Entrepreneurship education and training: can entrepreneurship be taught? Part II

Despite a growing body of literature in the field, there is still considerable uncertainty as to whether entrepreneurs are born are made, which has led to an ongoing debate in the entrepreneurship academy about whether we can actually teach individuals to be entrepreneurs. With this in mind, this two‐part paper aims to address the question of whether or not entrepreneurship can be taught.

Part I of the paper dealt with the importance of entrepreneurship in a modern and constantly changing environment; the various ways in which entrepreneurship programmes and courses can be categorised, and the objectives, content and delivery of programmes. The second part of the paper, which is presented in this issue, deals with the topic of determining and measuring programme effectiveness.

Despite the growth in entrepreneurship education and training programmes, the paper reports that little uniformity can be found. Attention is drawn to the art and the science of entrepreneurship, with the consensus that at least some aspects of entrepreneurship can successfully be taught.

The authors highlight the need for evaluating programmes, and for educators and trainers to have a fuller understanding of what they wish to achieve from their programme from the outset, in order to ensure a more accurate assessment of the outcomes.