Entrepreneurship Education in Asia

Citation

Harry Matlay (2016), "Entrepreneurship Education in Asia", Education + Training, Vol. 58 No. 7/8, pp. 899-900. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-06-2016-0104

This research volume is a useful addition to the growing body of knowledge on entrepreneurship research. It excels in many ways and I will try, in a brief book review feature, to convince scholars, students, practitioners and policy makers across industrially developed and developing countries, as well as nations in transition, that it is a worthy addition to their collection of specialised books on entrepreneurship education.

It is unusual to see, in non-Asian countries libraries or on the shelves of academics, a volume that focuses specifically upon teaching entrepreneurship in this region. Perhaps the only exception would be China, and the majority of books published in this country are beyond the reach of overseas readers, mainly due to language challenges. The book under review, however, is in English and thus, it offers a rare and empirically rigorous insight into theoretical and practical aspects of entrepreneurship education in countries that for most of us are exotically remote and somewhat mysterious. I know from personal experience that visiting places such as China, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and Malaysia, on holiday or attending conferences, only offers us a brief and superficial glimpse of how other people learn and do business. As a scholar in, and enthusiastic advocate of, entrepreneurship education I have visited over 50 countries, variously disguised as a student, researcher, educator, tourist or conference delegate. Whichever country I visited throughout my stay, I tried hard to gain an insight into local entrepreneurship practices and small business management. Unfortunately, however, I always left without being able to satisfy my personal and professional curiosity. Reading this book has aided me, as it would any other non-Asian reader, in gaining relevant knowledge and understanding of how entrepreneurship education is perceived, applied and practiced in some of the Asian countries under scrutiny.

Interestingly, the first two chapters of this edited volume of 11 chapters are more general in their approach, focusing upon the region rather than individual or small groups of Asian countries. Without going into too much detail, the first chapter, authored by Karen Wilson, offers a comprehensive review of the supply side of entrepreneurship education in Asia. This is complemented by the second chapter, which focuses on the demand side for entrepreneurship education and training. Alicia Coduras Martinez, Jonathan Levie, Donna Kelley, Rognvaldur J. Saemundsson and Thomas Scott summarise and discuss their findings from a survey of individuals who took up entrepreneurship education. Their large research sample is drawn from 38 countries and is supplemented with additional evidence.

Chapter 3, written by Du Guirong, Yu Jinquan and Xu Lei, provides a critical review of five aspects of entrepreneurship education and related research, in selected Chinese universities. In turn, Chapter 4, authored by Huo Lingyu, Liu Lijun and Wang Ying, presents a comparison of entrepreneurship education provision for engineering and science students in China and the USA. In the next, complementary chapter, Wang Ying evaluates a method of combining separate modules in a cross-platform for entrepreneurship education purposes in China’s universities for science and engineering. Continuing the focus on engineering and science students, in Chapter 6, Liu Lijun and Guan Sisi outline efforts to implement intellectual entrepreneurship education for students in Chinese mainland universities.

The focus of Chapter 7 is on entrepreneurship education in Japan. In this chapter, Takeru Ohe highlights the importance of home-based entrepreneurship education in Japan and evaluates its impact upon the development of graduate entrepreneurs. Consulting-based entrepreneurship education is the theme of the next chapter. Using illustrative regional cases, Takeru Ohe and Siohong Tih provide a critical overview of consulting-based entrepreneurship education costs, inputs, and expected outputs, in relevant programs on offer in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. In Chapter 9, Bonjin Koo, Vathana Duong TE and Joosung J. Lee investigate aspects related to the development of an interdisciplinary social entrepreneurship curriculum at the Yonsei University in Korea. The authors of Chapter 10, George Abe, David Chang and Priya Mohan set out to explore various aspects of community-based entrepreneurship education through the lens of two microfinance field study projects, one in Vietnam and the other in Northwest China. In the final chapter, Peter Adriaens and Timothy Faley review innovative and emergent entrepreneurial business strategies in global markets, focusing on cleantech venture assessment in both the USA and in China.

It is rather difficult to do justice, in a short book review, to such a rich and varied book on entrepreneurship education in Asia. I sincerely hope that, by briefly outlining the content and focus of this volume, I managed to have kindled your curiosity and/or interest in reading it. Personally, I look forward to the next volume on this fascinating topic, one that would hopefully incorporate many more countries from this fascinating region.