Entrepreneurship Education in the United States

The offering of small business management and entrepreneurship courses at both the two- and four-year college and university levels has grown in the United States in both number and diversity of content. This expansion of educational offerings has been fuelled in part by dissatisfaction, voiced by students and accreditation bodies, with the traditional Fortune 500 focus of business education (Solomon and Fernald, 1991). The issue is not that demand is high but that the pedagogy selected should meet the new innovative and creative mindset of students. The challenge to educators will be to craft courses, programmes and major fields of study that meet the rigors of academia while keeping a reality-based focus and entrepreneurial climate in the learning environment. Entrepreneurship is an ongoing process requiring a myriad of talents, skills and knowledge that lead to unique pedagogies capable of stimulating and imparting knowledge simultaneously.