), Estonia (28,094.80), Latvia (24,286.20), Slovenia (31,122.40), Austria (47,824.20), Poland (26,135.30), New Zealand (36,982.30), Saudi Arabia (53,430.10), Croatia (21,880.50), Hungary (25,581.50), Czech Republic (32,167.10), Slovakia (28,877.30), Kuwait (71,312.00), Qatar (143,788.00), Bahrain (46,946.30), UAE (70,238.00), Oman (38,234.10), and Trinidad and Tobago (32,596.50)

Middle- and high-income group (19 countries) Russia (24,451.40), Kazakhstan (25,876.50), Georgia (9679.19), Bulgaria (17,511.80), Panama (22,192.10), Azerbaijan (17,739.90), Macedonia (13,907.90), Montenegro (15,485.80), Serbia (13,481.90), Lebanon (13,938.00), Malaysia (26,891.40), Turkey (19,618.20), Romania (21,403.10), Albania (11,305.40), Bosnia and Herzegovina (10,509.70), South Africa (13,165.20), Thailand (16,305.50), Jordan (10,880.30) and Iran (17,365.80) Low- and middle-income group (20 countries)

Ukraine (7915.87), Mongolia (12,188.60), Armenia (8393.51), Philippines (7358.82), Pakistan (5041.72), Moldova (5038.50), Sri Lanka (11,738.90), Tunisia (11,397.20), Egypt (10,891.30), Kyrgyzstan (3426.65), Vietnam (6022.62), Bolivia (6880.90), Indonesia (11,035.10), India (6088.65), Morocco (7821.40), Laos (5675.49), Yemen (3791.60), Bangladesh (3332.80), Bhutan (8076.96) and Cambodia (3483.33)

Low-income group (five countries)

Ethiopia (1625.61), Nepal (2458.13), Madagascar (1459.27), Senegal (2430.80) and Rwanda (1758.73)

per capita is $21,837.8 USD, and the differences between countries are conspicuous, with Qatar ($143,788) being the highest and Madagascar ($1459.3) being the lowest. According to income groups, there are 21 high-income countries, 19 uppermiddle-income countries, 20 lower-middle-income countries and five low-income countries. The countries of BRI are mainly developing countries with a relatively lower level of higher education development and a lower degree of openness to information signed the Belt and Road cooperation document with China which are provided by the official Belt and Road Web site.

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and data. Coupled with various definitions of innovative entrepreneurial talents, it is difficult to judge innovative entrepreneurial talents from the others. Therefore, based on the accessibility of information data and the basic characteristics of higher education qualifications, research and development of innovative entrepreneurs, this section mainly analyzes the status of higher education labor and R&D personnel in BRI countries and gains insights into the advantages and disadvantages in the cultivation and development of innovative entrepreneurship talents and reserves. This section also ranks the proportion of labor force with higher education in the BRI countries (Table 6.2) and the number of researchers per million populations (Table 6.3) to analyze the characteristics of each region (country). The countries along BRI, restricted by factors such as the level of higher education development, income group and national political stability, vary in the proportion of labor force with higher education. From the perspective of geography, each region has its own characteristics.

6.1.3.1

Asia and Oceania

There are 11 countries in this region, including Singapore, South Korea, Laos and Cambodia, with a population of 634 million and an average GDP per capita of $22,336.5. The labor force with higher education takes up an average proportion of 23.31%, which is slightly higher than those of the countries along the route (23.71%); among these countries, the proportions of labor force with higher education in Singapore, South Korea, New Zealand, Mongolia, the Philippines and Malaysia are above the average level of the countries along the route, while Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos and Cambodia have lower rates than the average level. As to the pool of researchers, there are 646,581 researchers in the following nine countries: South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia, among which South Korea has the highest number of researchers per million populations, reaching 7087. Countries with a higher number than the average of the countries along the route (1582) are Singapore (6659), New Zealand (4009) and Malaysia (2261).

6.1.3.2

Central Asia

In this region, only Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, with a total population of 23.5 million, provide accessible data. The average GDP per capita of the two countries is $14,651.6. The average proportion of labor force with higher education reaches 26.64%, which surpasses the average level of the countries along the route; of the two countries, Kazakhstan has a higher number than Kyrgyzstan. As to the pool of researchers, Kazakhstan has merely 734 researchers per million population, with a total of 12,875 researchers in the whole country.

6.1 Economic Structural Reform and Cultivating Entrepreneurial …

305

Table 6.2 Proportion of labor force with higher education in countries along the Belt and Road No.

Country

Proportion (%)

Population (million)

No.

Country

Proportion (%)

1 2

Population (million)

Russia

57.76

144.10

34

Romania

19.96

19.83

Ukraine

52.33

45.20

35

Sri Lanka

19.56

20.97

3

Singapore

51.57

5.54

36

Tunisia

19.43

11.11

4

Israel

45.89

8.38

37

Kuwait

19.11

3.89

5

South Korea

43.22

50.62

38

Egypt

19.09

91.51

6

Lithuania

41.95

2.91

39

Albania

18.70

2.89

7

Estonia

38.93

1.31

40

Qatar

18.21

2.24

8

Kazakhstan

35.09

17.54

41

Kyrgyzstan

18.19

5.96

9

Latvia

34.98

1.98

42

Ethiopia

16.42

99.39

10

Slovenia

33.87

2.06

43

Vietnam

15.24

91.70

11

Austria

33.12

8.61

44

Bolivia

14.49

10.72

12

Poland

32.64

38.00

45

Bosnia and Herzegovina

14.38

3.81

13

New Zealand

31.79

4.60

46

South Africa

13.86

54.96

14

Georgia

31.45

3.68

47

Thailand

12.77

67.96

15

Bulgaria

31.04

7.18

48

Nepal

12.08

28.51

16

Mongolia

30.91

2.96

49

Indonesia

10.37

257.56

17

Armenia

28.96

3.02

50

India

9.85

1311.05

18

Panama

28.61

3.93

51

Morocco

9.01

34.38

19

Saudi Arabia 27.14

31.54

52

Laos

8.45

6.80

20

Azerbaijan

26.75

9.65

53

Yemen

8.29

26.83

21

Croatia

26.23

4.22

54

Bangladesh

6.25

161.00

22

Philippines

25.98

100.70

55

Bhutan

5.22

0.77

23

Pakistan

25.58

188.92

56

Madagascar

4.80

24.24

24

Hungary

25.34

9.84

57

Cambodia

2.77

15.58

25

Moldova

25.32

3.55

58

Senegal

2.29

15.13

26

Macedonia

24.87

2.08

59

Bahrain

n/a

1.38

27

Montenegro

24.40

0.62

60

Jordan

n/a

7.59

28

Serbia

24.40

7.10

61

UAE

n/a

9.16

29

Lebanon

24.17

5.85

62

Iran

n/a

79.11

30

Czech Republic

23.59

10.55

63

Oman

n/a

4.49

31

Malaysia

23.35

30.33

64

Trinidad and Tobago

n/a

1.36

32

Slovakia

22.62

5.42

65

Rwanda

n/a

11.61 (continued)

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Table 6.2 (continued) No.

Country

Proportion (%)

33

Turkey

22.54

Population (million)

No.

Country

Proportion (%)

Population (million)

78.67

Data source According to the data of International Labour Organization

6.1.3.3

West Asia

There are 15 countries in this region, including Israel, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Oman, etc., with a total population of 275 million; the average GDP per capita is $37,385.8, making this region the “richest region” along the route. The average proportion of labor force with higher education is 25.25%, which is slightly higher than the average level of the countries along the route (23.71%); among these countries, Israel, Georgia, Armenia, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and Lebanon have proportions of labor force with higher education above the average level of the countries along the route, while those of Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar and Yemen are lower than the average level of the countries along the route. As to the pool of researchers, there are a total number of 243,533 in the UAE, Georgia, Turkey, Iran, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman and Kuwait, of which Israel has the highest number of researchers per million population, reaching 8255. In addition, the UAE (2003) also has a higher number than the average of the countries along the route (1582), and the remaining countries all have lower rates than the average of the countries along the route.

6.1.3.4

South Asia

There are six countries in this region, including Sri Lanka and Bhutan, with a population of 1.711 billion; the average GDP per capita is $6122.9, making this region the “poorest region” along the route. The average proportion of labor force with higher education is 13.09%, which is far below the average level of the countries along the route (23.71%), and it is also the region with the lowest proportion; among these six countries, only one country, Pakistan, exceeds the average level of the countries along the route, whereas the remaining countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Bhutan have lower rates than the average level of the countries along the route. As to the pool of researchers, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka have a total number of 340,926. However, the numbers of researchers per million population are all relatively low, with 294 in Pakistan, 216 in India and 111 in Sri Lanka.

6.1.3.5

Central and Eastern Europe

There are 20 countries in this region, including Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Romania, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a total population of 321 million and

Hungary

Malaysia

Poland

Serbia

UAE

Bulgaria

Latvia

Tunisia

14

15

16

17

18

19

Estonia

8

13

Czech Republic

7

12

Slovenia

6

Slovakia

New Zealand

5

11

Austria

4

Russia

Singapore

3

Lithuania

South Korea

2

10

Israel

1

9

Country

No.

1787

1834

1989

2003

2071

2139

2261

2569

2655

2822

3131

3189

3612

3821

4009

4955

6659

7087

8255

Researchers/million population

11.11

1.98

7.18

9.16

7.10

38.00

30.33

9.84

5.42

2.91

144.10

1.31

10.55

2.06

4.60

8.61

5.54

50.62

8.38

Population (million)

Table 6.3 Researchers in countries along the Belt and Road

19,856

3630

14,284

18,351

14,706

81,286

68,589

25,277

14,389

8213

451,193

4178

38,106

7871

18,440

42,663

36,888

358,762

69,180

Total researchers

52

51

50

49

48

47

46

45

44

43

42

41

40

39

38

37

36

35

34

No.

Cambodia

Panama

Ethiopia

Madagascar

Indonesia

Sri Lanka

Kuwait

Albania

Bolivia

Philippines

Oman

India

Pakistan

Jordan

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Senegal

Bahrain

South Africa

Qatar

Country

30

39

45

51

90

111

128

157

166

189

202

216

294

308

329

361

362

437

597

Researchers/million population

15.58

3.93

99.39

24.24

257.56

20.97

3.89

2.89

10.72

100.70

4.49

1311.05

188.92

7.59

3.81

15.13

1.38

54.96

2.24

Population (million)

(continued)

471

155

4484

1237

23,059

2326

499

455

1779

19,074

907

282,990

55,610

2338

1252

5464

500

24,021

1337

Total researchers

6.1 Economic Structural Reform and Cultivating Entrepreneurial … 307

Croatia

Georgia

Turkey

Morocco

Ukraine

Romania

Thailand

Macedonia

Montenegro

Kazakhstan

Iran

Egypt

Vietnam

Moldova

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

662

675

680

691

734

836

859

874

895

1006

1033

1157

1288

1502

Researchers/million population

3.55

91.70

91.51

79.11

17.54

0.62

2.08

67.96

19.83

45.20

34.38

78.67

3.68

4.22

Population (million)

2350

61,880

62,209

54,697

12,875

518

1786

59,417

17,744

45,471

35,499

90,983

4741

6336

Total researchers

Data source According to the data of UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Country

No.

Table 6.3 (continued)

65

64

63

62

61

60

59

58

57

56

55

54

53

No.

Nepal

Bangladesh

Laos

Trinidad and Tobago

Bhutan

Kyrgyzstan

Lebanon

Saudi Arabia

Azerbaijan

Armenia

Yemen

Mongolia

Rwanda

Country

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

12

Researchers/million population

28.51

161.00

6.80

1.36

0.77

5.96

5.85

31.54

9.65

3.02

26.83

2.96

11.61

Population (million)

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

143

Total researchers

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6.1 Economic Structural Reform and Cultivating Entrepreneurial …

309

an average GDP per capita of $21,735.5. The average proportion of labor force with higher education (30.32%) is highest in the six regions along the route, much higher than the average level of countries along the route (23.71%). Among these 20 countries, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Austria, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Moldova, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia exceed the average level of the countries along the route, while only Czech, Slovakia, Romania, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina have lower rates than the average level of the countries along the route. As to the pool of researchers, there are a total number of 781,710 in the 20 countries of this region, and Austria has the highest number of researchers per million population, reaching 4955. Countries also exceeding the average level of the countries along the route (1582) are Slovenia (3821), Czech Republic (3612), Estonia (3189), Russia (3131), Lithuania (2822), Slovakia (2655), Hungary (2569), Poland (2139), Serbia (2071), Bulgaria (1989) and Latvia (1834).

6.1.3.6

Africa and Latin America

There are 11 countries in this region, including Panama, Tunisia, Egypt and Rwanda, with a total population of 358 million; the average GDP per capita is $10,201.7, and the average proportion of labor force with higher education is 14.12%, which is far lower than the average level of the countries along the route (23.71%). Among these countries, only one country, Panama, exceeds the average level of the countries along the route, while the remaining countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Bolivia, South Africa, Morocco, Madagascar and Senegal have lower proportions than the average rate of the countries along the route. As to the pool of researchers, the 10 countries—Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Senegal, Bolivia, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Panama and Rwanda—have a total number of 154,847, and Israel has the highest number of researchers per million population, reaching 1787, which surpasses the average level of the countries along the route (1582). The remaining countries all have lower rates than the average of the countries along the route.

6.1.4 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Require Prioritizing Cultivation of Talents Innovation and entrepreneurship are powerful driving forces for development. In the process of deepening the construction of BRI, it requires innovation and entrepreneurship to activate the momentum for not only the reform of social structure, but also the transformation of the economic growth mode. The success of the adjustment of economic and social structure lies in the quality of the innovation and entrepreneurship of members of society, and the effective way to improve human capital is through education. Only by accelerating the reform of the education system and emphasizing the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents can we effectively deal with

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the challenges facing the transformation of momentum and proactively adapt to and lead the “new normal” of economic development. To strengthen the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents requires attention to the following aspects.

6.1.4.1

Developing Scientific Understanding and Accurate Knowledge

Every aspect of society should pay more attention to and give priority to the development of education, improve the quality of human capital and then take advantage of this as the fundamental approach to promote economic and social transformation and sustainable development. It is the mission of the era in a globalized society to cultivate innovative and entrepreneurial talents, as it is connected to the core competitiveness of the economic and social development in the future, and it justifies the meaning of the entire development of education. The cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents should not be limited to alleviating regional and short-term urgent needs, but should become a constant source of power for the sustainable development of modern society. The government and the education sectors should adhere to innovation-led entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship-driven employment, actively support innovation-driven development, correspond to the BRI and promote the reorganization of global value chains.

6.1.4.2

Strengthening Institutional Improvement and System Reform

Governments at all levels and education administration departments should give priority to the discovery, cultivation, selection and use of innovative and entrepreneurial talents in accordance with the requirements of supply-side structural reforms and mobilize members of the community to innovate and start-up business through comprehensive reforms of the education system and scientific research system. They should also create a social atmosphere where innovation is respected and entrepreneurship is encouraged, activate policy and institutional environment conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship, improve supporting measures such as evaluation and mobility, and make full use of the wisdom of innovation and the potential of entrepreneurship. At the same time, educational institutions of all sorts should incorporate the spirit of innovation and the consciousness and ability of entrepreneurship into the training goals of students, improve the innovation and entrepreneurship education and training system, actively explore the mechanism for the cultivation and growth of innovative and entrepreneurial talents, and train new talents suitable for modern economic development.

6.1 Economic Structural Reform and Cultivating Entrepreneurial …

6.1.4.3

311

Focusing on the Overall Progress and Construction of Ecosystem

The training of innovative and entrepreneurial talents is a holistic systematic project, and overall progress is the fundamental strategy for the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education. To this end, government authorities must strengthen the top-level design and overall planning, vigorously promote reforms of standards, mechanisms, courses, methods, practices, teachers, services and protection for the innovation and entrepreneurship education, and bring together the overall synergy of the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents. On the other hand, construction of the ecosystem is an important guarantee for the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents. Different stakeholders such as governments, schools, enterprises and social organizations all have their unique and irreplaceable roles in the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents. Therefore, through the establishment of a resource aggregation mechanism, a value exchange mechanism and a balance adjustment mechanism, the following should be formed to promote the virtuous circle and sustainable development of the ecosystem of the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents: strong supply-side matrix of the innovation and entrepreneurship education; relevant ecological chain for the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents; spillover effect with knowledge and innovation as the main medium; and a back-feeding effect with funds, experience and opportunities as the main medium.

6.1.4.4

Highlighting Population-Wide and Lifelong Features

Cultivating innovative and entrepreneurial talents is the objective need for mass entrepreneurship and innovation. Mass entrepreneurship and innovation requires innovation and entrepreneurship education to be integrated into the entire system and process of talent training, and it should be open to all students, involve all teachers and serve as the driving force for the entire society. Building a lifelong system is an inherent requirement for the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents. In this regard, universities and colleges should take the initiative to assume the hub for the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents, not only radiating to primary and secondary schools to lead the trend of innovation and entrepreneurship education in primary and secondary schools, but also influencing continuing education to provide high-quality skills training for innovation and entrepreneurship and to help adults improve their abilities of innovation and entrepreneurship. In this way, adults could explore the future world and help establish a beautiful vision of lifelong innovation and entrepreneurship for all.

312

6.1.4.5

6 Training Strategy of Key Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talents

Emphasizing International Cooperation and Educational Exchange

In the communities of a shared future built by BRI, innovation and entrepreneurship are no longer confined within a country but become a cross-border cause. Encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship is an important method for developed countries along the BRI to get rid of the economic downturn and for developing countries to achieve new growth. At present, countries along the BRI have proposed strategies for innovation and entrepreneurship education, carried out infrastructure construction for innovation and entrepreneurship, and promoted cultural construction for the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents. However, they still face many challenges in carrying out innovation and entrepreneurship education and bringing out the leading role of innovation and entrepreneurship; there is a huge gap between the breadth, intensity and effect of innovation and entrepreneurship education and the broad prospects for innovation and entrepreneurship in promoting economic development. Therefore, in the process of forwarding the construction of BRI, it is necessary to form a complementary, sharing and collaborative mechanism with the countries along the route on the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents and the resources of innovation and entrepreneurship, so as to achieve the agglomeration and leading effects of innovation and entrepreneurship.

6.2 Economic and Social Transformation and Training of Talents for Social Entrepreneurship China’s economic and social development is confronted with the need of multidirectional, multi-tiered and multi-domain transformation, which poses new challenges to education and talent undertakings. The fifth plenary session of the 18th CPC central committee accurately grasped the overall trend of China’s economic and social development and creatively put forward the five development concepts of “innovation, coordination, green development, opening up and sharing.” These five development concepts are the embodiment of China’s development thinking, direction and focus during the 13th five-year plan period and beyond, as well as of China’s development experience over the past 40 years of reform and opening up. These five development concepts place new expectations on the talent training system of higher education. How to cultivate various aspects of talent who can promote theoretical innovation, system innovation, cultural innovation, the innovation of science and technology and so on; how to promote higher education to solve the problem of regional development disharmony, to form a balanced structure and to construct a good ecological and sustainable development of environment for the benefit of future generations; how to compete in the global value chain and give full play to our country’s comparative advantage, to create mutual benefit and win-win cooperation pattern; and how to safeguard the basic rights of the people and give people a better

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life through the empowerment of education—these are all the problems that need to be solved through all kinds of reforms. The entrepreneurial society is the future development trend, and innovation and entrepreneurship are the two carriages to promote the future social development. Vigorously promoting social entrepreneurship, cultivating social entrepreneurship talents and effectively improving the social attributes of innovation and entrepreneurship are regarded as an important part of mass entrepreneurship and innovation. Given the reality of traditional entrepreneurial activities ignoring environmental issues, the wealth gap, mostly active in cities and neglecting the needs of farmers, social entrepreneurship advocates the realization of the triple goals of the government, the market and the public, and solves many practical problems faced by rural agriculture and other less developed fields in innovation and entrepreneurship activities. Social entrepreneurship has gradually gained attention because of its creative solutions to social problems. At present, there is a serious utilitarian tendency in China’s innovation and entrepreneurship activities, which fails to effectively integrate various social forces and fully release the social value of resources. The survey shows that most young people identify with social entrepreneurship, but face obstacles in concept, policy, financing and evaluation. Our country should attach great importance to this new form of business, take social entrepreneurship as the key work into the state’s major development plan, to speed up the construction of social entrepreneurship education system, carry out social entrepreneurship programs to foster and pilot, build a community of social entrepreneurship and integration force, and accelerate the development of social entrepreneurship and the related personnel training.

6.2.1 Social Problems Hamper Economic and Social Transformation and Development In the process of transition from a management economy to an entrepreneurial economy, some traditional industries, such as health, food, education and pension industries, need to introduce new forces to alleviate the current social pain points, such as health issues for the elderly, education equity issues and food safety issues. In recent years, social events in all walks of life have attracted extensive attention due to the spread of new media, such as the “Guo Meimei incident” of the Red Cross, the “fake vaccine” incident that harmed infants, the endless school violence, the “poisoned rice,” “poisoned milk powder” food safety incident and so on. In general, the transition of China’s economic form presents a variety of social problems. The requirements for innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development are reflected not only in the technological domain but also in the social domain. The emergence of social problems is universal; that is, it involves and affects a wide range of areas, such as food safety, high housing prices, aging and so on. If not well resolved, they will certainly affect the course of building a moderately

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prosperous society in all respects. For example, the aging population problem refers to the increasing proportion of the population aged 60 and above, which affects the normal production and life of the society. In terms of the age composition of the population, China has entered into an elderly society. Because of its large population base, China will be the world’s largest elderly population now and in the future. An aging population brings social, political and economic effects and problems, such as a decreasing labor force, slowing of national innovation capacity growth and soaring of retirement pension and healthcare expenses for the whole society. It requires other areas to adjust accordingly, such as social production, investment, consumption, distribution, urban and rural planning and social security. There are also major concerns about education that affect millions of families, especially regarding the fairness of educational opportunities and educational quality. This can also be obtained from a series of social phenomena such as “school district room,” “remediation fever,” “college entrance examination immigration” and others. The construction of ecological civilization is more concerned with the daily life of the public. Health problems caused by air pollution, water pollution and other phenomena are both personal and global. As shown in Table 6.4, some indicators show that the current development of China has yet to be promoted, such as the overweight real estate residential investment that affects the normal residents’ investment allocation and the quality of daily life; the overlarge daily average energy consumption and the huge amount of wastewater emissions also pose a serious threat to the environment. In addition, the primary and secondary school education, health care, social welfare and relief, geological and meteorological disasters and so on all have large room to improve. The mission of social entrepreneurs is to use entrepreneurial means to solve various problems encountered in the current social development and provide inexhaustible impetus for economic and social transformation and development. Shenzhen Hua Ling Elderly Service Center is a professional endowment service agency supported by the Shenzhen civil affairs departments, registered in the Shenzhen Administration of Social Organizations. It employs more than 50 professional and technical personnel and has rich experience in elderly services. It occupies a total area of 3200 m2 in Lian Hua Bei Village, Futian District. The center integrates many businesses, such as community endowment, day care, canteen, elderly training, comprehensive rehabilitation therapy and health management. In 2016, the Internet of things technology and smart cloud data platform were introduced to establish a home-based care call center and a home-based care service platform, undertaking 14 community home-based care service stations and providing smart care services to over 6000 elderly people. In 2017, the model of comprehensive elderly care service in the Hua Ling community was copied in other communities, aiming to serve over 30,000 elderly people annually by 2020 (2015). China’s social entrepreneurship projects gradually blossomed, especially when the national entrepreneurship competition began to set up the social entrepreneurship track. The development of social entrepreneurship has gained national universities and society’s extensive attention, and a series of high-quality projects stood out and obtained considerable capital investment. Xinqing Housekeeper Team from

6.2 Economic and Social Transformation and Training …

315

Table 6.4 Representative indicators of China’s social development in various fields

Old-age dependency ratio

2010

2016

Development trend in recent years

11.9%

15.0%

Steady growth

Real estate residential 34,026.23 investment (RMB 100 million)

68,703.87

Steady growth

Registered urban unemployment rate (%)

4.1%

4.0%

Slightly down

Average daily energy consumption (tons of standard coal)

988.1

1177.8

Steady growth

Total discharge of wastewater (10,000 tons)

6,172,562.00

7,110,953.88

Steady growth

Pupil–teacher ratio (number of 17.70 teachers = 1)

17.12

Decline in fluctuation

Number of health technicians per 10,000 people (rural, human)

40

Steady growth

Inpatient surgeries in medical 2904.34 and health institutions (10,000)

5082.20

Steady growth

Number of orphans

252,110

460,450

Grow in fluctuation

Crude divorce rate (per thousand)

2.00

3.02

steady growth

10,997

Falling volatility

30

Number of geological disasters 30,670 (times)

Source Web site of the national bureau of statistics and statistical bulletin on national economic and social development for related years

Zhejiang University invented a tool for career planning and mental health growth, integrating self-awareness and professional DNA match functions in one, to guide college students. Another case for college student’s social entrepreneurship is the four-dimensional space box—a universal teaching aid printing system that aims to help children’s education in developing countries based on 3D printing technology (2015). As a firm force to promote the development of social innovation, the public welfare entrepreneurial activities of social entrepreneurs not only provide corresponding countermeasures and methods for the development of society, but also create tangible benefits for different interest groups. But in China, there is no clear social entrepreneur identification. Correspondingly, in the field of entrepreneurship education, the urgent need of cultivating social entrepreneurship talents has not been actively responded to by higher education.

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6.2.2 Building an Entrepreneurial Society Requires Inclusive Development In 2007, the Asian Development Bank put forward the concept of inclusive growth, pointing out that many people, especially the poor, have been excluded from valuecreating activities in the process of economic growth. This social exclusion may stem from geographical isolation or from the constraints imposed by the poor’s own lack of capital and capacity. Due to various social exclusions, some people cannot participate in the process of value creation, and these people naturally cannot benefit from the increase of social wealth. Over time, a vicious cycle of poverty is formed for some people. Zeng Peiyan, then vice premier of the state council, wrote an article during his tenure as vice chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia, pointing out that inclusive development has a huge role to play in promoting globalization and regional economic integration, especially in bringing more equity to vulnerable groups and less developed countries and realizing common development (Tang et al., 2017). By means of social innovation, social exclusion can be reduced so that more people can participate in the process of value creation equitably and receive fair value distribution in the subsequent link of value distribution. This type of innovation is called inclusive innovation. Wu Xiaobo and Jiang Yanbin divided the causes of social exclusion into opportunity participation and value distribution, as well as external institutional reasons and internal ability reasons, forming a four-quadrant analysis framework. In cases where individuals have sufficient capacity but lack access to opportunities and participation due to institutional reasons, inclusiveness should be enhanced by lowering barriers to participation. For situations where the individual is unable to participate due to a lack of ability, the individual’s ability should be enhanced to promote inclusiveness (Wu & Jiang, 2012). Coincidentally, the concept of shared value creation proposed by relevant foreign scholars is similar. Harvard professors Porter and Kramer reckon that shared value creation is a great idea: The future strategy of enterprise development should meet the needs of society into the strategic core, not only to create economic value, but to create social value, while the latter will also be able to drive the implementation of the former objectively. This idea will drive the next wave of global innovation and productivity growth. They stress that shared value creation is not simply about philanthropy or corporation social responsibility, but about achieving new economic achievements by expanding the value of the economy (Porter & Kramer, 2011). However, reviewing the current innovation and entrepreneurship activities in China, on the whole, there is a serious social vacancy problem. There is less attention paid to shared value creation and inclusive development, too much attention paid to economic value, profit sharing and profit grabbing, and a weak sense of social responsibility that should be included in entrepreneurship. It can be divided into the below aspects.

6.2 Economic and Social Transformation and Training …

6.2.2.1

317

From the Perspective of Entrepreneurial Content, There Is a Serious Utilitarian Tendency

UNESCO argues that entrepreneurs must not be limited to commercial entrepreneurs who focus only on generating profits, but must also include social entrepreneurs who focus on the well-being of poor and marginalized groups. At present, the understanding and practice of innovation and entrepreneurship in China still mostly rest at the level of establishing start-ups, paying more attention to economic value while ignoring social value. This is difficult to meet the diversified development needs of innovation and entrepreneurship in China. There is also a serious tendency of utilitarianism in innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities. The idea that entrepreneurship education is equal to business education still prevails, and the slogan of “cultivating future bosses” reveals this epistemology (Xu & Ni, 2016). When evaluating innovation and entrepreneurship activities, more attention is paid to economic figures such as market share and annual output value, while ignoring the social contributions made by enterprises in protecting the environment, advocating equity and assisting vulnerable groups.

6.2.2.2

From the Perspective of Entrepreneurship Subjects, It Fails to Effectively Integrate Various Social Forces

At present, enterprises and the private sector are the main subjects of innovation and entrepreneurship, while the government and non-profit organizations have yet to effectively integrate and exert their power. In order to realize the sustainable growth of the economy, many countries put forward cooperative innovation among the first sector (government), the second department (corporation) and the third sector (nonprofit organization) in their national development strategy. Thus, the boundaries of public and private sectors in the field of entrepreneurship are broken gradually, which effectively promotes economic and social efficiency. In China, traditional non-profit organizations rely too much on donations and the public sector is inefficient, while traditional commercial enterprises mainly engage in business activities to maximize the interests of owners, and the spillover value of resource integration has not been fully revealed.

6.2.2.3

From the Perspective of Entrepreneurial Value, It Fails to Fully Release the Social Value of Resources

As China enters the decisive stage of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, environmental pollution, uneven educational opportunities, widening gap between the rich and the poor and other social problems need to be addressed urgently. With the in-depth promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative, the cultural tourism resources with Chinese characteristics, excellent ethnic handicrafts and the construction mode of characteristic towns are facing great opportunities of “going

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global.” It is difficult for the one-way innovation oriented by economic value to effectively solve the above social problems and promote “going global” with Chinese characteristics on the basis of driving local people to get rich. Social entrepreneurship model takes social and business as the essential attributes and can effectively integrate regnant resources scattered in ethnic minority areas, poor areas and ecologically fragile areas, sequentially realizing the value of resource transformation. Social entrepreneurial activities capture new opportunities for social development, deal with social institution absence and make up for a lack of traditional structure performance. Many examples of social entrepreneurship, such as the micro-finance bank founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus, have had a significant impact in countries like Bangladesh, where they have made significant contributions to tackling poverty.

6.2.2.4

From the Perspective of Entrepreneurial Process, Social Entrepreneurship Has a High Degree of Recognition but Is Hardly Possible

According to the survey, college students have a high motivation for social entrepreneurship, and 61.3% believe that “actions can drive more people to support public welfare and be happy.” Those who choose “not only protect the public interest but also solve their own practical difficulties” accounted for 28.9% (Li, 2015). Such a high intention of social entrepreneurship has not produced much social entrepreneurship, mainly because college students are faced with various difficulties in the process of social entrepreneurship. In terms of social cognition, little is known about the forms of social entrepreneurship. Many people believe that entrepreneurship in the public sphere is the business of the government. In terms of the difficulty of entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship requires entrepreneurs not only to achieve self-hematopoiesis, but also to produce social impact and effectively solve social problems, which demands more than ordinary entrepreneurship projects. In terms of supporting policies, governments are now vigorously promoting innovation and entrepreneurship, but favoring technological innovation-driven entrepreneurship projects and paying less attention to public welfare projects. There are no specific incentive measures for that. In terms of financing, it is difficult to obtain loans or angel investment from banks or investment funds for public welfare entrepreneurship projects. In terms of evaluation criteria, the evaluation indicators for the success or failure of entrepreneurship are relatively single, paying too much attention to its economic benefits and ignoring social benefits.

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6.2.3 The Rise of Social Entrepreneurship and Its Educational Activities 6.2.3.1

The Emergence of Social Entrepreneurship

The oil crisis of the 1970s not only reduced the tax revenue of Western industrial governments, but also greatly weakened their ability to implement welfare policies. Recession-hit developed countries have begun to slash public-sector investment and social welfare spending. At the same time, small businesses that are high tech, with flexible operation mechanism and a strong sense of innovation, began to gain unexpected development, providing many job opportunities for the society. This highly efficient and creative form of organization has led both the government and traditional non-profit organizations to call for such commercialized solutions to social problems. The important reasons are as follows: On the one hand, this reform can enable non-profit organizations to survive despite the lack of government support; on the other hand, they can fill the gap where the invisible hand is reluctant to touch while the visible hand is unable to reach. Under this trend, non-profit organizations habituated to rely on donations started to improve their acquisition and use of resources, relationship coordination and financing, to overcome multiple principle limits such as prohibiting the dividend distribution and asset lock. Marketization exploration of the NGOs is thus regarded as the beginning of today’s social entrepreneurship movement. Although the practice of religious charities selling goods to supplement their donations can be traced back to centuries ago, the real scaled and significant role of social enterprises was created in the special historical circumstances of the 1970s and 1980s. According to statistics, between 1997 and 1989, about 40% of the income of social service organizations came from fees and other business resources. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the commercial profits of non-profit organizations increased 219% in two decades (1982–2002), and their share of the total income of non-profit organizations increased from 48.1 to 57.6%. But the private donations and government grants remained a small proportion and the amount barely grew. Governments in many countries, including the USA and Europe, are increasingly playing an important role in the movement to promote social entrepreneurship, as they have realized that third-sector organizations can contribute to solving social problems such as high unemployment, widening gap between rich and poor, and environmental degradation. European social enterprises began to recover in the 1990s. The Italian government took the lead with a law promulgated in 1991 to set up a legal form of “social cooperative” for the social enterprise. Belgium enacted the law of social purpose enterprises, Finland enacted the law of social enterprise, and Britain’s “community interest company regulations” and other laws and regulations were also issued for the registration of social enterprises, specified the conditions and stipulated the preferential policy, taxation and returns. The European Union has built an inclusive social innovation support policy system, including investment and

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financing, R&D and incubation, education and training, standards and auditing, and other aspects. The USA announced the Domestic Volunteer Service Act, National and Community Service Act, Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and a series of legislation to encourage citizens to participate in social service. In addition, the USA has set up social innovation funds, called for a nationwide social innovation entrepreneurship, promoted the development of the non-profit sector and effectively promoted the social legalization process in the form of business entity by adjusting the original company legal framework. For example, the existing legal forms of social enterprises in the USA include Benefit Corporation (B Corp), Low-profit Limited Liability Company (L3C), Social Purpose Corporation (SPC), Flexible Purpose Corporation (FPC) and Benefit Limited Corporations (BLLCs). Among these, B Corp has been legislated in 31 states and eight more are in the process of being legislated. International organizations promote the development of social entrepreneurship education on a global scale through active initiatives. For example, UNESCO argued at its conference on “creativity and entrepreneurship in education” that entrepreneurs must not only be commercial entrepreneurs who focus only on profit generation, but also social entrepreneurs who focus on the well-being of poor and marginalized groups. UNICEF actively advocates youth social entrepreneurship education and believes that encouraging youth entrepreneurship contributes to the development of key skills, active integration into society, development of leadership skills, exposure to social change, realization of their aspirations and the reduction of youth participation in bad social behavior. At the beginning of 2014, the European Economic and Social Commission and the European Commission co-hosted a conference on social entrepreneurship in Strasbourg, France, and adopted the Strasbourg Declaration, which emphasized the strengthening of social entrepreneurship education and the building of a social entrepreneurship ecosystem as among the key actions for the future. In this context, both social and economic developments require higher education to shoulder the historical mission of cultivating social entrepreneurship culture and social entrepreneurship talents, and thus social entrepreneurship education is born. The pioneers of social entrepreneurship education, represented by Professor Greg Dees, took the lead in the mid-1990s in Harvard University, Stanford University, Duke University and others to promote social entrepreneurship education by offering courses, holding competitions, establishing research centers and other activities.

6.2.3.2

Educational Implications of Social Entrepreneurship

“Social entrepreneurship education” is the general term for education and teaching activities relating to social entrepreneurship, which is the inheritance and development of entrepreneurship education. At present, entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities is often narrowly identified with commercial entrepreneurship education, and social entrepreneurship education is not highlighted. In fact, social entrepreneurship education and commercial entrepreneurship education, as the

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inferior concept of entrepreneurship education, show many differences in training objectives, teaching objects, teacher requirements, curriculum module setting and common teaching methods (Ni, 2015). The characteristics of social entrepreneurship education are reflected in multiple objectives, broad objects, dual contents and practical methods. First, there are multiple teaching objectives. According to the existing entrepreneurship education theory, social entrepreneurship education can be divided into “education about social entrepreneurship,” “education through social entrepreneurship” and “education for social entrepreneurship.” The purpose of education about social entrepreneurship is to convey information on social entrepreneurship, which is biased toward knowledge and theory of social entrepreneurship. The purpose of education through social entrepreneurship is to temper the quality of individual social entrepreneurship and to favor social entrepreneurship spirit and skills. The purpose of education for social entrepreneurship is explicitly to cultivate social entrepreneurs and encourage students to set up social enterprises or non-profit organizations, with a preference for social entrepreneurship methods and practices. For different objectives, social entrepreneurship education can have different teaching purposes, or it can have multiple teaching purposes at the same time. Second, there is a wide range of educational objects. There are three main aspects of this wide range: First, in institutions of higher education, in addition to business schools, other schools (schools of education, environment and resources, law, etc.) also have the need and advantages of offering courses in social entrepreneurship; second, in addition to students who clearly want to participate in the field of social entrepreneurship, other students who are interested in charity, business responsibility, innovation and entrepreneurship also need to understand the basic knowledge and philosophy of social entrepreneurship. Third, in addition to college students, social entrepreneurship education can extend to the primary, secondary and adult education and training in multiple layers. And even outside the school system, social entrepreneurship education object can include the managers of public personage, foundations, non-profit organizations and government agencies. Learning social entrepreneurship is also an important way for empowering vulnerable groups of unemployed or underemployed. Third is the duality of teaching content. The fuzziness of discipline boundaries determines the duality of teaching content. Social entrepreneurship education content needs the integration of “social” and “entrepreneurship.” On the one hand, teaching contents should reflect the entrepreneurial characteristics. Establishing social enterprises also needs social entrepreneurs to have skills like opportunity identification, risk-taking, funding, resources integration, market operation, etc. In addition, they need to possess the abilities of scaling social impact and to get government support. On the other hand, to reflect social characteristics, social entrepreneurs need to be familiar with the development of social public affairs, especially with professional knowledge in a particular field (such as education or poverty alleviation) where social enterprises are located. They also need to integrate morality, trust, ethics, justice and other elements into the curriculum system.

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Fourth is the practicality of teaching methods. Any entrepreneurial activity should pay attention to the reality, opportunity identification, resource integration and business model innovation, and other contents need to be carried out in a certain realistic simulation-based teaching form. Except for traditional teaching, class discussion, case analysis and other teaching methods, social entrepreneurship education emphasizes hands-on practice, including exploring social entrepreneurship opportunities, understanding the characteristics of the industry and cultivating the spirit of voluntary service through social investigation, interviews with social entrepreneurs, participation in entrepreneurship planning competitions and service learning. A US analysis of 107 social entrepreneurship education projects and the results shows that 75% of the teachers will embed service learning or experiential learning module into the curriculum, which provides practice opportunities upon theoretical knowledge received in the classroom. Emphasis on practical education makes the teaching of social entrepreneurship possible to help students directly deal with the cognitive ambiguity, learn the core competence of social entrepreneurship and enhance self-efficacy through participation.

6.2.4 Countermeasures for Training Social Entrepreneurial Talents “Motivate and protect entrepreneurship and encourage more members of society to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship.” In the report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), it was proposed to encourage diverse social entities to participate in innovation and entrepreneurship activities. “Build an environmental governance system in which the government plays the leading role, enterprises play the main role, and social organizations and the public participate together.” “Move the focus of social governance down to the community level, give play to the role of social organizations, and ensure that government governance, social regulation and residents’ autonomy interact in a positive way.” The report of the 19th National Congress of CPC also highlighted the important value of social organizations in building social governance patterns and participating in environmental governance systems. Social entrepreneurship aims to achieve social goals through commercial means. It upholds a double bottom line. On the one hand, it has a strong social value, adheres to the social mission of traditional public welfare and charity, and resorts to social innovation to solve social problems. On the other hand, it regards market opportunities as a way to achieve self-hematopoietic and rational expansion. At present, our common innovation and entrepreneurship activities focus more on business side and neglect the social side. The implementation of social entrepreneurship can promote social innovation, improve social governance and effectively enhance the social value of innovation and entrepreneurship.

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China has not yet established social enterprises as a legal entity. Similar institutions include non-profit organizations in the form of social organizations, private nonenterprise units and unregistered grassroots social organizations, which are active in areas such as poverty alleviation, rights and interests protection, and ecological and environmental protection. By the end of 2016, China had 702,000 social organizations, with an increase of six percent over last year, employing 7.637 million people of all types and receiving 78.67 billion yuan in donations. The biggest limitation is that they cannot carry out entrepreneurial activities like business organizations and cannot achieve self-generating and sustainable development. In practice, despite the increasing number of social entrepreneurship projects, there are still not many social entrepreneurship projects focusing on social issues and adhering to social missions, which have not yet formed a group effect. To promote social entrepreneurship, we need to make overall arrangements in the following aspects.

6.2.4.1

Integrate Social Entrepreneurship into the National Development Plan as a Key Project

In foreign countries, social entrepreneurship has a very high social impact and normally enjoys special encouragement and protection acts. The USA has enacted the Serving America Act and other bills to encourage citizens to participate in social services, establish social innovation funds, call for nationwide social innovation and entrepreneurship activities, and promote the development of the third sector. The existing legal forms of social enterprises in the USA include Benefit Corporation, low-profit limited liability companies and so on, among which Benefit Corporation has passed legislation in 31 states and another eight states are in the process of legislation, as mentioned above. After understanding social entrepreneurship’s core principles and key tasks, taking social entrepreneurship as an effective approach to crack major public issues like education, poverty, health and ecological issues, and exerting its role in social governance system in the new era, we suggested that at the central government level they take social entrepreneurship as the key project of innovation and entrepreneurship strategy implementation and bring it into various development planning. These include National Economic and Social Development Planning, Poverty Alleviation Long-term Development, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Planning, National Outline for Medium- and Long-term Educational Reform and Development, etc., to constantly activate social entrepreneurship and gradually form the social governance strategy in the new era.

6.2.4.2

Accelerate the Promotion of Social Entrepreneurship Education and Form a Social Entrepreneurship Education System

College students are the fresh force of social entrepreneurship. To speed up the training of social entrepreneurship talents with social responsibility, entrepreneurial

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spirit and practice ability, we need to advocate social responsibility consciousness and embed concepts like global change, corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, green business, social mission and venture philanthropy into the original entrepreneurship education system, to change the traditional narrow idea of pure business entrepreneurs and enlighten social entrepreneurship. Second, it is necessary to develop the integrated curriculum system of social entrepreneurship education. Based on the current key public social issues, the specialized curriculum and social entrepreneurship curriculum should be closely integrated to form a multi-level curriculum system of “general courses/courses that combine with majors/professional courses.” Third, it is necessary to build multi-practice experience learning platforms to encourage students to deepen their understanding of social status through social practice, entrepreneurship competition, part-time training and social research, to effectively identify social entrepreneurship opportunities and enhance the fit between entrepreneurship education and solving social problems.

6.2.4.3

Vigorously Support Social Entrepreneurship Projects and Carry Out National Pilot Projects

Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology and other ministries need to jointly support social entrepreneurship projects that have the potential to solve major livelihood issues, give preferential policies and funds, and establish public–private partnership models to promote major livelihood projects by purchasing services and entrusting projects. Besides, carrying out national pilot projects to improve the quality of public service provision and the efficiency of the use of government funds is also suggested. In light of the “Chuang Youth” and other major national innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, the mechanism needs to be established to select pilot projects for social entrepreneurship nationwide, focusing on culture, environmental protection, welfare protection, poverty alleviation, health, education, urbanization and other key areas of the government’s livelihood projects. We encourage local governments to explore models of social entrepreneurship based on local conditions.

6.2.4.4

Integrate Various Forces for Consultation and Joint Development to Build a Community of Social Entrepreneurship

It is needed to accelerate the building of social entrepreneurship community composed of the government, schools, enterprises, communities, media, foundations and other stakeholders, and to improve the pattern of social governance for all. First, it is necessary to construct social entrepreneurship education system with the organizational model, curriculum construction and faculty as the carrier and owning the features of “comprehensive coverage, subject integration and practice orientation.” Second, the government should provide stable policy guarantee and diversified fund support and build a cultural atmosphere to encourage entrepreneurship,

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so as to provide strong social support for social entrepreneurship. Third, we need to integrate all kinds of social forces to build a social entrepreneurship ecosystem. All kinds of venture capital and venture philanthropy provide financial tools for the construction of the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Community maker spaces and social business incubators provide incubation carriers for the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Social non-profit organizations provide entrepreneurial project consultation and assistance for the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Mass media may create a strong social entrepreneurship culture through feature films and documentaries.

6.3 Training of Regional Entrepreneurial Talents China has a vast territory, a large number of ethnic groups, and different regions have different levels of political, economic, cultural and social development, with a large gap. In the same social environment and the same historical and cultural influence, people in different regions have certain convergences in their social production and lifestyle, which are gradually transformed into the characteristics of different regions. When entrepreneurial activities take place in a specific region, they will inevitably be affected by the politics, economy, culture and society of the region and will gradually form their own unique entrepreneurial methods and activities. The cultivation of regional entrepreneurial talents must be based on the economic, cultural and regional resource advantages of entrepreneurial activities in different regions.

6.3.1 Based on Regional Entrepreneurship, to Cultivate Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents In the long process of production and life, influenced by traditional culture and the background of the times, people in the region have gradually accumulated and cultivated regional values, ways of thinking and codes of conduct with regional characteristics, forming a unique regional spirit. Regional entrepreneurship is the spiritual culture with a common tendency formed by the people in a specific region in the long-term entrepreneurial practice. It is the sum of regional entrepreneurial values, entrepreneurial thinking mode and entrepreneurial code of conduct, as well as the highly condensed regional entrepreneurial culture. Regional entrepreneurship is an important connotation of regional entrepreneurship culture, which is closely connected with excellent regional traditional culture. It is a complex cultural psychological process in which the regional people give full play to their subjective initiative and dare to challenge and innovate. It directly reflects the spiritual outlook, psychological state and entrepreneurial attitude of entrepreneurs in different regions in the process of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial spirit is a kind of spirit state of striving for progress, and making achievements. It not only

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fully embodies the firm willpower of a nation to strive for self-improvement, but also shows the strong momentum of the vigorous development of a society; it is also a strong spiritual force for social progress and an inexhaustible power for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The cultivation of regional entrepreneurial talents cannot be separated from the absorption of regional entrepreneurial spirit. Local colleges and universities should integrate regional entrepreneurial spirit into the whole process of entrepreneurial talent cultivation, which not only brings infinite internal motivation to college students, but also improves the effectiveness of entrepreneurial talent cultivation and enriches the form and connotation of entrepreneurship education for college students. The representative regional entrepreneurship in China includes the Wenzhou regional entrepreneurship, southern Jiangsu regional entrepreneurship and Zhongguancun entrepreneurship.

6.3.1.1

Wenzhou: Relying on Regional Entrepreneurship to Cultivate College Students’ Entrepreneurial Consciousness

It is a typical portrayal of Wenzhou’s entrepreneurial spirit: independent, hardworking, adventurous, innovative, cooperative and pragmatic. The natural and geographical conditions of “seven mountains, one water and two fields” in Wenzhou made it difficult for the people of Wenzhou to live on the traditional farming lifestyle alone. In order to survive, Wenzhou people broke the shackles of the traditional concept of attaching importance to agriculture rather than business, braved hardships, ventured and fought hard, built businesses with Wenzhou characteristics and shaped the “Wenzhou mode” of economic development known throughout the country. Most of Wenzhou businessmen are self-driven. According to the market demand, they are particularly independent in their entrepreneurial practice, forming the spirit of “independent reform, self-risk, self-development and self-improvement.” Wenzhou people, who are “bosses in the daytime, sleep in the floor at night,” are especially hardworking. They always stick to hard work and carry forward the fine tradition of struggle. Wenzhou people are not rigid in thinking, have a high vision and dare to innovate and fight, “where there is a market, there are Wenzhou people; where there is no market, as long as there are Wenzhou people, they can open up a new market” (2008), and this kind of risk-taking essence gave Wenzhou people their own place in the competitive business world. Wenzhou features the first batch of selfemployed business licenses issued, the first professional small commodity wholesale market (Yongjia Qiaotou Button Market), the first batch of joint-stock cooperative enterprises, the first funded airport, the first business charter route opened and more, all of which reflect the pioneering spirit of Wenzhou people. Wenzhou people pay special attention to the entrepreneurial spirit of cooperation, especially the relationship network resources of interpersonal and information. Most Wenzhou people start their business in different places by relying on Wenzhou’s fellow townships. Therefore, Wenzhou people are particularly closely knit and good at seeking cooperation in the process of entrepreneurship. Wenzhou people also pay

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special attention to pragmatism. They are ambitious and never aim high but accomplish little. Instead, they are practical and willing to work. They insist on starting from a small place, focusing on accumulation, starting from selling a button and an electrical appliance, accumulating the original capital one by one and exploring the market one by one. Relying on these entrepreneurial spirits, Wenzhou people have made a living in the tide of reform and opening up, and Wenzhou people’s business has made footprints all over the world, known as the “Jews of the East.” Wenzhou University, which is rooted in the Wenzhou regional school, actively promotes the entrepreneurial spirit of “dare to take risks, be especially independent, be particularly hardworking, be particularly entrepreneurial and innovative” in the cultivation of entrepreneurial talents, gives full play to the positive role of regional culture as a guide, integrates the regional entrepreneurial spirit into talent cultivation, curriculum, classroom teaching and teaching content, and focuses on cultivating the entrepreneurial consciousness of college students. Under the influence of Wenzhou’s traditional regional culture of “practical use,” “businessoriented” and “equal emphasis on interests and righteousness,” compared with other regions, the students of Wenzhou University are more entrepreneurial and businessminded, and more aggressive, especially those with family business background, who have more advantages in discovering business opportunities and capturing business opportunities. Wenzhou University pays attention to the development and protection of entrepreneurial awareness and passion for these students in the entrepreneurial talent training program. In terms of curriculum, in addition to the compulsory basic courses of innovation and entrepreneurship, there are also public elective courses of the Wenzhou mode and entrepreneurship. In the aspect of classroom teaching, we should pay attention to school enterprise cooperation, employ a group of off-campus tutors composed of famous entrepreneurs and excellent alumni, promote off-campus tutors to participate in the “first classroom” teaching, use their own experience to teach words and deeds, make the entrepreneurship education teaching more grounded and solve the problem of shortage of entrepreneurship education teachers to a certain extent. In terms of teaching content, Wenzhou University, according to the attributes and content of some courses, integrates Wenzhou entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship concept and professional courses, such as the “Two Courses” of ideological and political education. They have been fully integrated into Wenzhou regional culture and entrepreneurship, as the focus of the reform of the “Two Courses” teaching content.

6.3.1.2

South Jiangsu: Relying on Regional Entrepreneurship to Cultivate Students’ Comprehensive Competitiveness

Southern Jiangsu mainly refers to Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and other southern Jiangsu areas. Since the reform and opening up, the people in southern Jiangsu have successfully explored a development path of industrialization and marketization by vigorously developing township enterprises and actively introducing foreign capital, which the famous sociologist Fei Xiaotong called “southern Jiangsu model.” This

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mode fully reflects the initiative and passion of the people in southern Jiangsu in the process of entrepreneurial practice, which is reflected in the spirit level, mainly manifested as: the spirit of daring to fight, being good at mutual help and cooperation, breaking the shackles of innovation and striving for excellence. With the accelerating pace of reform and opening up, a series of entrepreneurial spirits such as “West China spirit,” “happy Jiangyin spirit” and “Zhangjiagang spirit” have emerged in southern Jiangsu. These spirits integrate with each other and constantly enrich the connotation of regional entrepreneurial spirit. Jiang Xipei of Far East Group is a famous entrepreneur in southern Jiangsu. He only wanted to make a fortune when he started his business, but in the process of becoming a bigger and stronger enterprise, he dared to innovate and pursue excellence, making the enterprise develop from a small factory into the current Far East Holding Company. The sales revenue of the enterprise exceeded 10 billion yuan. Since the establishment of the enterprise, the average annual growth rate has been more than 40%. The production and sales ranked the first in the industry for 10 consecutive years. It has become a large-scale private holding group with wire and cable, medicine, real estate and investment as its core businesses and has become the “top 500 Chinese enterprises” and “top 100 Chinese enterprises.” Under the influence of entrepreneurship in southern Jiangsu, Jiangnan University, located in Wuxi, regards improving the comprehensive competitiveness of students as the main line of entrepreneurial talent training, constantly innovating system and mechanism, strengthening the construction of teaching staff, expanding entrepreneurial practice base, improving entrepreneurial practice ability, focusing on the research and development of entrepreneurial practice results and improving the effectiveness of talent training. Jiangnan University has successively issued a series of work systems, such as the construction plan of university students’ entrepreneurship education demonstration school; the implementation outline of university students’ scientific and technological innovation system construction; and measures for the construction and management of university students’ innovation practice base. It has “promoting entrepreneurship, building innovation quality, cultivating creativity and promoting entrepreneurship practice” as the entrepreneurship education concept, to ensure that “every student has the opportunity to start a business, every business can be successful, and students can start a business all their life,” which makes the training of entrepreneurial talents in schools consistent with social needs and the requirements of the times. In the campus of Jiangnan University, entrepreneurial activities have become popular. The school has built a special entrepreneurial building as a practice base for college students to provide special financial support for graduate entrepreneurship. “The school has established 155 off-campus entrepreneurship and employment practice bases and more than 200 entrepreneurship and employment bases with more than 100 domestic well-known enterprises and institutions such as Haier Group, China Mobile and Maotai Group. The university is also linked with the National University Science and Technology Park and Wuxi Science and Education to establish an incubation base for college students’ science and technology entrepreneurship” (2010). Jiangnan University actively advocates “teacher-led innovation,” encourages

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college students to participate in teachers’ scientific research projects and carries out entrepreneurial activities under the guidance of a mentor.

6.3.1.3

Zhongguancun: Using Regional Entrepreneurship to Cultivate Scientific and Technological Talents

Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park, originating from “Zhongguancun Electronic Street” in the early 1980s, is the first national high-tech Industrial Development Zone, the first national independent innovation demonstration zone, the first national talent special zone in China and also the core Park of Beijing Tianjin Shijiazhuang High-tech Industrial Belt. Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park is the experimental field of system and mechanism innovation in China, known as the “Silicon Valley of China.” The change of historical status reflects the entrepreneurial spirit of Zhongguancun people, who dare to innovate and constantly break through, and reflects the psychological state of Zhongguancun people’s arduous entrepreneurship and feelings of home and country. Zhongguancun’s entrepreneurial spirit is summed up as follows: determined reform, courage to open up, perseverance, courage to take risks, fight, openness and inclusiveness, family and country feelings. Before and after the reform and opening up, some old ideas and systems still exist. If Zhongguancun wants to progress, it must break through the cage of old ideas and systems. Zhongguancun’s achievements rely on the innovation of countless Zhongguancun people, like Chen Chunxian, Ji Shiying and Dong Wendong, following Wang Hongde, Liu Chuanzhi and a large number of scientific and technological innovation entrepreneurs, connecting the past and opening up the future, continuing to explore, innovate and persevere. With the continuous efforts of Zhongguancun scientific and technological personnel at the time, new terms such as “private science and technology” and “reform of scientific and technological system” entered people’s vision for the first time and entered the history of China’s reform and opening up. The spirit of creation and development is an important part of the entrepreneurial spirit of Zhongguancun. The entrepreneurs of Zhongguancun never stop on the road of creation and development, and they constitute the cornerstone of the entrepreneurial spirit of Zhongguancun. The development and progress of society need the spirit of adventure. Zhongguancun’s culture of encouraging adventure and allowing failure has been influencing generations of entrepreneurs. The spirit of competition is the backbone of the entrepreneurial spirit of Zhongguancun. Only with competition can there be development and progress, and the society will be full of vitality. Most of the members of Zhongguancun’s entrepreneurial army come from all over the country and even worldwide. The development of Zhongguancun shows that it is the excellent talents from all over the world and all over the country that have created the brilliant achievements of Zhongguancun today. Almost all the bosses of several large enterprises are not Beijingers. This kind of immigration culture is an important guarantee for all kinds of talents to show their skills in Zhongguancun. The development history of developed countries in the world also proves the importance of immigration culture. The

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position of Zhongguancun makes Zhongguancun people deeply aware of their social responsibilities. They must realize that they shoulder the national hope, the responsibility of the times, and have the feelings of family and country. Zhongguancun is not only Zhongguancun in Haidian District, but also Zhongguancun in Beijing. An entrepreneur in Zhongguancun must have a strong sense of social responsibility, not only for his own enterprise, but also for the country and society. Only by breathing with the society and sharing the fate with the country, can an enterprise develop better. Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which is adjacent to Zhongguancun, has formed a new mode of training entrepreneurial talents with its own characteristics under the influence of the Zhongguancun entrepreneurial culture. In terms of training methods, the combination of full coverage and classified training is adopted, which not only makes entrepreneurship education oriented to all students and uses the Zhongguancun entrepreneurial spirit to motivate the whole school’s young students, but also cultivates their aptitude according to individual development needs. Particularly for students who are engaged in science and technology entrepreneurship projects, the school specially provides systematic science and technology entrepreneurship courses, one-to-one guidance by entrepreneurship tutors and incubation support in terms of capital, technology, management, operation, etc. For projects with market prospects, it is recommended that entrepreneurial teams enter the University Science Park, which participates in investment and management. In terms of curriculum setting, in order to guide students to develop their own or team potential, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, taking advantage of its own technology, knowledge and talents aiming closely at high-end and cutting-edge science and technology entrepreneurship projects, opens general courses such as science and technology entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship management and undergraduate KAB entrepreneurship foundation. It also develops its entrepreneurship and biology courses based on different professional needs to achieve the integration of professional education and entrepreneurship education, and to cultivate scientific and technological entrepreneurial talents. In the aspect of grooming teachers, we should establish a “three industries” tutor team that combines study, occupation and entrepreneurship. Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics integrates the existing teacher resources and combines the actual situation of each department to establish a “three industries” tutor team. Not only should entrepreneurial tutors actively promote the development of entrepreneurial education activities, but academic tutors and vocational tutors should also perform their respective duties. The academic tutor should intersperse the relevant knowledge of entrepreneurship education in the teaching task, so as to achieve the integration of professional education and entrepreneurship education. While doing a good job in career planning and corresponding training for students, career mentors also integrate entrepreneurship planning into career planning as an important content. In the tide of reform and opening up, there are many areas with active entrepreneurship in China. On the basis of excellent traditional culture combined with the new situation in the new era, these areas have formed the entrepreneurial spirit with regional

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characteristics, becoming the driving force to encourage countless entrepreneurs to work hard and innovate, the cultural support for the cultivation of regional innovative and entrepreneurial talents.

6.3.2 Based on the Advantages of Regional Characteristics, Cultivate Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents Regional advantage is an important concept in regional economics. It refers to the special favorable conditions of a region in one or several factors of nature, economy, technology, management and society in the process of its economic development, which makes the region more competitive, more efficient in the use of resources and the overall efficiency of the region at a higher level (He, 2010). At present, there are still some problems in the training of entrepreneurial talents, such as the single curriculum, the disconnection between theoretical teaching and practice, the shortage of practice platform, the inadequate guidance and assistance, and the urgent need to improve innovation and entrepreneurship education resources. These problems are not the “individuality” problems faced by one school, but the “generality” problems faced by many Chinese universities in the practice of innovation and entrepreneurship education. These problems are not only the main obstacles to improving the effectiveness of innovation and entrepreneurship education, but also the important direction of deepening the innovation and entrepreneurship education reform. Therefore, how to make use of regional characteristics and advantages, enrich innovation and entrepreneurship education resources and promote the in-depth integration of innovation and entrepreneurship teaching theory and practice are important problems faced by innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities. In this regard, the experience of Zhejiang, Ruian, provides us with a model. Ruian City, Zhejiang Province, is rich in overseas Chinese affair resources. Its characteristics can be summarized as “four plus.” First, there are many people. Ruian is one of the key overseas Chinese towns in Zhejiang Province. The emigration of Ruian people has a long history of more than 100 years. There are nearly 160,000 overseas Chinese, Hong Kong and Macau compatriots in the city, distributed among more than 100 countries and regions around the world, mainly in Europe, with nearly 90,000 returned overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese family members, and more than 2000 overseas students. Second, there are many overseas Chinese. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 200 overseas Chinese groups attended by overseas Chinese of Ruian nationality, and there are 10 overseas Chinese associations, chambers of commerce and associations with Ruian in their names. There are more than 2100 overseas Chinese leaders who hold the positions of president, vice president and secretary-general in various overseas Chinese groups, such as Zhan Yangyi, executive president of Ruian Association in northern Italy; He Xiaoyao, president of European Chinese Poverty Alleviation Foundation; and Xiang Jinguang, president of Italian (China) Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Among them,

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Liu Guanghua, Yu Anlin, Lin Dong and three other Ruian overseas Chinese leaders concurrently served as vice chairman of Zhejiang Federation of Overseas Chinese. Third, there are more investments. Since the reform and opening up, overseas Chinese have invested and established enterprises in Ruian, accounting for more than 80% of the joint ventures. From 2013 to 2015, the investment amount of overseas Chinese businessmen from Ruian returned to their hometown reached 1.3 billion yuan. In September 2015, Ruian carried out the work of returning overseas Chinese trade and introduced 10 preferential measures. The enthusiasm of overseas Chinese returning to their hometown for investment and entrepreneurship is growing. In only three months, the return amount reached 410 million yuan. In the first quarter of 2016, there were three newly returned enterprises, with a return amount of 150 million yuan, and the number of returned enterprises increased to 18. Fourth, trade is involved. The industries of overseas Chinese of Ruian nationality are gradually changing from single operation such as catering, leather processing and clothing to diversified operation such as trade, culture and technology. They understand the foreign market, are familiar with the situation of Ruian and vigorously promote the products and services of Ruian. Eighty percent of the city’s foreign trade exports is directly or indirectly generated by overseas Chinese, and the scope of trade covers 123 countries and regions in the world. Rich overseas Chinese resources have brought conditions and the foundation for Ruian to develop cross-border e-commerce, but Ruian also has its own advantages in developing cross-border e-commerce trade. First, there is a strong business culture. Ruian is an important birthplace of the “Wenzhou model.” After more than 30 years of development, the commerce and circulation industry is developed. In 2015, the proportion of tertiary industry reached 51.6%. There are 64 professional trade markets, among which Ruian Mall is one of the earliest professional markets in Zhejiang Province, with sales reaching more than 13 billion yuan. Second, foreign trade is active. Ruian has established trade relations with more than 170 countries and regions, with a total import and export volume of 3.4 billion US dollars last year. Since 2015, the number of overseas Chinese of Swiss nationality engaged in cross-border e-commerce business has increased significantly. Third, Ruian has a good e-commerce industry foundation. By the end of 2015, the city has more than 20,000 e-commerce entities and more than 7000 e-commerce entities registered by the market regulatory authorities. In 2015, the online retail sales of Ruian reached 16.67 billion yuan, an increase of more than 60% year on year. The city’s online retail sales, the number of small stores, the number of e-commerce villages and the number of e-commerce-driven employment all rank first in Wenzhou. In 2015, it ranked 28th among China’s top 100 e-commerce counties; in 2015, it ranked 24th among China’s 50 most active e-commerce start-up counties; the number of Taobao villages owned by “popular e-commerce start-up counties” ranked 10th; in 2015, it ranked 29th among China’s top 50 express service counties. Fourth, there is solid support. Industrial cluster is a major feature and advantage of Ruian’s economy, with 13 national gold business cards, including “China Shoes Capital,” “China Arts and crafts production base,” “China luggage city,” “China clothing city” and “China auto parts capital.” The economic strength ranks in the middle and upper reaches of the

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top 100 counties in China, ranking 25th among the top 100 counties (cities) in the comprehensive strength of small and medium-size cities in 2017. Zhejiang University Entrepreneurship College Alliance, South Zhejiang Research Institute, is a cooperation between Zhejiang University Entrepreneurship College Alliance and Ruian municipal government which gives full play to the advantages of overseas Chinese affair resources and e-commerce in Ruian City. Relying on the resources of the member universities of Zhejiang University Entrepreneurship College Alliance and using the platform of “overseas Chinese trade town” with Zhejiang characteristics, the intelligent equipment manufacturing, polymer materials, new-energy vehicles, new materials, information technology, biomedical and high-performance medical devices, fashion design, industrial design and other fields carry out the transformation of high-tech achievements and cultivate entrepreneurial talents. The research institute also provides intellectual support to promote the construction of “overseas Chinese trade town” into a national overseas Chinese innovation and entrepreneurship pilot area, Zhejiang overseas Chinese trade e-commerce innovation and development demonstration area, and Wenzhou light industry internationalization pilot area. The research institute makes full use of the platform of Zhejiang University Entrepreneurship College Alliance (Table 6.5); integrates the innovation and Table 6.5 Some members of Zhejiang University entrepreneurship college alliance Number

Name

Number

Name

1

Zhejiang University of Technology

15

Taizhou University

2

China Academy of Art

16

Lushun University

3

Zhejiang Normal University

17

Quzhou University

4

Ningbo University

18

Zhejiang Conservatory of Music

5

Hangzhou Dianzi University

19

Zhejiang University of Science and Technology

6

Zhejiang Sci-Tech University

20

Communication University of Zhejiang

7

Zhejiang Gongshang University

21

Huzhou University

8

Wenzhou University

22

Shaoxing University

9

Hangzhou Normal University

23

Zhejiang Wanli University

10

Zhejiang Ocean University

24

Zhejiang Shuren University

11

Zhejiang A&F University

25

Ningbo University of Technology

12

Wenzhou Medical University

26

Zhejiang International Studies University

13

Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics

27

Zhejiang University of Water Resources and Electric Power

14

Jiaxing University

28

Oujiang College of Wenzhou University

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entrepreneurship projects and resources of colleges and universities across the province; focuses on the fashion light industry; relies on master’s, doctor’s, postdoctoral mobile stations and workstations to jointly cultivate all kinds of entrepreneurial talents; carries out high-tech research and development; cultivates a number of new foreign trade entrepreneurial enterprises; and boosts Ruian’s transformation and upgrading of enterprises and the development of strategic emerging industries. The research institute adopts a multifaceted collaborative model of school, government and enterprise. On the one hand, it actively promotes university teachers in Zhejiang Province to go deep into the enterprises of “overseas Chinese trade town” and solves practical problems for enterprises by using professional directors. On the other hand, university teachers enrich innovation and entrepreneurship teaching resources through overseas Chinese affair resources, build a broader international entrepreneurship practice platform for students and actively encourage university teachers to leave their posts starting from the grand strategy of “One Belt and One Road” in the country. The institute set up a “dual energy, double creation, double qualification” teaching staff. Moreover, through the organic integration of “innovation elements, resource elements and market elements,” it implemented the three-item one-teacher student collaborative innovation and entrepreneurship mechanism of “project, teacher and student,” so that students can participate in scientific research and innovation at the same time. It encourages teachers and students to carry out entrepreneurial practice in pairs, so as to realize the integration of innovation and entrepreneurship education and professional education, where scientific research and practice promote each other.

6.3.3 Based on the Adjustment of Regional Economic Structure, Cultivate Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents Facing the opportunities and challenges of a new round of global scientific and technological revolution and industrial change, China should accurately grasp the new trend of the world’s scientific and technological revolution industrial change, deeply implement the innovation-driven strategy and strive to win the future of development. In the second half of 2016, the CPC proposed to accelerate the development of new economy and cultivate new driving forces. How do we cultivate new driving forces? There are two modes: adding new variables and optimizing stock. Specifically, on the one hand, we should vigorously develop new industries, cultivate new kinetic energy with new models, new formats and new subjects, build a new engine for economic transformation and realize innovation industrialization; on the other hand, we should accelerate the transformation and upgrading of traditional kinetic energy, complete the transformation of old and new kinetic energy as soon as possible, transform traditional engines and achieve industrial innovation. Innovation industrialization is the process of hatching new products, new enterprises and new models through

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entrepreneurship. New industries grow from small to large through entrepreneurship. Although there is a high risk of entrepreneurship in new fields and a slim chance of success, there are successful enterprises, which represent the new economy. Industrial innovation refers to the process of technology transfer to traditional large enterprises and large industrial carriers to introduce new technologies, so as to transform and upgrade the old industries into new formats and promote the old industries to upgrade to new products, new formats, new technologies and new models through technological innovation, organizational innovation and model innovation. At present, many areas in China are facing the adjustment of industrial structure, which is not only in line with the general trend, but also the situation of the transformation of new and old driving forces of regional economic development. Industrial, capital and technological links are all important driving factors of regional economic development, and the human resource link is becoming increasingly important with the promotion of the new technological revolution. Schumpeter thinks that the most important elements of innovation are scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs. Most of the world’s innovation enterprises are headquartered in Silicon Valley. The reason why they choose to create in Silicon Valley is that in addition to these two elements, Silicon Valley has a comprehensive service system of technological innovation and entrepreneurship that fully connects the technology market, forming a benign innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Secretary-General Xi Jinping proposed in 2014 to build the National Science and Technology Innovation Center and the Global Technological Innovation Center in Beijing and Shanghai, giving full play to its four major functions in new technology and new knowledge, namely the strategic source, gathering, leading and radiation, forming an R&D and design center, a new technology production center, a technology transfer and diffusion market center, a high-tech industry innovation and growth center, and scientific and technological individuals. This is the new situation of “five in one” of the talent technology center and technology innovation center. Therefore, regional economic development needs not only scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs, but also scientific and technological service talents such as technical brokers, technical consultants and technical managers. These “technical matchmakers” can accurately tap the needs of enterprises, help find a way out of technological achievements and combine science and technology with economy. Currently, this kind of talent is in short supply, which also raises new problems for the cultivation of talents in colleges and universities. From the perspective of innovation and entrepreneurship education, each region needs to vigorously cultivate entrepreneurial talents focusing on the application of new technology. Regional universities, especially application-oriented universities and higher vocational colleges, play an important role in the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and the implementation of innovation-driven strategy. Regional colleges and universities can carry out the reform of talent training mode, transform and upgrade traditional industries and promote the transformation of new and old driving forces of economic development in different stages, such as industry following, industry mutual assistance and industry leading.

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First of all, the linkage mechanism of entrepreneurial talent training is formed through “industry following.” Regional applied universities and higher vocational colleges should establish normal cooperation mechanism through the form of “school government enterprise” cooperation to educate people, realize the same platform series mode of “government building platform, enterprise performance, school performance,” form regional industrial chain, create a regional ecosystem and cultivate entrepreneurial talents. The regional application-oriented university should take the seamless connection of professional development and industry development as the starting point, fully integrate the technical resources and advantages of enterprises, industries and schools in terms of professional setting and curriculum construction, and establish a site-based, three-dimensional quality evaluation system of new technology application-oriented talent training projects, so as to realize the synchronization of new technology promotion and professional construction and development, and the application and creation of new technology. With the smooth connection of new entrepreneurship projects, the synchronization of new technology transformation and industrial upgrading, and the integration of industry and education through the in-depth integration of new technology innovation and technological change, the regional higher vocational colleges achieve the progressive cooperation from on-the-job internship, order training and modern apprenticeship system to school enterprise R&D center, and build universities, enterprises, students and communities by carrying out school enterprise cooperative education. “We will win more and make progress together” (Xie & Liu, 2018). Secondly, we should build an innovation incubation platform for the cultivation of entrepreneurial talents by promoting “industry mutual assistance.” Regional colleges and universities should establish the awareness of taking the application of new technology as the guidance, actively introduce R&D advantages and technical resources of the global top 500 enterprises and rely on the corresponding transformation platform to “build intelligent, information and digital projects to provide the whole process incubation service for enterprises and industries” (Xie & Liu, 2018). Regional colleges and universities focus on the reform of teaching methods and practical mechanisms, highlighting the application and transformation of new technologies. The teaching method can adopt the co-creation mode of “tutor + project + team + X (3 + x),” “adopt the ideas of enterprise problem setting, school invigilation, student demonstration and teacher solution, and explore the project implementation path of co-creation of teachers, students and teachers” (Xie & Liu, 2018). At the practical mechanism level, we will build university maker spaces of different scales, types and functions, introduce emerging technologies such as Internet of things, artificial intelligence and 3D printing into universities, guide students to carry out rational thinking on these emerging technologies, stimulate their interest in the application of emerging technologies and lead them to master the skills of using emerging technologies to transform and innovate through the integration and interaction of theory and practice of the project platform, to create a technological project-based, R&D-driven, innovation and entrepreneurship-oriented entrepreneurial talent training system (Xie & Liu, 2018).

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Finally, through the application of new technology, the export of entrepreneurial talents can result in industry leadership and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the regional economic structure. Regional applied universities and higher vocational colleges should be deeply connected with the transformation needs of regional characteristics and pillar industries, adjust the school’s professional construction and talent training program according to the actual upgrading of regional industrial structure, take into account the new technology transformation and application benefits, based on the specific development of regional economy accumulate superior technical resources, form a “thick and thin” development of innovative and entrepreneurial talent training advantages and promote the transformation from “industry following” to “industry leading.” At the specific implementation level, regional colleges and universities should follow the principle of site research and development, plan a coordinated development layout that is in line with regional and even national significance, increase cooperation with towns and science and technology cities’ regional characteristics and jointly build an innovation and entrepreneurship incubation platform. With the adjustment of regional industrial structure as the basic guidance, the discipline development and talent training of the school should be arranged in advance, the training of new technology application entrepreneurial talents should be strengthened, and the continuous talent support should be provided for the regional development. The collaborative innovation center should be built with high-level scientific research institutes, the research and development organization and management system of common key technologies should be established, and common technologies and key technologies should be promoted. On the one hand, the technology intermediary can break through the information barrier, eliminate the information asymmetry, make up the limitation of market regulation and control, on the other hand, encourage new technology talents to actively participate in the tide of scientific and technological achievement transfer and transformation, and develop multilevel technology trading market system, expanding the online technology trading mode of the Internet and accelerating the landing and transformation of innovation results (Gao, 2017). It should “guide teachers from the classroom to the enterprise, consolidate the foundation of production, learning and research, serve the professional growth of teachers and provide human, financial and material support for teachers to solve the industry and enterprise problems” (Xie & Liu, 2018). In the process of “site-based” technology application and the process of serving the adjustment of regional industrial structure and promoting the transformation of new and old driving forces, regional colleges and universities realize the positive interaction between talent training and new technology application, teacher development and regional development, and compose a new chapter of higher education serving the social development.

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Chapter 7

Institutional and Mechanism Guarantee of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education

The state, society, higher educational institutions (HEIs) and enterprises all play very important roles in promoting the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education (IEE). In November 2018, Tsinghua University issued the “Global Entrepreneurship Monitor China Report” (2017/2018), which indicated that the entrepreneurship environment has improved dramatically in China, especially in terms of physical infrastructure, internal market dynamics, cultural and social norms. However, the report also pointed out that the business environment, R&D transfer, education and training still lag far behind other countries. Based on the grounded theory (Chen, 2018), this study deeply investigates the current situation and problems of the guarantee mechanism of IEE and proposes relevant suggestions for the construction of an “upgraded edition” of the IEE system. Grounded theory was firstly developed by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss in 1967; it was later developed into a systematic method and principle of data collecting and analysis (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Ground theory uses inductive reasoning to extract core concepts and categories from data (Strauss, 1987). Theory evolves during actual research, and it does this through the continuous interplay between analysis and data collection. The step-by-step coding of data is the most important technique of grounded theory. This study used primarily the semi-structured interview, focus group and small symposium to collect data. Using theoretical sampling methods, the sample selection meets the following three conditions: Firstly, the samples must have the relevant experience of entrepreneurship in IEE or IEE management, and they must be unique and representative; secondly, the samples must cover as many regions, sectors and stakeholders as possible to enhance the reliability of research conclusions; thirdly, the data must be sufficient enough to conduct mutual tests and enhance the reliability and validity of the study. The 54 interviewees are from Zhejiang (9), Guangdong (10), Guangxi (13), Hubei (6), Jilin (6) and Heilongjiang (4). Eleven are officials who are in charge of college students’ innovation and entrepreneurship

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 X. Xu, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 60, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3724-7_7

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affairs, such as administrators from the Department of Education, Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, Provincial League Committee, Department of Science and Technology; 27 are administrators of IEE programs and faculty members of HEIs, including six members of the UNESCO Entrepreneurship Education National Chapter in China; 16 are entrepreneurs and managers of enterprises. The interview mainly focused on how to manage, motivate, support and evaluate IEE in HEIs and further explored current problems and possible solutions. All the interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Researchers carefully checked and proofread the text along with the records, so as to ensure the reducibility and reliability of transcription. Then, researchers used open coding, axial coding and selective coding to code the interview materials. Finally, the explanation of the theoretical model is provided. This study made use of ATLAS.ti7.5.16 to code and analyze the interview materials.

7.1 Management System of IEE Management system is an important guarantee for the sustainable development of IEE. It is closely connected to the objectives, organization, curriculum, faculty, platforms and evaluation of IEE, requiring systematic design so as to enhance students’ entrepreneurial awareness, nurture entrepreneurial mindsets and improve students’ entrepreneurial competence. Based on grounded theory, this part examines the main problems of the management system of IEE and proposes suggestions for organizational construction and management model innovation.

7.1.1 Main Problems of Management System of IEE 7.1.1.1

Dilemma of Multiple Leadership and Management

Historically, higher education (HE) in China was subjected to rigorous central policies and regulations. In the past three decades, after different rounds of institutional reform and governmental management system reform, HE management has gradually undergone a process of decentralization and transformed to a “two-level management system of central and provincial government, with provincial government taking the main responsibility.” However, the multiple management for IEE is still very serious. By analyzing the national policies regarding the HE system innovation, Kang et al. (2018) found that one in four policies of the Ministry of Education was jointly issued with other ministries during 2007 and 2017. Though it reflects the increasing relevance of HE in key national strategies, the situation is also related to the multiple management of higher education and the complexity of institutional contradiction under the context of entering the deeper-level reform (Kang et al., 2018). This “institutional dissipation” is also very serious regarding the leadership

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and management of IEE. As analyzed in Chapter Four, more than 10 ministries, including the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, etc., have issued IEE-related policies, and the number of policies issued by multiple ministries has increased dramatically. The overlapping functions and unreasonable distribution of rights and responsibilities of the management system have deeply affected the operation of IEE in HEIs. Firstly, multiple ministries are involved in IEE, which leads to the complexity and confusion of IEE management at the institutional level. From the perspective of HEIs, some interviewees mentioned that they were too busy implementing the IEE tasks required by different authorities. For example, recognizing the importance of entrepreneurship plan competition (EPC), many central authorities try to build their own EPC brand. Since 2014, the Central Committee of the Youth League has organized the annual National Youth Entrepreneurship Competition. Since 2015, the Ministry of Education has supported the annual “Internet+” College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, etc., all have different names for EPCs though their orientation and organization patterns are quite similar. Their corresponding departments at the institutional level take the responsibility of implementing these EPCs, and each department tries to have their own achievements, leading to the cooperation and integration of different departments very difficult. Secondly, the IEE management function of different departments of HEIs is not clear. On 13 May 2015, the General Office of the State Council issued the Implementation Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions. It requires each HEI to establish a leading group on IEE, headed by the president of the HEI. The vice president who is in charge of IEE acts as the deputy director of the leading group and the heads of relevant departments, such as Department of Academic Affair, Department of Student Affairs and League Committee, act as the members of this group. However, in the management process of IEE, due to the blurry management functions of different departments of HEIs regarding IEE, it is difficult to coordinate different departments when implementing IEE.

7.1.1.2

Obstacles to the Implementation of IEE Policies

Though China has issued many IEE policies since 2010, the implementation of these polices still faces conceptual and institutional obstacles. For example, one interviewee mentioned that “many HEIs implement the IEE policies by selection. They do not have a fundamental understanding of IEE. Some leaders of HEIs still think that entrepreneurship equals to starting a business.” Another interviewee pointed out that “though IEE has a history of 20 years in China, there is still lack of proper evaluation and status of IEE in both academic and teaching areas. Because of the lack of a relevant system, the quality of IEE to a great extent relies on whether HEI leaders

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attach importance to it.” The lack of strategy or planning is also an important reason influencing the effective implementation of polices. One interviewee mentioned that “many HEIs do not have long-term planning regarding the development of IEE. And in the process of implementation, there are unclear responsibilities of different departments.”

7.1.1.3

Leaders and Faculty’s Misunderstandings of IEE

There are many misunderstandings regarding the cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial talents, which influence the relevant management system. These misunderstandings include but are not limited to: First, there is a lack of inherent belief that IEE is valuable. Many leaders and faculty do not consider IEE as an integral part of HEIs; therefore, their attitudes toward IEE is neither supportive nor positive. Many general entrepreneurship courses are turned from previous career planning courses or employment guidance courses, by adding limited entrepreneurship content. There is a lack of internal consciousness to conduct IEE. Second, HEI leaders have a different understanding of IEE. Their implementation of IEE is also different. Some of the leaders, faculty and students attach importance to entrepreneurship while ignoring innovation. Some HEIs do not pay attention to cultivating students’ innovative consciousness and ability. Third, some leaders and faculty are too utilitarian regarding the transfer of entrepreneurship achievements. Fourth, some leaders and faculty neglect the university-wide IEE, which should be open to all students and faculty. Fifth, IEE based on different disciplines is relatively weak.

7.1.2 The Organizational Structure and Management Elements of IEE Management IEE is an integral part of HEIs’ teaching and research process, which needs the participation and coordination of relevant departments. Based on grounded theory, this part tries to explore the organizational structure and management model of IEE in different HEIs. Making use of ATLAS.ti7.5.16 software, this study deconstructs the content regarding IEE management word by word, extracting the issues and phenomena that are most obvious and with the highest frequency in the interview data. Then, this study adopts the three-level coding approach (open coding, axial coding and selective coding) to explain the meaning of these issues and phenomena and proposes a framework of organizational structure and management elements of IEE (see Table 7.1).

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Table 7.1 Coding result of leadership and management mechanism of IEE Leadership and management mechanism

Selective coding

Axial coding

Open coding

Organizational structure

Leading bodies

Leading group of IEE

Coordinating bodies

College of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Cooperative bodies Professional colleges; Department of Student Affairs; League Committee; Department of Academic Affairs; Department of Employment; Student Entrepreneurship Clubs Management elements

Personnel management

Fulltime staff; personnel allocation; personnel management system

Functional division Position of different departments; division of right and responsibility Resource mobilization

Overall planning of resources; resource management; resource match; resource utilization and evaluation

The coding results show that organizational structure and management elements are the key issues of the leadership and management mechanism. A reasonable organizational structure is the basis of organizational operation, which consists of leading bodies, coordinating bodies and cooperative bodies. Leading bodies, such as the leading group on IEE, are in charge of the IEE at the institutional level, providing policies and overall guidance for IEE; coordinating bodies, such as College of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), are responsible for implementing the specific teaching and activities of IEE; cooperative bodies include professional colleges and different departments related to IEE, etc. Management elements can be divided into personnel management, functional division and resource mobilization. Personal management refers to the management of IEE by full-time staff, personnel allocation and establishing relevant personnel management system; functional division refers to clarifying the positions as well as dividing the rights and responsibility of different departments; resource mobilization refers to the overall planning, management, utilization and evaluation of resources. Recently, in order to meet the needs of university-wide IEE, more and more HEIs have established CIEs. Some CIEs are independent colleges with full-time leaders, faculty and students, while most are virtual CIEs that are affiliated to other colleges or are a function of the Department of Student Affairs. In general, CIEs have played an important role in coordinating and organizing IEE. However, due to the lack of entrepreneurship discipline and unclear rights and responsibilities, there are also

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many problems and contradictions in the process of management. Each HEI should further straighten out the division and functions so as to form an efficient management system characterized by unified leadership, coordinated by CIEs and implemented by each professional college.

7.2 Incentive System of IEE 7.2.1 Framework of Incentive Mechanism of IEE Making use of ATLAS.ti7.5.16 software, this study deconstructs the content regarding IEE incentive mechanism word by word, extracting the issues and phenomena that are most obvious and with the highest frequency in the interview data. Then, this study adopts the three-level coding approach (open coding, axial coding and selective coding) to explain the meaning of these issues and phenomena and proposes a suggestion framework of incentive mechanisms of IEE (see Table 7.2). The coding results show that the incentive mechanism of IEE can be divided into student incentives and faculty incentives, both of which include internal incentives and external incentives. The external incentives of students are composed of policy, resource and environment incentives, each with more detailed elements; internal incentives of students refer to efforts that can meet student needs, such as improving IEE courses to meet students’ learning needs and recognizing students’ pursuit of a entrepreneurial career. The external incentives of faculty are composed of identification of innovation and entrepreneurship achievements, the tutor becoming a shareholder, authorized strength of entrepreneurship tutors, treatment of entrepreneurship tutors, professional title appraisal and promotion policy. Internal incentives of faculty refer to efforts that can meet faculty needs, such as enhancing the faculty’s IEE ability by education and training, obtaining stable and lasting career development, etc. This result can provide an operational framework for the construction of an IEE incentive mechanism.

7.2.2 Improving Students’ Incentive Mechanisms and Meeting Students’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Needs 7.2.2.1

Balancing the Relationship Between Entrepreneurship and Study

With more and more college students participating in entrepreneurship practice, the contradiction between entrepreneurship and study has also become more and

Incentive mechanism

Faculty incentives

Student incentives

Selective coding

Identification of innovation and entrepreneurship achievements; tutor becoming a shareholder; authorized strength of entrepreneurship tutors; treatment of entrepreneurship tutors; professional title appraisal and promotion policy Education and training; professional development opportunities; career planning

Internal incentives (meeting the needs of faculty)

Improving IEE curriculum; experiencing value recognition

Environment incentives; entrepreneurial atmosphere; role models

Resource guarantee; space support; financial support; mentor support; learning guidance; social resources

Policy incentives; retention of student status; innovation and entrepreneurship competition; flexible education system; allowing suspension of school; mutual recognition of credits; lowering entrepreneurship access threshold; micro-loans; preferential tax policies

Open coding

External incentives (system incentives)

Internal incentives (meeting the needs of students)

External incentives (system incentives)

Axial coding

Table 7.2 Coding results of incentive mechanism of IEE

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more serious. Implementation Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions issued by the General Office of the State Council (2015) requires HEIs to “conduct flexible educational system and academic years, allowing students to adjust their academic process and retain their status as students when starting a business.” In December 2016, the Ministry of Education (2016) issued the Regulations on Student Management in Higher Educational Institutions, which also proposes that HEIs should “support students’ entrepreneurship by suspending their schooling without losing their status as a student.” Besides, deepening the reform of credit system has also become a key content in the provincial IEE reform schemes. These incentive systems have played a good guiding role in creating a tolerant and loose atmosphere for entrepreneurship and enhancing students’ enthusiasm for entrepreneurship. For those who are determined to start a business and those with strong self-management ability, these policies are very helpful; however, it is also undeniable that some students make use of these policies, blindly follow the trends of entrepreneurship and finally abandon their studies. Therefore, HEIs should carefully evaluate the applicability of entrepreneurship policies, persuade students who do not meet the requirements of entrepreneurship to pay attention to their studies. HEIs should also help those students who are determined to be an entrepreneur to balance their entrepreneurship activities and studies.

7.2.2.2

Specifying the Regulations and Enhance the Operability of Policies

It is necessary to investigate the effectiveness of each policy and regulation to incentivize students and examine the real needs of students for IEE. Besides, it is important to improve the incentive measures, to specify the regulations and to enhance the operability of polices. For example, the system of credit mutual recognition has been regarded to have substantial help for students. Students can get the entrepreneurship credit by taking courses, participating in entrepreneurship practice, taking relevant MOOC courses and getting the certificate, taking part in the entrepreneurship plan competition, etc. How can these activities be mutually recognized? Which kind of curriculum can be mutually recognized—compulsory courses or selective courses, general courses or professional courses? What is the maximum number of credits for mutual recognition? All of these questions should be further specified. However, few HEIs have issued relevant regulations to clarify these questions.

7.2.2.3

Promotion of Policy Coherence

It should be noted that these incentive systems are not isolated; instead, they should be integrated with HEIs’ strategy, talent cultivation objectives and discipline development. Different incentive polices and systems should keep coherence to avoid contradiction and conflicts.

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7.2.3 Clarifying Faculty’s Incentive Mechanism and Enhancing Faculty’s Enthusiasm for IEE The shortage of entrepreneurship faculty has been one the main obstacles to the development of IEE. In the previous round of IEE reforms, from entrepreneurship curriculum development to providing micro-loans and constructing entrepreneurship practice platform, both national and institutional focuses were on students. There are very limited incentive mechanisms for faculty, which leads to the shortage of entrepreneurship faculty on the one hand and low recognition of IEE by academic faculty on the other hand.

7.2.3.1

Enhancing the Planning for Entrepreneurship Faculty Team-Building

The shortage of entrepreneurship faculty has two dimensions. One is the “relative shortage,” referring to whether all faculty have a certain level of IE quality; whether their courses can introduce the frontiers of scientific development, the latest issues tracked by enterprises as well as the new challenges faced by industries into teaching content; whether they can use proper teaching methods to cultivate students’ systems skills, problem-solving skills and team-collaboration skills. The other is “absolute shortage,” meaning the shortage of faculty who can provide independent entrepreneurship courses and entrepreneurship practice, in the context of providing at least two credits of entrepreneurship introduction courses to all students and the integration of IEE with professional education. It should be admitted that most of the IEE faculty have little experience of entrepreneurship themselves. The faculty recruitment and evaluation system should be reformed to embrace more professors of practice, who are familiar with industry frontier and have rich entrepreneurship experience. For example, in the USA, many professors are also entrepreneurs or consultants of enterprises. They can combine the social and economic challenges with their teaching and research, so that the students can better understand the real challenges of the world and build teams to solve them. There are also many leading entrepreneurs working very closely with universities to cultivate entrepreneurial talents, such as participating in IEE governance, developing entrepreneurship courses, acting as entrepreneurship mentors and entrepreneurship project judges, providing resources and experience, etc. They are familiar with the market and know where the opportunities are, thus are more qualified to guide students to develop entrepreneurship ideas and start their own business. In order to tackle the shortage of entrepreneurship faculty in China, HEIs also try to recruit entrepreneurs as entrepreneurship mentors, and the governments at different levels have also established different types of entrepreneurship mentor pools. However, due to the lack of long-term planning for the entrepreneurship faculty and institutional support, the involvement of entrepreneurs in HEIs’ entrepreneurship activities is very superficial. They do not participate in the core areas of IEE.

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Without an institutional support, the participation can only have short-term effects and is not sustainable.

7.2.3.2

Enhancing the Recognition of IEE by Academic Faculty

Academic faculty’s recognition is an important factor influencing the effectiveness of IEE. Because of the lack of entrepreneurship discipline and incentive systems, there is a struggle of pursuing legitimacy by entrepreneurship faculty. For example, there is little support or award for the faculty who is guiding students’ entrepreneurship plan competitions, though it takes a lot of the faculty’s time and energy. Instead, there are a lot of reward systems for research. In some of the HEIs, faculty can be both promoted and receive material awards if they publish paper in peer-reviewed journals. Therefore, entrepreneurship work has little connection with the faculty’s professional development and title promotion, and their career development channel is not clear. Therefore, it is necessary to construct an incentive system that can meet the faculty’s internal and external needs, so as to enhance its willingness for and recognition of participating IEE. For example, regarding professional title evaluation and appointment, HEIs can add a new kind of professorship, namely professorship of practice, to distinguish from the existing academic and teaching professorship. In addition, besides knowledge upgrading by the faculty themselves, the faculty recruitment system, evaluation system, exchange mechanism between academy and industry, etc., should be further reformed.

7.2.3.3

Constructing a Professional Entrepreneurship Faculty Team

At present, entrepreneurship faculty training has become an important way to expand IEE faculty. Some provincial governments provide special funds to encourage HEIs to train IEE faculty. It should be noted that this kind of training has, to a great extent, alleviated the shortage of entrepreneurship faculty. However, our investigation shows that the problems also exist. For example, the interests of faculty in attending such training are not as high as that of the staff of student affairs, which affects the integration of IEE with professional education. Besides, HEIs should construct a professional entrepreneurship faculty team according to their objectives, the situation of student entrepreneurship and the regional industrial development. There should be systematic planning for faculty team building, so as to enhance the faculty’s willingness to participate in IEE, to improve their teaching design and guidance to students. For example, the media discipline can focus on the cultural and creative industry; engineering colleges can pay attention to technical entrepreneurship; colleges of education or public affairs can emphasize social entrepreneurship, etc.

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7.3 Evaluation System of IEE The evaluation of IEE has a role of planning, monitoring and benchmarking. The evaluation of IEE policies is helpful to find and remedy the policy deficiency; the evaluation of entrepreneurship faculty and IEE performance is helpful to improve the quality of IEE. The study of evaluation should consider issues like how to evaluate the development of IEE, what are the key indicators, how to promote the entrepreneurship courses evaluation, etc.

7.3.1 The Necessity of Constructing Evaluation System of IEE In the past two decades, the IEE and relevant research have developed very fast. However, the existing research mainly focuses on IEE policies, models and practice, while little research has concerned the evaluation of IEE. There is a lack of systematic study on the evaluation of IEE. Vesper and Gartner (1997) proposed seven evaluation criteria: entrepreneurship courses offered; faculty publications; impact of community; alumni exploits; innovations; alumni start-ups; and outreach to scholars. Diamond and Spence (1983) proposed that evaluation has three objectives: evaluation as planning tool, evaluation as monitoring tool and evaluation as impact evaluation tool. Based on this framework, Mei (2011) points out that IEE evaluation can include IEE policy and current situation evaluation, process evaluation and effectiveness evaluation. Process evaluation includes indicators like number of entrepreneurship courses (Fayolle et al., 2006), innovation and entrepreneurship environment (platform, atmosphere, etc.), inputs of IEE (2004) (the number of entrepreneurship faculty and mentors, number of students, financial inputs and students activities), the number of teaching materials of IEE (Twaalfhoven, 2007), students’ satisfaction regarding IEE (Henry et al., 2004), etc. Impact evaluation includes direct changes brought by IEE to students, such as cognitive changes, behavioral changes and emotional changes; and indirect impact on society and economy, such as entrepreneurship rate (Lee & Eesley, 2018), number of jobs created, etc. Intentions are important in boosting the chance that individuals will attempt an entrepreneurial endeavor at some point in their lives (Souitaris & Zerbinati, 2007). Many studies have shown that in general IEE in HEIs has positively affected the entrepreneurial intention of students in the short-, medium- and long-term perspectives (Hartsenko & Venesaar, 2017). In China, many studies also follow the paradigm of process evaluation and impact evaluation (Xu & Ye, 2018; Xu et al, 2018). Besides, some scholars introduce the model of context evaluation—input evaluation, process evaluation, product evaluation—to evaluate the quality of IEE (Gao & Li, 2016; Ge & Liu, 2014). However, at the practical level, most of evaluation narrowly focused on the entrepreneurship rate,

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awards of competitions, educational inputs, etc. For example, MyCOS has considered entrepreneurship rate as one of the most important indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of IEE; the educational authorities have also mainly used the number of awards of key entrepreneurship plan competitions to evaluate HEIs’ commitment, ability and effectiveness of IEE, which usually affect the allocation of governmental resources to HEIs. All of the aforementioned evaluation can only examine a small number of people’s entrepreneurship education, but has limited significance for integrating IEE with the whole process of talent cultivation, making the IEE breakthrough in the overall higher education reform and promoting the hierarchical and classified development of IEE. At present, with the widespread development of IEE programs in China, it is of great importance to evaluate the achievements and problems of IEE by establishing scientific and reasonable indicator systems, so as to provide guidance for higherquality IEE. Besides, due to the existence of different kinds of obstacles, improving the evaluation system will also be conducive to stimulate the enthusiasm of different stakeholders to participate in IEE. Based on grounded theory, this study interviewed different stakeholders and followed strict coding techniques to generate core concepts and categories of IEE evaluation and finally constructed a systematic IEE evaluation system.

7.3.2 Evaluation System of IEE 7.3.2.1

Open Coding

Open coding refers to a researcher reading the complete set of raw data multiple times to organize and summarizes the data into a preliminary grouping of analytic categories (Strauss, 1987). This study refined 30 categories of IEE evaluation during the open-coding stage (see Table 7.3).

7.3.2.2

Axial Coding

Axial coding interconnected each category by regrouping the data and identified relationships between open codes for the purpose of developing core categories (Greco, 2009). This study further regrouped the 30 categories generated during the open-coding stage and established the relationship of these categories. Finally, this study identified eight core categories of IEE evaluation (see Table 7.4).

7.3.2.3

Selective Coding

Selective coding involves the process of selecting one core category (the storyline) and relating the other categories to it (Mertens, 2005). This step is similar

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Table 7.3 Open-coding example of IEE evaluation system (part) Sample transcripts

Definition

The evaluation of IEE The role of IEE in should highlight the students’ innovative innovative spirit, spirit and attitude including students’ persistence, even their attitude toward failure and their ability to create value. This is because IEE evaluation should pay more attention to education

Conceptualization

Categorization

Students’ innovative spirit, attitude and concept

Individual spiritual value

IEE is also related to social concepts. It plays a leading role in the concept and consciousness of social innovation, making innovation become a concept of social existence, a mode of development and a way of life

The role of IEE to The concept of social guide social innovation innovation concept and consciousness

Social spiritual value

The government may consider more about the impact of IEE on local tax revenue and GDP, and how much social and economic benefits it actually produces

Economic benefits from innovation and entrepreneurship

Economic benefits

Economic performance

Innovation and entrepreneurship need to solve practical problems, such as whether it has improved its production line, and how many jobs have been provided

IEE solves social problems

Solving real issues

Solving real issues

When he went to the IEE solves the problem Solving market competition, he did not that plays a decisive difficulties talk about how to do a role in the market good production and to solve the pain of the market, but how to sell the product. This is a problem

Solving market pain points

(continued)

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Table 7.3 (continued) Sample transcripts

Definition

Conceptualization

We can use some psychological questionnaires to measure the development of students’ knowledge and ability

The effects regarding the knowledge and ability that students gain

Gain knowledge, ability, Enhancement of etc. knowledge and capability

Categorization

The orientation of the IEE course is not the requirement of writing a business plan. Instead, it lets the students explore the problem and look for a meaningful thing by themselves

It is more important to Learn to explore learn to explore problems by students problems and practice themselves than to write a business plan

Problem exploration and practice

We should not only evaluate what awards students have gained, but also pay more attention to the cultivation of all students’ innovative and entrepreneurial awareness, so that everyone can be creative in their own position

All students’ innovative and entrepreneurial awareness

Innovative and entrepreneurial awareness

Development of innovation awareness

Count how many enterprises created by students have survived longer than average

How long can enterprises survive after successful landing

Enterprise survival time Enterprise survival period

OFO may or may not succeed, but bike-sharing does facilitate our travel. OFO failed, but the thing he inspired was right

Entrepreneurship activities may fail, but they can inspire followers

The role of innovation demonstration

Innovation demonstration

What entrepreneurship pursues is not how high the rate of entrepreneurship is in a short time, but how much energy is released by the achievements of entrepreneurship in the future

Future development potential of entrepreneurial achievements

Future development potential

Development potential

(continued)

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Table 7.3 (continued) Sample transcripts

Definition

The Department of Education’s evaluation focuses on the number of teaching hours, lectures and salons, student enrollments, as well as faculty training and size of entrepreneurship spaces

Evaluating the courses, Courses, class hours, Curriculum and lectures and faculty faculty training, number activities training, and student of benefited students participation

Conceptualization

Categorization

Some faculty members Faculty’s working believe that IEE is not attitude, enthusiasm the responsibility of and commitment HEIs. There is little support or award for faculty members who guide students’ entrepreneurship plan competitions, though it takes a lot of the faculty’s time and energy

Faculty’s work commitment

Because the economic and cultural differences between different regions are significant, it is not scientific to evaluate only the results. Instead, we should evaluate whether the HEIs have relevant systems, entrepreneurship platforms, or whether they have conducted relevant activities, and have provided students with innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities. Government evaluation also includes double-qualified faculty team evaluation

Sound system, sound Inputs of organizations, providing education resource opportunities, building platforms; faculty team building;

Whether HEIs provide institutional guarantee, opportunity and platform; the situation of double-qualified faculty team building, etc.

Faculty commitment

(continued)

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Table 7.3 (continued) Sample transcripts

Definition

The government Has the government mainly provides policy issued corresponding guidance, such as preferential policies? whether there are supportive policies or preferential policies for students’ entrepreneurship?

Conceptualization

Categorization

preferential policies

Policy support

Whether this policy is effective, and whether the effect is obvious

The implementation of Policy implementation the policy and its effect and effect

Policy effectiveness

All kinds of innovation and entrepreneurship competitions have become an important part of the achievements of HEI leaders

Awards in the innovation and entrepreneurship competition

Awards of competition

In the employment data, there is an indicator of number of students starting their own business, including students and graduates starting their own business, number of entrepreneurship teams entering incubators, etc.

The number of Number of students students starting their starting a business own businesses, graduates starting their own businesses, and students starting their own businesses after graduation

Awards in the innovation and entrepreneurship competition

Rate of entrepreneurship

In the process of Jobs are created by entrepreneurship, can it entrepreneurs bring some new job growth points and provide new jobs?

Employment rate driven employment rate by entrepreneurship driven by entrepreneurship

I think the criteria of evaluation can be whether students actually start a business and how many people stick to it

Insist on entrepreneurship

Rate of Entrepreneurship maintenance

performance after graduation

Outstanding alumni

The number of students establishing a business, and adhering to it

There are systematic The development of evaluation indexes for college graduates graduates, such as the proportion of graduates going to the world top 500 companies to work, salary, etc.

(continued)

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Table 7.3 (continued) Sample transcripts

Definition

Conceptualization

Categorization

Our demonstration base submits the number of entrepreneurship teams’ incubation projects every month or quarter

Forming a business plan or project, and the project is incubated and supported

Form entrepreneurship projects and get supports from incubators

Project incubation

Are there any results from the innovation project? Do you have any real products?

Entrepreneurial projects transfer from paper plans to actual creation and enter the market

Launch of entrepreneurial projects

Project landing

The innovation and Successfully start a entrepreneurship business competition can only make a short-term evaluation of IEE. However long-term evaluation should also be included, such as the number of enterprises created within five years of student graduation

Registering business

Founding enterprises

It depends on how Number of quality many high-quality enterprises, profits of enterprises have been scale enterprises created by IEE programs, such as how many listed companies there are and how many enterprises above the scale make profits

Total enterprise value

Enterprise scale

In recent years, we reviewed many projects which did not have high revenues and taxes, but they could be successfully transferred

Student teams translate their scientific achievements into realistic products

Industrialization and productization of scientific research results

Technology transfer

The national and provincial research projects and awards regarding innovation and entrepreneurship are also indicators evaluating IEE

Research projects regarding innovation and entrepreneurship; awarded research results

The research projects and awards

Research projects and awards

(continued)

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Table 7.3 (continued) Sample transcripts

Definition

Conceptualization

Categorization

Many international Number of papers evaluations of higher published by education are scored by faculty/students relevant institutions according to certain standards, such as the number of published papers

Number of monographs Publication of and papers monographs and papers

Innovation means you should have IP, certificate of invention and work

Patents of innovations and inventions

The fruits of innovation and entrepreneurship, patents of inventions

Patent

Table 7.4 Core categories of IEE evaluation by axial coding Core categories

Categories

Spiritual value

Individual spiritual value; societal spiritual value

Realistic value

Economic performance; solving real issues; solving market pain points

Policy input

Policy support; policy effectiveness

Education input

Curriculum and activities; inputs of educational resource; faculty commitment

Student development

Enhancement of knowledge and capability; problem exploration and practice; development of innovation awareness

Enterprise development

Enterprise survival period; innovation demonstration; development potential

Entrepreneur performance

Awards of competition; rate of entrepreneurship; employment rate-driven entrepreneurship; rate of entrepreneurship maintenance; outstanding alumni

Products and achievements Project incubation; project landing; founding enterprises; enterprise scale; transfer of scientific and technological achievements; research projects and awards; publications (monographs and articles); patents

to axial coding, but it is “done at a higher, more abstract level of analysis” (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). The direction and focus of IEE evaluation will affect the content and approaches of IEE evaluation. Based on grounded theory, this research established a three-level VPR evaluation framework, namely value evaluation, process evaluation and result evaluation, with each connected to the categories generated by open coding and axial coding (see Table 7.5).

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Table 7.5 Three-level coding structure of IEE evaluation system Selective coding

Axial coding

Open coding

Value evaluation

Spiritual value

Individual spiritual value; societal spiritual value

Realistic value

Economic performance; solving real issues; solving market pain points

Policy input

Policy support; policy effectiveness

Education input

Curriculum and activities; inputs of educational resource; faculty commitment

Student development

Enhancement of knowledge and capability; problem exploration and practice; development of innovation awareness

Enterprise development

Enterprise survival period; innovation demonstration; development potential

Entrepreneur performance

Awards of competition; rate of entrepreneurship; employment rate-driven entrepreneurship; rate of entrepreneurship maintenance; outstanding alumni

Products and achievements

Project incubation; project landing; founding enterprises; enterprise scale; transfer of scientific and technological achievements; research projects and awards; publications (monographs and articles); patents

Process evaluation

Result evaluation

7.3.2.4

Theoretical Saturation Test

Theoretical saturation represents the point at which additional data collection yields no further conceptual elaborations of a given theoretical element (Mills et al., 2010). This research took a two-stage coding approach, with the first stage coding 48 interview data and the second stage coding six interview data (two from government, two from HEIs and two from enterprises). The researcher carefully coded the first 48 interview data till there were no new concepts, domains and relations. After the coding analysis of six interview data in the second stage, no new concepts, domains and relations yielded, which means the framework constructed by this research has a good degree of theoretical saturation.

7.3.2.5 1.

Explanation of Evaluation System

Value evaluation

Value evaluation refers to the value judgment of IEE’s contribution, including both the spiritual value and the realistic value. The spiritual value means the educational and social contributions of IEE at the spiritual and conscious levels, which do not

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necessarily have material results, but play a key role in “planting a seed” in guiding individual and societal concept, forming an innovative and entrepreneurial lifestyle. IEE affects not only the levels of resources and knowledge, but also social value. Participating in IEE is an important way for citizens to form a correct opinion about value. The spiritual value includes two sub-dimensions: individual spiritual value and societal spiritual value. Realistic value refers to the educational and social contributions of IEE at the practical and material levels, which include economic performance, solving real issues and solving market pain points. Economic performance refers to the economic value and benefits brought by IEE, such as taxes, GDP and so on. Solving real issues means the role of IEE in solving the real challenges of society and economy. Solving market pain points emphasizes IEE solving the key issues of economic development. 2.

Process evaluation

Process evaluation refers to the effectiveness of policy input, education input, student development and enterprise development. Policy input means the policy support for IEE, including policy support and policy effectiveness. The former examines whether government at different levels issue IEE support polices; the latter examines the implementation effect of entrepreneurship policies and their impact on IEE. Education input includes curriculum and activities, inputs of educational resource and faculty commitment. Curriculum and activities evaluate HEIs’ entrepreneurship curriculum system and extracurricular activities. Inputs of educational resource evaluate HEIs’ organizational structure, faculty teams, platform building, practical base construction, etc. Faculty commitment evaluates faculty engagement and the quality of IEE. Student development includes the enhancement of knowledge and capability, problem exploration and practice, and development of innovation awareness. The enhancement of knowledge and capability evaluates students’ “know-what,” namely their knowledge and capability development. Problem exploration and practice evaluates students’ “know-how,” namely their performance in exploring problems and practical operation. The development of innovation awareness evaluates students’ conceptual changes in innovation and entrepreneurship. Enterprise development is a new dimension proposed by this study, which evaluates the long-term impact and effects of IEE from the perspective of development. It evaluates the enterprise survival period, role of innovation demonstration and development potential. Enterprise survival period means whether startups generate, maintain or increase profits, the survival time, etc., so as to examine the sustained effects of IEE, rather than only paying attention to the number of startups and finance, but attaching little importance to the maintenance of startups and the real economic effects of university students’ entrepreneurship activities. The role of innovation demonstration evaluates the role of enlightenment or demonstration of startups to other entrepreneurship activities. For example, the evaluation score is low if it is only a low-level replicative entrepreneurship activity; the evaluation score is high when an

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innovative and entrepreneurial project has important enlightenment for others, even it fails. Development potential evaluates the possibility of startups’ future development. It is not based on immediate or short-term results, but focuses on the possible influence and potential in the future. It is a future-oriented prospective evaluation. It should be noted that the dimension of student development and enterprise development emphasizes the changes and development brought by IEE, which not only refers to current performance, but also potential development. Therefore, they belong to both prospective evaluation and retrospective evaluation. Through the combination of immediate evaluation, prospective evaluation and retrospective evaluation, the development effects of IEE can be comprehensively evaluated. 3.

Results evaluation

Results evaluation includes two dimensions: evaluation of entrepreneur performance and evaluation of products and achievements. Entrepreneur performance mainly evaluates indicators like competition awards, rate of entrepreneurship, employment ratedriven entrepreneurship, rate of entrepreneurship maintenance, outstanding alumni and so on. It should be noted that some effects of IEE are immediate, while others have a lag effect, such as graduate entrepreneurship rate and outstanding alumni. Products and achievement mainly evaluates eight indicators: project incubation, project landing, founding enterprises, enterprise scale, transfer of scientific and technological achievements, research projects and awards, publications (monographs and articles) and patents. The first four indicators examine the results of student entrepreneurship, and the latter two indicators examine the research results of innovation and entrepreneurship.

7.3.3 Characteristics and Principles of IEE Evaluation System This study constructs a VPR three-level index system for IEE, which consists of value evaluation, process evaluation and result evaluation. The evaluation system has reasonable structure, clear indicators and strong operability. It will not only enrich the existing theoretical basis of IEE, but also provide theoretical framework and guidance for the practice of IEE evaluation.

7.3.3.1

Characteristics of IEE Evaluation System

There are four characteristics of VPR three-level index system for IEE. 1.

Multilayered and pluralistic

IEE is a complex system. A single paradigm or dimension cannot meet the needs of evaluation. The VPR three-level index system is a multilayered and pluralistic

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evaluation model that demonstrates the following two aspects. Firstly, the evaluation dimension is multilayered. Based on the absorption and improvement of the process evaluation and result evaluation paradigm of IEE evaluation theory both at home and at abroad, the VPR index system adds the value evaluation paradigm, reflecting the educational function and value guiding mission of IEE. Secondly, the internal structure of evaluation dimensions is multilayered and pluralistic. For example, the value evaluation includes not only realistic value, which reflects the economic effects and social effects of IEE, but also the spiritual value, which reflects IEE’s contributions at the spiritual and conscious levels. The VPR index system covers both educational evaluation and innovation and entrepreneurship evaluation. The process of evaluation includes the governmental, institutional, enterprise and student evaluation. It covers the evaluation of innovation and entrepreneurship policy, environment, IEE inputs, IEE outputs, etc. It also involves a comprehensive evaluation of governmental policy and financial support, social resources support and environment establishment, institutional curriculum and activities, students’ entrepreneurial learning and practice, etc. The result evaluation includes both people-oriented entrepreneur dimension and object-oriented product and achievement dimension. 2.

Combination of developmental evaluation and performance evaluation

The process evaluation is a kind of formative evaluation and developmental evaluation, the purpose of which is to understand the current situation, evaluate and promote the growth. In the VPR evaluation system, the policy input, education input, student development and enterprise development are four process dimensions. The enterprise development dimension is a new indicator proposed by this study, which is helpful to guide HEIs to overcome the utilitarian and superficial tendency of IEE practice. The result evaluation is a kind of performance evaluation, which examines the achievements of student entrepreneurship brought by IEE. VPR evaluation system pays attention to the measurement of students’ innovation ability, entrepreneurial cognition, entrepreneurship competency, developmental potential, personality characteristics through psychological test and situational simulation. The VPR evaluation system also examines the effect of IEE in stimulating college students’ entrepreneurial intention, cultivating students’ entrepreneurship theory and comprehensive quality and creating innovative and entrepreneurial culture. 3.

Combination of short-term and long-term evaluation

In the process of evaluating IEE, the long-term and short-term evaluation each has its own characteristics and strengths. Short-term evaluation is a kind of immediate evaluation, reflecting the current situation and characteristics of IEE. Long-term evaluation belongs to prospective and retrospective evaluation, reflecting the developmental situation and characteristics. At present, IEE evaluation focuses too much on the number of students who start their own business and the willingness of students to start their own business, while neglecting the “time-lag effect” of IEE. IEE and entrepreneurship behaviors are dynamic and sustainable. Short-term evaluation cannot fully reflect the overall effects of IEE; it must be combined with long-term evaluation. For example,

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the enterprise survival period, role of innovation demonstration and development potential, the maintenance of startups and economic effect of university students’ entrepreneurship activities reflect the long-term effect of IEE; competition awards and rate of entrepreneurship belong to short-term evaluation.

7.3.3.2 1.

Characteristics and Principles of IEE Evaluation System

Adhering to correct orientation

The evaluation of IEE should adhere to the correct orientation, so as to guide IEE activities, enhance students’ entrepreneurship competency and promote the development of innovation and entrepreneurship. Therefore, the evaluation of IEE should attach importance to the following three basic requirements: (1) (2) (3)

(4)

The evaluation should be in accordance with policy direction, making evaluation indicators and standards follow policy requirements; The evaluation should be in advance, so as to guide IEE and students’ entrepreneurship development needs; The evaluation should be student-centered, which is helpful in promoting the harmonious development of students’ entrepreneurial psychology and behavior. Clarifying multilevel evaluation requirements and detailed indicators

As mentioned above, the evaluation of IEE is multilevel and multidimensional. Though the VPR evaluation system has constructed a three-level index, the relevant indicators and requirements should be further clarified during the evaluation process. For example, it is necessary to select or develop specific measurement tools for the evaluation of the “knowledge and capability” indicator; it is necessary to clarify the time span and key nodes for calculating the entrepreneurship rate and entrepreneurship maintenance rate; it is also necessary to clarify the types of competitions that can be counted when comparing the competition awards indicator. Therefore, the evaluation of IEE should consider the following four basic requirements: (1) comprehensive understanding of the promulgation, adjustment and implementation of IEE policies at different levels; (2) dynamic analysis of institutional IEE resources; (3) clarification of the specific operating rules of IEE indicators; (4) selection or development of appropriate measurement tools. 3.

Adhering to multilevel and multiple approaches evaluation

The quality of IEE is multilevel and multidimensional. Therefore, the evaluation of IEE should consider the different dimensions of IEE quality, paying attention not only to the basic development of students’ entrepreneurial awareness and capability, but also to the practical evaluation and performance evaluation of student entrepreneurship, as well as the contribution of IEE to spiritual value, etc. Only in this way can we maintain the high-quality and sustainable development of IEE.

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Firstly, the evaluation system should emphasize both the effects of IEE on the enhancement of students’ entrepreneurial intention, namely the measurement of students’ innovation ability, entrepreneurial cognition, entrepreneurship competency, developmental potential, personality characteristics through psychological test and situational simulation; and pay attention to students’ entrepreneurship behavior and achievements. Secondly, multiple evaluation approaches should be used. The evaluation process should pay attention to the integration of process evaluation and result evaluation, short-term evaluation and long-term evaluation, as well as the integration of immediate evaluation, prospective evaluation and retrospective evaluation. Thirdly, the evaluation should pay attention to the two-way feedback evaluation, which means the faculty and student evaluation during and after entrepreneurship teaching, including both students’ evaluation for faculty and faculty’s evaluation for students. Through the two-way evaluation, HEIs can immediately understand the teaching problems, adjust the curriculum and teaching design and reconsider the faculty team, so as to conduct relevant entrepreneurship guidance and enhance the teaching quality of IEE.

7.4 Constructing “Upgraded Edition” of IEE System The upgrading of IEE system has two meanings. One emphasizes the further improvement of the existing IEE, attaching importance to connotation development and the promotion of high quality; the other emphasizes the supplementary of the missing system. Based on in-depth interviews with different stakeholders, this study proposes that building a “full chain” for innovative and entrepreneurial talents cultivation and strengthening the integration and synergy of IEE are key approaches to constructing an “upgraded edition” of the IEE system.

7.4.1 “Full Chain” for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents Cultivation In October 2015, the State Council (2015) issued Overall Plan for Promoting the Construction of World-class Universities and Disciplines, which required HEIs to strengthen IEE and vigorously promote personalized cultivation, so as to enhance students’ comprehensive competence, international vision, scientific spirit, entrepreneurship awareness and creativity. It also called on HEIs to rationally increase the rate of graduate entrepreneurship, guiding graduates to actively engage in mass entrepreneurship and innovation. In order to build a “full chain” for innovative and entrepreneurial talent cultivation, it is important to focus on both the “upstream,”

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namely the development of students’ innovative and entrepreneurial competence, and the “downstream,” namely the incubation and venture creation.

7.4.1.1

The Development of Students’ Innovative and Entrepreneurial Competence

In an era of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” what kind of innovative and entrepreneurial competence should students have? The chief human resource officers of today’s largest employers in 10 industries and 15 economies believe that complex problem-solving, social and systems skills will be far more in demand in 2020 when compared to physical abilities or content skills (Schwab, 2017). Northeastern University president Joseph Aoun proposed that under the background of artificial intelligence (AI), HEIs should provide the next generation a “robot-proof” education, which nurtures students’ unique capacities as human beings. His framework features three new literacies and four cognitive capacities (Aoun, 2017): The three new literacies include: • Technological literacy: knowledge of mathematics, coding and basic engineering principles; • Data literacy: the capacity to understand and utilize big data through analysis; • Human literacy: equips human for the social milieu, giving human the power to communicate, engage with others and tap into our human capacity for grace and beauty. Four cognitive capacities are higher-order mental skills, which include (Aoun, 2017: xix): • Critical thinking: instills the habit of disciplined, rational analysis and judgment; • Systems thinking: the ability to view an enterprise, machine or subject holistically, making connections between its different functions in an integrative way; • Entrepreneurship: applies the creative mindset to the economic and often social sphere. It functions in two dimensions, the traditional start-up model and entrepreneurial activities within the context of established institutions and business; • Cultural agility: teaches students how to operate deftly in varied global environments and to see situations through different, even conflicting, cultural lenses. Morris et al. (2013) proposed 13 core entrepreneurship competence: opportunity recognition; opportunity assessment; risk management/mitigation; conveying a compelling vision; tenacity/perseverance; creative problem solving/imaginativeness; resource leveraging; guerrilla skills; value creation; maintain focus yet adapt; resilience; self-efficacy; and building and using networks. IEE should take the historical responsibilities. In an age of uncertainty and continuous change, IEE has become increasingly urgent. Nowadays, the economic transformation and upgrading has achieved a high degree of intelligence. With the fast

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development of AI, more and more traditional work will be replaced by robots. Therefore, the position of IEE should not be a temporary movement or a competition. The development of IEE should have new ideas and mindsets, which should be integrated with the whole process of nurturing students. On the one hand, IEE should enable students to maximize their value in an uncertain environment, and have the ability to face these changes and recognize the opportunities; on the other hand, HEIs themselves should innovate the teaching content and approaches according to the new technology and changes of the new industry. In August 2018, the Ministry of Education held the National Conference on Undergraduate Education in the New Era. Minister Chen Baosheng required that HEIs adhere to the principle of student-centeredness, putting undergraduate education at the core position of talent cultivation and truly turning “water courses” (referring to courses with very low quality) into “golden courses,” which are deep, difficult and challenging for students. This is an important opportunity to improve the quality of IEE. Firstly, HEIs should further clarify the university-wide orientation of IEE. The future of IEE is not only opening several courses, some extracurricular activities or establishing several entrepreneurship clubs; the development of IEE needs the participation of all faculty and students. It should be integrated into the whole process of education. Only in this way can China accelerate the speed of innovation and entrepreneurship. They key point of IEE is to nurture students’ innovative and entrepreneurial mindset and competence. Secondly, IEE should meet the needs of society and students. It is important that the faculty introduces the frontier issues of the industrial chain, the needs of enterprises, technological issues and the business model into curriculum. Thirdly, HEIs should improve the governance innovation of IEE curriculum. Traditionally, the curriculum system in HEIs is discipline-oriented, and the main body of curriculum development is professional faculty. However, under the new round industrial revolution, the knowledge production model has changed dramatically from Mode 1, which refers to knowledge generating within a disciplinary, primarily cognitive, context, to Mode 2, which refers to knowledge creating in a broader, transdisciplinary social and economic context (Gibbons et al., 1994). Traditional governance cannot meet the needs of new knowledge production. Curriculum innovation needs to be problem-oriented, reflecting the frontier trends of current scientific and technological developments. Therefore, it is necessary to build a curriculum governance team composed of professionals from both inside and outside HEIs. Fourthly, HEIs should promote the innovation of IEE curriculum implementation. “Stanford 2015” (2015) proposes the idea of an “Open Loop University.” It allows students to receive a lifetime of learning opportunities: (1) Students study six years over a lifetime rather than four years during ages 18–22; (2) knowledge is obtained across classrooms and practical settings; (3) seasoned adults return to pivot careers and reconnect with community; (4) students begin studies at a range of ages; (5) Populi return as expert practitioners and enrich campus life. Students can combine theory, study and practice (Stanford University, 2015). Nowadays, more HEIs have taken the cooperative education model to promote experiential learning.

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Under the cooperative education model, students alternate their classroom learning with sustained, full-time immersion in the professional workplace and then integrate the two (Aoun, 2017). HEIs should invite academic faculty, entrepreneurship mentors, professionals from enterprises, venture capitalists, IP lawyers, etc., to build diversified teaching teams, so as to provide students with both theoretical and practical guidance.

7.4.1.2

Strengthening the Track and Continuous Support for Excellent Entrepreneurship Projects

Firstly, though there have been many IEE policies, many of them lack detailed rules and operability. The government should strengthen the pertinence and effectiveness of entrepreneurship policies, so as to reduce entrepreneurship risks and enhance the social recognition of innovation and entrepreneurship. Secondly, enterprises should play an active role in this process. The government can use both positive incentives, such as tax incentives or subsidies, and reverse pressure, such as social responsibility evaluation, to promote enterprises to participate in different aspects of college students’ innovation and entrepreneurship activities. Thirdly, enhancing the collaboration of different official departments to promote resource integration. Some provinces began to reform the entrepreneurship plan competitions to increase the entrepreneurship rate. For example, since 2016, Zhejiang Provincial Education Department has cooperated with League Committee, Provincial Sports Bureau and other eight departments to merge the previous Career Planning and Entrepreneurship Competition, “Challenge Cup” Technological Innovation Competition and “Internet’ + Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and organized the College Students” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. It is estimated that in the 2017 competition, more than 90 percent of HEIs in Zhejiang Province with over 6000 projects participated in the competition. A number of entrepreneurship projects were incubated (Ma, 2018). Fourthly, establishing the tracking, evaluating and continuous supporting mechanism. According to a MyCOSs survey (2018), those who graduated from four-year universities in the year 2012 and chose to start their own business after half a year of their graduation, 48.6% will continue to choose entrepreneurship after three years. Those who graduated from three-year vocational colleges and chose to start their own business after their graduation, 47.5% will continue to choose entrepreneurship after three years. It indicates that those who have entrepreneurship experience will be more likely to choose entrepreneurship again, compared to those who do not have entrepreneurship experience. Therefore, it is important to establish the tracking and evaluating mechanisms for teams who have gained the rewards of entrepreneurship plan competitions, who have received financial support from seed or venture capital, and for startups in college entrepreneurship parks, so as to better understand their situation and needs.

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Developing Strategies, Clarifying Objectives, Resources and Organizational Support

The international experience shows that developing strategies has been an important approach to promote IEE. Taking University of Waterloo (2013) as an example, the University of Waterloo Strategic Plan 2013–2018 propels Waterloo toward a single goal: to be recognized as one of the top innovative universities in the world. This strategy identified university’s eight themes: experiential education, entrepreneurship, transformational research, academic programming, internationalization, vibrant student experience, employer–employee relationship, and sound value system. University of Waterloo believes that experiential education, entrepreneurship, transformational research are three differentiating strengths compared to other universities. This strategy also points out that “entrepreneurship at Waterloo is not business as usual”—extending from its classrooms to global communities, from research laboratories to innovative startups—rather, it is a “spirit defined by a burning desire to make things better” (p. 18). University of Waterloo (2013) further issued the Uniquely Entrepreneurial University Implementation Plan (2013–2018) to clarify detailed objectives and indicators to promote university-wide IEE from the perspectives of teaching, research and supporting systems. University of Waterloo also carefully tracks the achievements of each indicator, which dramatically promotes IEE development. (Table 7.6) Table 7.6 Indicators of entrepreneurship and achievements Indicators

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

Student enrollment in entrepreneurship courses, non-credit courses, events and workshops

10,002

12,416

15,710

16,761

20,212

Credit and non-credit entrepreneurship courses, events and workshops

239

291

389

524

517

Student entrepreneurial projects

77

272

285

284

332

Investment funding for current ventures 3.9 m ($)

15.7 m

4.4 m

21.0 m

44.6 m

Survival rates of velocity ventures

84.3%

90.7%

87.0%

89.0%

91.0%

Student and alumni ventures supported

115

173

161

210

229

Jobs created by students and alumni ventures

402

264

576

401

420

Maclean’s university rankings

1

1

1

1

1

Source https://uwaterloo.ca/strategic-plan/in-action/uniquely-entrepreneurial?tab=all&tableau=2# tabs-nav

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7.4.2 Strengthening the Integration and Synergy of IEE There are two dimensions of the closeness of IEE: One is the isolation of disciplines; the other is the isolation between the talent nurturing system and social demands. On the one hand, disciplines are criticized for becoming isolated “silos” (Jacobs, 2013). The cultivation of innovative and entrepreneurial competency is based on complex and multidisciplinary knowledge networks. The interdisciplinary knowledge background is the source of breaking inertial thinking, expanding the breadth of thinking and achieving original results (Wang & Quan, 2014). On the other hand, the isolation of the talent nurturing system and social demands has led to the low rate of technology transfer in HEIs. It is reported that HEIs have undertaken nearly half of the high-tech R&D projects and owned 70% national key laboratories. Though their amount of patented technology is huge, most of them exist in text form and only 6–8% can be transferred into productive forces to feedback social development (Ni et al., 2017). There are three main reasons. Firstly, because of the asymmetric information, faculty and enterprises do not understand the needs of each other. There is little open and transparent platform or mechanism to promote mutual understanding. Secondly, the objective, demands and orientation of different stakeholders vary dramatically. For example, enterprises pay more attention to their profits while HEIs emphasize talent cultivation. Thirdly, there is little mechanism to promote deep cooperation between government, HEIs and enterprises. For example, local governments have established many maker spaces, incubations and science parks. However, there is only low-level cooperation between these entrepreneurship platforms and HEIs. The situation of entrepreneurship resource waste and repeated construction of entrepreneurship platforms is very serious. Upgrading IEE needs the government, HEIs and enterprises to further clarify their positions, so as to better promote their collaboration and integration.

7.4.2.1

Synergic Development with National Strategies and Local Industry

We are now entering an age of big data, intelligence, Internet of Things, mobile Internet and cloud computing (Wu, 2017). Made in China 2025 (2017) proposes 10 key sectors that will be promoted: information technology; numerical control tools and robotics; aerospace equipment; ocean engineering equipment and high-tech ships; railway equipment; energy-saving and new-energy vehicle; power equipment; new materials; biological medicine and medical devices; and agricultural machinery. All these tendencies have put forward higher requirements for IEE transformation. HEIs should seriously consider how their teaching and research can tackle the medical issues, city transportation issues and backward manufacturing issues. There is an urgent need for a new generation of talents with innovative and entrepreneurial competency, who have the ability to transfer technology and resources to solve the grand social challenges.

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HEIs should break the closeness of teaching and research, collaborating with local government, enterprises, industry associations, etc., to promote successful entrepreneurship transfer. Firstly, HEIs can collaborate with the local government to establish institutes of innovation and entrepreneurship, so as to make the scientific achievements meet the real needs of local industry. Secondly, promoting innovationbased entrepreneurship through university–industry cooperation, enhancing the compatibility of students’ entrepreneurship projects with local economy and industry, so as to promote the regionalization and characteristics of IEE programs. For example, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is vigorously promoting the IAB industry, namely the new generation of information technology, artificial intelligence and biopharmaceuticals. Under these circumstances, it is important for HEIs in this area to emphasize the innovative and entrepreneurial talent cultivation in these industries. Only in this way can HEIs better collaborate with local government and industry.

7.4.2.2

Synergic Development with Rural Revitalization

Innovation and entrepreneurship are not only about producing economic value. IEE is also an important way to cultivate students’ social responsibilities and guide students to solve the big social challenges through professional learning. The 19th National Congress of Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward the “Rural Revitalization Strategy.” On May 31, 2015, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee examined “The National Strategic Plan for Rural Revitalization,” indicating the national government’s determination to revitalize rural areas. It is the mission of HEIs to guide students to combine their entrepreneurship projects with rural revitalization, so as to realize both individual and social values. At present, many provinces have started to explore the integration of IEE with rural revitalization. For example, Zhejiang Province organized the first College Students’ Idea Competition for Rural Revitalization from June to November 2018, encouraging faculty and students to build teams together to participate. The competition has three channels: Rural Industry Creative Ideas, Rural Planning and Design, Rural Public Welfare Creative Ideas. The teams can choose one channel to submit creative designs according to the realistic needs of rural revitalization.

7.4.2.3

Establishing a Differentiated Development Mechanism

In the past two decades, the IEE has demonstrated homogeneous development not only in organizational structure, but also in curriculum. DiMaggio and Powell (1983) identified three mechanisms through which institutional isomorphic change occurs: (1) coercive isomorphism that stems from political influence and the problem of legitimacy; (2) mimetic isomorphism resulting from standard responses to uncertainty; and (3) normative isomorphism associated with professionalization (DiMaggio &

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Powell, 1983). DiMaggio and Powell (1983) further argued that the degree of dependence of an organization on another organization, the centralization of an organization’s resource supply, the uncertainty of the activity, as well as the ambiguity of an organization may have positive correlation to the homogeneity of an organization (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983). Mei (2016) found that in the field of IEE, especially university-wide IEE in China, due to the political push and the centralization of funding for IEE, the uncertainty in the early age development of IEE, as well as HEIs’ ambition to extent IEE to all students, it is very easy to fall into the homogeneous development. However, because the needs of students, the advantages of HEIs, and the structure of industry are different in different regions, it is unreasonable and ineffective to simply replicate the IEE of other HEIs. Taking entrepreneurship courses for example. Nowadays, many HEIs have provided obligatory entrepreneurship courses for students. However, most of the courses are quite similar, with little local or school characteristics. Further development of entrepreneurship curriculum should be closely connected with students’ disciplines and meet the needs of local industries. Students from the agriculture discipline have the advantage of agricultural innovation and entrepreneurship; students from education can better understand educational issues and opportunities. Therefore, HEIs should explore the integration of IEE with disciplines and local industries, and establish a differentiated development mechanism (Yan, 2015). Only in this way can IEE serve the individualized cultivation of students as well as match the local economy and industry.

References Aoun, J. E. (2017). Robot-proof: Higher education in the age of artificial intelligence. The MIT Press. Chen, X. M. (2018). Qualitative research in social sciences. Educational Science Publishing House. Diamond, D., & Spence, N. (1983). Regional policy evaluation: A methodological review and the Scottish example. Gower Publishing Company Ltd. DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48, 147–160. Fayolle, A., Gailly, B., & Lassas-Clerc, N. (2006). Assessing the impact of entrepreneurship education programmes: A new methodology. Journal of European Industrial Training, 30(9), 701–720. Gao, G. J., & Li, L. H. (2016). A study on evaluating effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions and promoting strategies. Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences), 2(22–29), 112. Ge, L., & Liu, Z. Y. (2014). CIPP-based study on the capability evaluation indicator system for entrepreneurship education at Chinese universities and colleges. Journal of Northeastern University (social Science), 4, 377–382. General Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. (2015). Implementation opinions on deeping the reform of IEE in higher educational institutions. http://www.gov.cn/zhe ngce/content/2015-05/13/content_9740.htm

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Gibbons, M., Limoges, C., Nowotny, H., Schwartzman, S., Scott, P., & Trow, M. (1994). The new production of knowledge: The dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies. SAGE Publication. Greco, A. N. (Ed.). (2009). The state of scholarly publishing: Challenges and opportunities. Transaction Publishers. Hartsenko, J., & Venesaar, U. (2017). Impact of entrepreneurship teaching models on students’ entrepreneurial intentions: The case of Estonia and Hungary. Research in Economics and Business: Central and Eastern Europe, 9(1), 72–92. Henry, C., Hill, F. M., & Leitch, C. M. (2004). The effectiveness of training for new business creation: A longitudinal study. International Small Journal, 22(3), 249–271. Jacobs, J. A. (2013). In defense of disciplines: Interdisciplinary and specialization in the research university. The University of Chicago Press. Kang, N., Zhang, Q. L., & Su, H. B. (2018). Understanding the policy-making of China’s higher education through the lens of national policy documents. Fudan Education Forum, 16(5), 23–31. Lee, Y. S., & Eesley, C. (2018). The persistence of entrepreneurship and innovative immigrants. Research Policy, 47(6), 1032–1044. Ma, Y. (2018). The 2018 Zhejiang provincial college students’ innovation and entrepreneurship competition started, with new competition in the sport industry. https://zj.zjol.com.cn/news/902 175.html Made in China 2025: The plan of action. (2017). China Daily. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bus iness/chinadata/2017-04/20/content_29004282.htm Mei, W. H. (2011). On the types and influencing factors of entrepreneurship education evaluation in HEIs. Exploring Education Development, 3, 45–49. Mei, W. H. (2016). Organizational model of entrepreneurship education in HEIs in China: Factors of convergence and strategies of dispelling. Research in Educational Development, Z1, 29–34. Mertens, D. M. (2005). Research and evaluation in education and psychology: Integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications. Mills, A. J., Durepos, G., & Wiebe, E. (Eds.). (2010). Encyclopedia of case study research (Vol. Vol. 1). SAGE Publications. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. (2016). Regulations on student management in higher educational institutions. http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A02/s5911/moe_621/201 702/t20170216_296385.html Morris, M. H., Webb, J. W., Fu, J., & Singhal, S. (2013). A competency-based perspective on entrepreneurship education: Conceptual and empirical insights. Journal of Small Business Management, 51(3), 352–369. MyCOS Research Institute. (2018). Chinese college graduates’ employment annual report (2018). Social Science Academic Press. Ni, H., Xin, Y. Y., & He, X. W. (2017). International comparison and enlightenment of research universities’ innovative capability. China Higher Education Research, 5, 39–42. Schwab, K. (2017). The fourth industrial revolution. Crown Business. Souitaris, V., & Zerbinati, S. (2007). Do entrepreneurship programmes rise entrepreneurial intention of science and engineering students? The effect of learning, inspiration and resources. Journal of Business Venturing, 22, 566–591. Stanford University. (2015). Stanford 2025: Open Loop University. http://www.stanford2025.com/ open-loop-university Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications. Strauss, A. L. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. Cambridge University Press. The State Council of the People’s Republic of China. (2015). Overall plan for promoting the construction of world-class universities and disciplines. http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/content/ 2015-11/05/content_10269.htm Twaalfhoven, B. (2007). EFER and entrepreneurship in higher education. http://www.efer.eu/2013/ pdf/EFER_Presentation_for_March_16_FINAL_version.pdf

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Chapter 8

Build a New Era Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem for 2050

With the implementation of policies, such as: Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Institutional Mechanisms and Accelerating the Implementation of Innovation-Driven Development Strategies,” “Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Colleges and Universities” and the State Council’s “Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to Create an Upgraded Version of Entrepreneurship and Innovation,” the enthusiasm of local governments and colleges and universities runs high, combined with the provincial situation, the implementation plan for deepening the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions is introduced. Under the policy support and active guidance of governments at all levels, the development of innovation and entrepreneurship in China’s colleges and universities has achieved remarkable results. In the new era of socialism, there is an urgent need to train high-quality talents for innovation and entrepreneurship, including economic transformation and upgrading, development of modern science and technology, contemporary social transformation, global development and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. In September 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in his speech at the National Education Conference that it is necessary to improve the economic and social development capabilities of education services, and focus on cultivating innovative, compound and applied talents. Facing 2050, China must plan ahead and build an innovative and entrepreneurial education ecosystem that can effectively support economic transformation and upgrading, and cultivate a large number of high-quality innovative and entrepreneurial talents who can keep a foothold on China’s land, solve China’s development issues independently and go to the world and participate in the construction of the community of human destiny.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 X. Xu, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in China, Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects 60, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3724-7_8

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8.1 The Theoretical Conception of the Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in the New Era The ideological basis of innovation and entrepreneurship education development is the theoretical basis and action guideline of innovation and entrepreneurship practice. Toward 2050, China’s innovation and entrepreneurship education development must specify the overall goals, core concepts, major contradictions, development paths and other major theoretical issues. In accordance with the historical mission of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and in line with the need to promote the all-round development of the economy, society and people, the research group proposes the following conceptual diagram of the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education (Fig. 8.1).

8.1.1 Overall Objective of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education China’s overall objective of the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education is to promote the all-round development of economy, society and human beings.

Fig. 8.1 Conceptual diagram of the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education

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The development of innovative entrepreneurship education must bear in mind social responsibility and fulfill its mission of promoting economic and social development. The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China took the structural reform of supply side as the main line, promoting the quality, efficiency and motive changes of economic development and improving the total factor productivity (Liu, 2017). The core of this total factor productivity is innovation. Innovation ability not only restricts whether the economic system can achieve higher quality, higher efficiency, fairer and sustainable development, but also affects the effectiveness of building a modern economic system in China. To this end, innovation-driven entrepreneurship will become the driving force of China’s economic transformation and improve total factor productivity through process innovation. In the economic transformation and upgrading, higher education should prospectively provide high-quality innovative and entrepreneurial talents for the development of the economy. The ultimate goal of innovation and entrepreneurship education is to promote the all-round development of people and lay the foundation for people’s lifelong development. For the future-oriented development, the global labor market will undergo subversive changes. The unpredictable employment environment of entrepreneurship will reshape the labor market. Today, students entering primary schools will engage in new and non-existent jobs in the future. Innovation and entrepreneurship education needs to integrate discipline resources, adjust professional structure, share teacher resources, explore synergies with industry organizations, and foster new paths for innovation and entrepreneurship talents that lead the future social change. Globalization of higher education has intensified the global competition of university’s innovation ability. High-level innovative talents, leading scientific research achievements, top disciplines and the ability to transform patent achievements have a profound impact on whether Chinese universities can rank among the world’s first-class universities and disciplines. Colleges and universities must adapt to the globalization era and the needs of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and make new achievements in the training of innovative and entrepreneurial talents.

8.1.2 The Core Concept of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education The core concept of innovation and entrepreneurship education development is: people-oriented, connotation development. Innovation and entrepreneurship education must be based on the improvement of people’s quality, and must not go astray into money worship. For this purpose, the concept of innovation education needs to achieve the following four transformations: transform the values of entrepreneurship education from starting a business to a full-scale start-up; transform the goal of entrepreneurship education from promoting employment to improving quality; transform the orientation of

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entrepreneurship education from expediency to long-term planning; transform the concept of entrepreneurship education from school-based education to ecological system. Innovation and entrepreneurship education should focus on the development of connotation, focus on optimizing structure, improving efficiency and improving quality. The essential nature of entrepreneurship determines that entrepreneurship education cannot be reduced to an isolated island. The development of innovation and entrepreneurship education must get rid of the school’s fight in isolation or the situation of losing momentum. Among the various complex elements of innovation and entrepreneurship education, the education system must activate key elements, optimize structural elements, promote interaction inside and outside the school and promote the coordinated development of schools and society, professions and industries, theory and practice, in the process of professional integration, industry support and practice-driven education and teaching, we should build a high-quality entrepreneurship education ecosystem and explore a diversified organizational model of entrepreneurship education.

8.1.3 The Main Contradiction of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education At present, the main contradiction of innovation and entrepreneurship education is between insufficient educational capacity and the high requirements for economic and social development. Currently, China’s innovation and entrepreneurship education has a situation of “double deficiency” in quantity and quality. It is difficult for colleges and universities to meet the basic needs of innovation and entrepreneurship education for 40.02 million students (MoE, 2020), meet the training needs of high-quality scientific and technological innovation talents, industry professionals and regional special needs, and meet the realistic needs of economic and social development for innovation and entrepreneurship education. For example, the development of modern science and technology will inevitably lead to major changes in higher education in the future, the level of talents, the direction of disciplines, and the structure of specialties are facing great adjustments. Different industries are facing transformation in the industrial 4.0 era. Many traditional enterprise boundaries will be broken and industrial chains will be divided and reorganized. The cultivation of engineering compound talents will become the guarantee of the industry 4.0 era, particularly the demand for innovative talents such as cross-trainers, data experts and user interface experts will increase significantly. To give full play to the power pump and talent source of innovation, colleges and universities are faced with a series of problems, such as concept, system and talents.

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8.1.4 The Development Path of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education The development path of innovation and entrepreneurship education is to build an ecosystem of education-human-social symbiosis and sustainable development. How to promote entrepreneurship education into a healthy and sustainable development track is a major problem faced by the theoretical research and practical exploration of entrepreneurship education. Toward 2050, constructing the ecological system of entrepreneurship education is an important way to promote the connotation development of entrepreneurship education, and ecological development is the inevitable requirement of sustainable development of innovation and entrepreneurship. Innovation and entrepreneurship education involves a wide range of factors and many elements. The construction of China’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem should establish the “GALCHS” entrepreneurial education ecological development concept taking Global, All and Lifelong as external drives, Complementary and Holistic, Sustainable as internal drives, solving the problem of the lack of ecological position in school entrepreneurship education, lack of policy factors, weak foundation of entrepreneurial education ecosystem, and focusing on building a world-class, education-human-social symbiosis, and sustainable development of innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem (Fig. 8.2).

8.2 The Vision for the Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Toward 2050 Depicting the blueprint for the future is an important way to lead the future development. To this end, many countries and international organizations carry out longterm planning and layout. For example, the French International Prediction Research Center published The Long-Term Prospects of World Economic Growth: Perspectives in 2050 in 2006, the Japanese government released Innovation 2025: Strategic Policy Report for Creating the Future and Challenging the Limit in 2007, the United Nations released 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015. Toward 2050, the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China must be based on long-term development, reform with keen determination and build an innovation and entrepreneurship education ecological system with international competitiveness. To formulate a strategic plan for innovation and entrepreneurship education, we should firmly establish and implement the concept of innovation and development focusing on the national strategic objectives, adhere to the correct policy of innovation and entrepreneurship, with the core of improving all the people’s innovation and entrepreneurship. Reform and innovation of institutional mechanisms are the driving force, focusing on popularizing entrepreneurship education; optimizing entrepreneurial services; improving entrepreneurial support;

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Fig. 8.2 Innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem toward 2050

building entrepreneurial ecology; the role of top-level design entrepreneurship education in economic transformation and upgrading; the construction of innovative countries, content and standards; the integration of entrepreneurship education into various education policies; all-round, long-term, three-dimensional development of innovation and entrepreneurship education; and vigorously improving the ability to serve the country’s development of innovation and entrepreneurship. According to the development trend of global innovation and entrepreneurship education and the historical mission of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China, the construction of innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem in China can be divided into four strategic development periods, as shown in Fig. 8.3.

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381

Fig. 8.3 Road map of progressive development of innovation and entrepreneurship education toward 2050

8.2.1 2020: Build a Horizontally Interconnected Cooperative System for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Building a horizontally interconnected cooperative system is the primary form and necessary condition for the construction of an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. According to the development foundation of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities in China, by 2020, we must strive to form an open and interconnected cooperative system with innovation and entrepreneurial talents as the core, cooperative symbiosis, mutual benefit of educational platforms, and interactive and complementary educational processes, providing strong talent support for building a well-off society in an all-rounded way. The focus of the cooperative system building is the cooperative body. Innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem should be composed of different participants, and the formation of Internet is the basis of cooperative development. The participants of innovation and entrepreneurship education can be divided into different types of cooperative groups and individuals. At present, the government, universities and enterprises are the main cooperative groups to promote innovation and entrepreneurship cooperation. Teachers, managers, students and entrepreneurs are the main individuals involved in collaboration. In the social structure, different social

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subjects have different interests. How to seek common values and cooperative goals and form a mutually beneficial and cooperative system is often the key to sustainable development. At present, the participants of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities have a common social value pursuit, which is the necessary basis for building an effective cooperation system. However, there is an unavoidable reality between the public welfare value and the economic value. How to find the balance of value and solve the institutional obstacles is a difficult problem to attract all participants to participate actively in innovation and entrepreneurship education. From the perspective of policy adjustment, compensatory and binding policies can enhance the motivation of enterprises and governments to participate to a certain extent. Seen from long-term development, realizing value sharing and improving cooperative structure and methods are key to the endogenous development of innovation and entrepreneurship education.

8.2.2 2025: Build a Vertically Connected School Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education System The vertically connected school innovation and entrepreneurship education system is the backbone of the innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem. By 2025, we will strive to form a school innovation and entrepreneurship education system with the cultivation of innovation and entrepreneurship quality as the core and the linking of preschool education, primary education, secondary education and higher education, so as to lay a solid foundation for lifelong innovation and entrepreneurship education. The key to the construction of school innovation and entrepreneurship education system is the cultivation of students’ innovation and entrepreneurship quality and an innovation and entrepreneurship course and teaching system. As with other types of talent training, the training of innovation and entrepreneurship talents is not accomplished overnight. The ideal stage to acquire the basic knowledge of entrepreneurship and cultivate a positive attitude toward entrepreneurship is the period of children and adolescents. In some European and American countries, the education of innovation and entrepreneurship has been realized from kindergarten to university, and has established a curriculum system that connects with each other and has different goals at different stages of development. The urgent task of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China is to promote innovation and entrepreneurship education to move forward, make innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities impel the comprehensive reform of basic education. Nowadays, the starting point of innovation and entrepreneurship education for primary and middle school students and kindergartens is the system of innovation and entrepreneurship education with appropriate development goals and targeted and strong connections. On the basis of curriculum construction, teachers carry out innovation and entrepreneurship to promote teaching reform.

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8.2.3 2035: Build an Ecosystem of Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship Education The innovation-driven entrepreneurship education ecosystem is an important way to integrate innovation and entrepreneurship education, and it is a reliable guarantee for economic and social transformation and upgrading. By 2035, we will strive to establish an innovation-driven entrepreneurship education ecosystem with the aim of training high-quality innovative and entrepreneurial talents, the educational goal of knowledge entrepreneurship, the integration of innovation and entrepreneurship education as the educational content and teaching by means of wisdom and technology, so as to provide science and technology and talent guarantee to basically realize socialist modernization and to rank in the forefront of innovative countries. The innovation-driven entrepreneurship education ecosystem is the development orientation of the innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem, an important foundation for the cultivation of innovative entrepreneurial talents and an intellectual guarantee for the construction of an innovative economic society. The key to the innovation-driven entrepreneurship education ecosystem construction is the wide application of innovation in entrepreneurship. It includes technological innovation, business innovation, social innovation and institutional innovation, which drive the innovation and development of the economy and society and guides the construction of an entrepreneurial society.

8.2.4 2050: Build a Global, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem The global, innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem is the cornerstone of the global core competitiveness. By 2050, a global, innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem will be formed, which integrates innovation and entrepreneurship education as a whole, improves the training mechanism of innovation and entrepreneurship talents, interacts well with the development of innovation and entrepreneurship society to lay a solid foundation for promoting the construction of human destiny, building a prosperous, democratic, civilized, harmonious, beautiful and strong socialist, modernized country, realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

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8.3 Several Strategies for Promoting the Connotation Development of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education The construction of a new entrepreneurship education ecosystem is a complex and integral project. At present, it is necessary to grasp the core link of development, closely link the key points of development, solve the problems of development and promote innovation and entrepreneurship education to take the road of connotation development.

8.3.1 Encourage Innovation and Release the Vitality of the Institutional Mechanism of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Idea is the forerunner of reform. Idea innovation helps to release the vitality of practice. The ecological development of innovation and entrepreneurship education requires us to break the barriers of thinking, unload the traditional, narrow and closed entrepreneurial concept, and implement concept transformation: transform the values from starting enterprises to full-scale entrepreneurship (lifelong entrepreneurship, national entrepreneurship, global entrepreneurship); transform the goal view from entrepreneurship-driven employment to personal-quality improvement; transform the concept of positioning from short-term solution to long-term strategic planning; and transform the organizational view from university-based to an entrepreneurial education ecosystem. The deepening of institutional mechanism reform is an inherent requirement for accelerating the implementation of innovation-driven development strategies. There are some drawbacks in the system and mechanism of innovation and entrepreneurship education in China, the lack of entrepreneurship education in the basic education stage makes the enlightenment of higher education weak, discipline barriers hinder the overlapping of entrepreneurship education, the organization and operation mechanism of innovation and entrepreneurship education lack characteristics, and the teachers of entrepreneurship education are insufficient. The cooperation mechanism of entrepreneurship practice needs to be improved. The ecological development of innovation and entrepreneurship education requires us to eliminate the old drawbacks, create new systems, improve organization and management, and encourage open institutional culture, consolidating the soil for innovation and entrepreneurship.

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8.3.2 Advocate Reciprocity and Create an Ecological Chain for the Cooperative Development of Universities, Regions and Industries Universities, regions and industries are located in the upstream and downstream of the entrepreneurial ecological chain, and they are inseparable symbiosis. The construction of the innovation and entrepreneurship education ecosystem inevitably requires higher education institutions to uphold the concept of co-prosperity and mutual benefit, and to establish close cooperative relations with local business communities, governments and community groups. For example, the coordination of cooperation between universities and other institutions in the region through the establishment of regional, industry-based technology transfer centers and community entrepreneurship development centers; encourage stakeholders such as researchers, teachers, venture investors, entrepreneurs, government leaders and students to build local community support networks; various types of venture capital and public venture capital provide financial tools for the construction of an entrepreneurial ecosystem; community maker spaces and social enterprise incubators become incubation carriers in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In addition, changes in the demand for talents in the region and the industry, and new problems in economic and social development, in turn, promote the new development of talents and scientific research in universities, thus forming a cyclical process of synergistic interaction.

8.3.3 Ensure Development and Formulate the Regulations on Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education The development of innovation and entrepreneurship education is inseparable from the government’s strong guidance and support. Since the requirement of “strengthening entrepreneurship education for teachers and students” was first put forward at the national level in 1998, the first time at the national level, governments at all levels have issued a series of policies relating to innovation and entrepreneurship education. However, legal provisions for innovation and entrepreneurship education have not yet been formulated. According to the reform requirements of the government’s administrative management, it is recommended to further deepen the reform of administrative functions, formulate the Regulations on Promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education, and promote and guarantee the healthy development of China’s innovation and entrepreneurship education. The Regulations on Promoting the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education include criteria for the establishment of innovation and entrepreneurship education, organizational activities, stakeholders, support awards, management supervision and legal responsibilities. The introduction of the Regulations on Promoting the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education means that the development of innovation and

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entrepreneurship education in China has entered the legal track of management by law and development by law. Innovation and entrepreneurship education management will bear corresponding legal responsibilities and fulfill corresponding legal obligations; the relevant acts of various stakeholders will bear corresponding legal consequences, protect the legitimate rights and interests of participants and stimulate stakeholders’ enthusiasm for participation.

8.3.4 Improve Quality and Take the Road of Connotation Development The survey results show that there are many unreasonable factors in the innovation, entrepreneurship education, training team, curriculum construction, education and teaching in colleges and universities. Students are less satisfied with the entrepreneurship curriculum setting, entrepreneurship education teachers and entrepreneurship efficiency. Innovation and entrepreneurship education must take the road of quality first and connotation development. The government should build a quality assurance system for innovation and entrepreneurship and systematically monitor the quality of innovation and entrepreneurship education: Specify the objectives, responsibilities and obligations of different subjects of innovation and entrepreneurship education for quality assurance, and form a quality monitoring system with clear tasks, responsibilities, authority and mutual coordination; establish quality standards and implementation methods for classified and innovative entrepreneurship education, so that there are rules to follow; strengthen quality management from the aspects of dynamic mechanism, coordination mechanism, incentive mechanism, sharing mechanism and quality feedback mechanism to promote the quality of innovation and entrepreneurship. Schools should further clarify the development ideas to improve the core quality of college students’ innovation and entrepreneurship and cultivate high-quality innovation and entrepreneurship talents. According to the needs of teachers, build a team of classified, diverse and cooperative entrepreneurship education teachers. According to the different needs of college students, construct the innovation and entrepreneurship curriculum system featuring general education, professional integration and project-orientedness. According to the needs of teaching reform, strengthen the reform of innovation and entrepreneurship teaching methods based on orientation, practice-orientedness and ability improvement. Establish the linkage mechanism of teaching quality of entrepreneurship education, optimize the evaluation basis of teaching quality and improve the performance of innovation and entrepreneurship education.

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8.3.5 Go Global and Build a Global Community of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education With the development of economic and social globalization, global innovation and entrepreneurship have become the future trend. In 2015, the UNESCO 2030 Education Action Plan Content Framework pointed out that all entrepreneurship education must be carried out so that all young people and adults have the opportunity to receive high-quality entrepreneurship education to enhance their entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurial ability (UNESCO, 2015). In this context, promoting cooperation and sharing and building a global community of entrepreneurship education not only meet the interests of all countries, but are also conducive to the global development of entrepreneurs. To build a global entrepreneurship education community, international organizations, governments, universities and enterprises are the main bodies. At present, China should accelerate the pace of internationalization of education and encourage universities and enterprises to play a leading role in the construction of a global innovation and entrepreneurship education community.

8.4 Conclusion This research shows that innovation and entrepreneurship education in China has the following six distinguishing features: 1.

Meet the needs of society

Innovation and entrepreneurship education must meet the needs of the innovative and entrepreneurial society and promote the sustainable development of economy and society. As science and technology develop, economy, society and lifestyles are changing due to continuous innovation. Education is the basis for the development of society; to meet the needs of an innovative and entrepreneurial society, a new mode of education must be explored to promote the sustainable development of economy and society. This research shows that, influenced by the needs of society, innovation and entrepreneurship education in China has constantly abstracted new educational content and methods from practice, which is clearly market- and industry-oriented. 2.

Promote personal development

Personal development is at the core of innovation and entrepreneurship education. Innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities and colleges must take developing personal qualities as the core, popularizing knowledge as the basis, and improving skills as the bridge. Generally speaking, innovation and entrepreneurship education in China, especially entrepreneurship education, is most active in higher education. China boasts the largest higher education population in the world. China had 2663 HEIs with a total enrollment of 38.33 million in 2019. HEIs and educational

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theorists have their own understandings and disputes about the goals of innovation and entrepreneurship education. However, the large base of HEIs and students determines that the core of entrepreneurship education in China is not business education but cultivating innovative and entrepreneurial qualities of college students. In terms of innovation and entrepreneurship education, HEIs generally focus on how to enhance the popularization of the corresponding knowledge and improvement in the skills. 3.

Establish an ecosystem

Innovation and entrepreneurship education is an integrated undertaking. Establishing an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem is a mechanism guarantee that improves the effectiveness of innovation and entrepreneurship education. Education, especially innovation and entrepreneurship education, is an integrated, systematic and complex undertaking. Considering the internal education system, basic education, vocational education, higher education, social education, etc. are interrelated and interdependent. It is a long-term and gradual process to acquire the ability to innovate and be entrepreneurial; without basic education, the idea of incorporating innovation and entrepreneurship education into higher education is just a pie in the sky. Considering the external education system, the process of innovation and entrepreneurship education in HEIs must rely on the support from enterprises, governments, social organizations and so on; the results of innovation and entrepreneurship education must be recognized by society and drive society forward. To this end, governments at all levels in China have been more supportive of innovation and entrepreneurship education in terms of policies and resources and achieved remarkable results in recent years. 4.

Build a global community

In the context of globalization of economy and society, it is inevitable to build a global community with shared innovation and entrepreneurship education. Despite the protectionist policies in different countries in different periods of time and deglobalization, as science and technology develop and civilization progresses, globalization has become an unstoppable historical trend and cultivating global citizens with global awareness is inevitable. Society is where innovation and entrepreneurship education ultimately performs, which will fulfill the mission of achieving the common progress of mankind in the context of globalization. In the practice of innovation and entrepreneurship education, the Chinese government and HEIs value international exchanges enhance various types of cooperation with international organizations (such as UNESCO, ILO) and HEIs in other countries, encourage teachers and students to improve the quality of innovation and entrepreneurship education by means of teacher training, curriculum construction, platforms for practice and so on, so as to cultivate innovative and entrepreneurial talents with global awareness. 5.

Focus on key sectors

In different historical periods, regions and stages of the education system, the focus of innovation and entrepreneurship education lies in different key sectors. In China,

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there is developmental imbalance in different fields, no matter economic, social or educational. From a regional perspective, there are not only geographical but also developmental differences among the eastern, central and western regions or the northern, central and southern regions of China. Innovation and entrepreneurship education must vary with regions and be suited to local conditions so as to promote regional development. The practice of innovation and entrepreneurship education in different regions of China not only confirms that demand but also shows a pulling effect of education to society. From a global perspective, close cooperation between countries is critical to common development. The Belt and Road Initiative has been advanced in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship education, which has brought some valuable experience to draw on. From the perspective of industrial development, innovation in science and technology results in entrepreneurship in science and technology, which provokes coupling effects in the field of education. High-tech-oriented innovation and entrepreneurship education is highly valued, whether in basic education or higher education, and has produced important practical effects on the high-tech industry. 6.

Pay close attention to characteristic development

Innovation and entrepreneurship education has common features and laws as well as different developmental needs and characteristics. Understanding the laws of innovation and entrepreneurship education lays an important foundation for improving the quality and outcomes of innovation and entrepreneurship education. To this end, the enthusiasm for innovation and entrepreneurship in China fosters research into the theory and practice of innovation and entrepreneurship education. Meanwhile, universities of different types and levels have actively explored modes of innovation and entrepreneurship education in accordance with their own characteristics, which have produced a variety of practical cases. It has become a common choice for universities and colleges to seek a path of characteristic development for innovation and entrepreneurship education.

Bibliography Liu, S. J. (2017). Promoting the quality, efficiency and power transformation of economic evelopment. http://theory.people.com.cn/n1/2017/1116/c40531-29649519.html Ministry of Education. (2020). Statistical bulletin of national education development in 2019. http:// www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_fztjgb/202005/t20200520_456751.html UNESCO. (2015). Education 2030 Framework for Action. http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/ MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/ED_new/pdf/FFA-ENG-27Oct15.pdf