Entrepreneurship is widely recognized as the primary driver of global economic and social development. Enterprise, entrepreneurship, and employability co-exist together and are blended to create the core of holistic education. Over the years policymakers, academics, and economists have urged the inculcation of entrepreneurial spirit amongst college graduates to add to their value.
The Quality Assurance Agency defines enterprise education as the generation and application of ideas for practical solutions, while entrepreneurship education is the use of enterprise behaviors, attributes, and competencies to create social, cultural, or economic value. However, both forums suffer at the forefront due to the vagueness of definition and the lack of intuitive decision-making capability, creativity, and originality on the students' end. The discipline is largely marginalized as traditional and has not completely blossomed as the ultimate means of value addition to society. Thus, an educator working in this field has to adapt himself/ herself accordingly to provide an environment that helps nurture the experiential mode of teaching and learning. Entrepreneurial educators are the key to the ever-growing business acumen of the generation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a stagnancy to normal life in all aspects be it economic or social irrespective of people all over the globe. The effects and implications are almost irrevocable. The severe restrictions to mobility and physical contact have laid down new social interaction norms. The lack of socialization is even further pronounced when it comes to the education sector. However, the onset of the financial crisis due to this pandemic has also ensured an increase in technological innovation and opportunities.
The empty classrooms are indicative of reimagining reality and education with radical reforms. The massive shift towards online education meant a quick change in curriculum, learning, and teaching practices and thereby necessitating the inclusion of new management practices. Research (Ratten, 2020) suggested that stimulating the real environment through augmented reality and artificial intelligence would enable the experiential study and practice of entrepreneurship. A study (Tang & Li, 2021) carried out discussed ways to turn the current turbulent crisis situations into profitable business opportunities through flexible and diversified innovative education and entrepreneurship support. Accordingly, to realize the full-blown potential of learning during this crisis, universities need to:
Carefully integrate innovative education to increase the overall comprehensive competitiveness of students.
Strengthen the construction of teachers. The selection of educators should be accessed properly for it is the responsibility of the educator to polish out the innate entrepreneurial and creative side of the individual students and prepare them for forthcoming employment in this crisis situation.
Establish a sound online platform. The establishment of a planned entrepreneurship service platform will provide the students with a much-needed interactive growth environment.
The pandemic has enabled educators to repurpose existing teaching methodology to encompass digital technology. An educator's beliefs and ideas play a pivotal role in molding his/her design of learning and teaching methodology. Thus, the technological world has turned out to be a hit for educators who can incorporate their own designs and ideas to however interact and impart knowledge to their students. This has enabled the availability of knowledge in a practical and timely fashion.
There is a defined consensus that in-depth research is required to fully comprehend entrepreneurship education as a field, for it is an ever-evolving sector. Thus we can conclude that there is no certain systematic approach to this crisis, hence, an entrepreneurial outlook is the torch holder. But, a quality digital education program would successfully stimulate awareness of entrepreneurship and innovation, reform the cracks in the system and encourage the overall growth of the upcoming talent.
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Resources:
2018, January | Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education: Guidance for UK Higher Education Providers| Quality Assurance Agency | https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaas/enhancement-and-development/enterprise-and-entrpreneurship-education-2018.pdf?sfvrsn=15f1f981_8
Ratten, V. | 2020, August| Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the entrepreneurship education community| Journal of Enterprising Communities People and Places in the Global Economy | https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JEC-06-2020-0121/full/html?skipTracking=true
Tang, D. & Li, X.| 2021, January| Thoughts on innovation and entrepreneurship mode reform of college students in the context of COVID-19 | The International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Education| https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0020720920984318#_i22
Langston, C.| 2020, September| Entrepreneurial educators: vital enablers to support the education sector to reimagine and respond to the challenges of COVID-19| Entrepreneurship Education 3| https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41959-020-00034-4#Sec8
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