Ammattikorkeakoulutuksen aikaiset yrittäjyysintentioiden muutokset

The debate on entrepreneurship intentions shows that we lack research into possible changes in intentions effected through education and the related processes. Hence, this research seeks to elucidate intentions based on the educational strategies of two polytechnics by means of a longitudinal case study. No corresponding study has ever been undertaken in Finland. As an entrepreneurial research in the vocational/professional sector, it particularly focuses on the perspective of education policy and education provision. The main problem in the study is: Does entrepreneurship education change the entrepreneurship intentions of students? This research relates to performance evaluation in regard of the core task of entrepreneurship, that is, how polytechnics succeed in effecting change by means of entrepreneurship education. The theoretical commitment leads to a phenomenological approach; the research looks at entrepreneurship education in terms of multiple strategies and uses a quantitative survey and a qualitative interview with a focus group as the method. The quantitative materials are used to study changes in entrepreneurship intentions and the qualitative material to assess the nature of the change. The population comprised two overall samples from five different degree programmes representing two different entrepreneurship strategies. The sample was taken from the student population in the 29 polytechnics in Finland. The degree programmes in different polytechnics had different orientations in entrepreneurship terms. The dissimilarities are substantiated by the findings of the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council (2000) and an analysis of the degree programmes. The material was collected during autumn 2000 by means of a questionnaire sent to first-year students. The same questions were put to them in late 200 /early 2004. At this point an interview was conducted with a focus group consisting of 18 students from the five degree programmes. The results show that accelerating factors involved in entrepreneurship education do not effect changes in students’ entrepreneurship intentions. Entrepreneurship intentions appear to be relatively constant during studies. Students consider entrepreneurship education an important part of their studies. The education heightens awareness of entrepreneurship at a general level. According to the students, however, entrepreneurship education triggers uncertainty as to their confidence in their own entrepreneurial skills. This uncertainty is caused by the oversized objectives set for the entrepreneurship education, lack of encouragement and intellectual support for entrepreneurship, the quality of entrepreneurship studies and the timing of these studies. The results show, however, that it is justified to include entrepreneurship in education. The results can be used in education policy decision-making. They help in determining the key aims and priorities in education provision, core curricula, development plans and degree programmes. The results can also be used in planning and implementing education provision and teaching arrangements. As regards further research, there is need for more extensive longitudinal research comprising several polytechnics and degree programmes. In addition, it would be useful to follow to see if entrepreneurship intentions possibly lead to business activities several years after graduation. Better planning of the content, timing and methods of entrepreneurship education entails research into the processes and pedagogy supporting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activity. An important target of follow-up research would be to investigate why students’ confidence in their own entrepreneurial skills fluctuates to the extent found in this study and what could be done to influence it and by what means. Finally the challenge in further research is to produce information about organisational entrepreneurship. Changes in entrepreneurship intentions during polytechnic education