CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPING AND SUPPORTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND

Entrepreneurship education is broadly considered an important factor in promoting an entrepreneurial culture among higher education students. Considering the importance of entrepreneurship with regard to economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation, there is a need to train entrepreneurs and to equip them with an entrepreneurial culture that promotes entrepreneurship. However, the South African education system is lacking when it comes to entrepreneurship education. The education system seems to promote the white-collar jobs rather than self-employment, and the methodology that is used to teach entrepreneurship studies, focuses more on the theory of entrepreneurship than on its practice. Against this background, this study sought to identify the challenges to develop and support entrepreneurship education by focusing on the University of Zululand as a case study. The researcher used primary data for this study. The study adopted a qualitative approach, where data was collected using interview schedules from 11 heads of departments of the university’s faculties. The results from the study show that the development of curriculum, inexperienced educators, and the methodology used to teach entrepreneurship education, are some of the challenges that are hindering the promotion of entrepreneurship education. A policy implication that arose from these findings, is that there is a need for the development of entrepreneurship-based curriculum to promote entrepreneurship. The policymakers were also encouraged to employ educators who are qualified and experienced in teaching entrepreneurship. The development of incubation centres for grooming entrepreneurs at higher learning institutions was also recommended.