Educating Innovators: Innovating Education?

In an era of decreasing economic activity, any increase in 'entrepreneurial capacity' is hailed as not only good but critical. The focus of enterprise education is all about creating innovators and go-getters who put business ideas into practice. But in an attempt to educate innovators, it is thought that education itself must become more innovative. Leading UK academic, Professor Allan Gibb, has long questioned the value of traditional education in developing entrepreneurship. He believes that the traditional 'paradigm' of entrepreneurship education needs to change to create more enterprising students. While many academics tout the wise adage that there is nothing as practical as good theory, there is a widely held view that, when it comes to enterprise education, not enough is being done on developing practical skills and entrepreneurial attitudes. But embedding these elements into third-level education can be challenging.