1. Entrepreneurship Education.
- Author
-
Gross, William A.
- Abstract
In 1983, an entrepreneurial engineering class was developed at the University of New Mexico. The course meets for 3 hours 1 evening per week for 15 or 16 sessions. Lectures, reading assignments, group work, interactive class discussions, and presentations by practitioners are used to help learners students develop the research and practice skills needed to produce start-up business plans. The course has evolved based on student and instructor evaluations. The businesses proposed by course participants have targeted industrial, commercial, consumer, and government markets and have been based on the development and sale of products such as the following: hardware, software, systems, chemicals, biomedical products, biologicals, consulting services, and instrumentation. Class members have included engineering students (juniors and seniors), faculty, professional engineers and scientists, and retirees. Many class members have been professionals whose advanced degrees did not prepare them for entrepreneurship. Some course completers have started their own businesses or used the techniques taught in the course within larger businesses. Some businesses planned in the class have incorporated and had sales. One course participant started a company that now has offices in other countries. (An abbreviated copy of a syllabus recently used for the class is appended.) (MN)
- Published
- 2000