Higher Entrepreneurship Education Diagnostics (HEED)
TOPIC: Competencies in Entrepreneurship Education in Hochschule Contexts
Duration: 06/2012-06/2015
Project Leader: Prof. Dr. Michael Schefczyk
Scientific Employees: Eva Weinberger
Contact: Tel: +49 351 463 36852; email: eva.weinberger@tu-dresden.de
At German universities, the funding of enterprising competencies serves not only the national economic goal of increasing the amount of spin-off companies, but also more importantly the overarching education theory goals, in which the students are empowered with a self-determined and independent way of life. Initially, a model for competencies necessary for a successful founding of a company were developed by students in the research project. Building on this, specific suggestions were worked out for how existing concepts and measures in entrepreneurship education at German universities can be optimized.
In particular, a test about founding a company was developed for better examination possibilities in entrepreneurship education at universities. The test measures relevant business and entrepreneurial knowledge in ten content areas (i.e. foundation marketing, business planning...) and two levels of competency. The test was rolled out in Winter 2014/2015 at two universities with 195 students of various faculties. After an item analysis and revision of test problems, the test in its current state contains 40 multiple choice questions. Initial validation results show that the test results imply differences in founding-relevant business knowledge between bachelor’s and master’s students as well as between students of the Faculty of Business and Economics and other faculties. Further validations will be undertaken in order to check the test’s tasks among various student groups at different universities using representative samples. Those interested can obtain the test for founding a company from Ms. Weinberger (eva.weinberger@tu-dresden.de) and use it for personal examination.
Multiple universities are taking part in this research program, including joint-partners like the University of Potsdam, the University of Wuppertal, and the TU Dresden. They have already been successfully researching and teaching the topic of founding companies against this backdrop since at least 2001. Furthermore, they offer students, graduates, and academic staff of all subject areas diverse opportunities to inform themselves comprehensively about this topic and further themselves in a more structured way. The joint project Higher Entrepreneurship Education Diagnostics (HEED) was sponsored between June 2012 and June 2015 by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and belongs to the research program "Kompetenzmodellierung and -erfassung im Hochschulsektor".
Further Information
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Weinberger, E. (2015). Entwicklung eines Tests zur Unternehmensgründung. 19. Interdisziplinäre Jahreskonferenz zur Gründungsforschung (G-Forum 2015), Kassel, Deutschland.
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Weinberger, E. & Schefczyk, M. (2014). Entrepreneurial competencies as learning objectives in higher entrepreneurship education. In A. Caetano, S. C. Santos & S. F. Costa (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2013 Entrepreneurship Summer University (pp. 37-46). Lisbon: ISCTE-IUL. Available online.
- Knuth, A., Blanke, S., Weinberger, E., Danielczyk, P., Schneider, D., Schefczyk, M., & Wagner, D. (2013). HEED – Higher Entrepreneurship Education Diagnostics. In S. Blömeke & O. Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia (Eds.), The German funding initiative “Modeling and Measuring Competencies in Higher Education”: 23 research projects on engineering, economics and social sciences, education and generic skills of higher education students. (KoKoHs Working Papers, 3) (pp. 27-30). Berlin & Mainz: Humboldt University & Johannes Gutenberg University. Available online.