Publisher's Synopsis
This journal on Entrepreneurship Education is the latest in a consecutive, annually published series to appear in Education + Training. Within a large and diverse international community of academics, researchers, students and practitioners, the reputation of this series is now well established. It is based not only upon longevity and continuity, but also on its innovative and cutting edge approach to the dissemination of an impressive range of theoretical, practical and cross-disciplinary articles in the emergent field of education and training research. Recently there has been a growing interest in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial outcomes, at both national and international level. This is particularly visible amongst governments in industrially developed and developing nations, as well as in countries in transition. In addition, there exists a sizeable range of major and minor stakeholder groupings that also claim to have a keen interest in entrepreneurship, as the panacea to economic stagnation and decline. These include individuals clustered around family, business and community interests as well as socio-economic, educational and political activities. Not surprisingly, such a keen interest in, and focus upon, entrepreneurship has generated an awareness and realization that enterprise and entrepreneurship education could potentially contribute to the development of more and better entrepreneurs to enter an economy. Thus, the recent expansion of enterprise and entrepreneurship education, at all levels of the educational system, should not be perceived as accidental, incidental or unexpected. Interestingly, however, enterprise and entrepreneurship education, as a research topic, has been developing and maturing at a faster pace than that experienced by entrepreneurship or economics. Perhaps the urgency of its development and growth is symptomatic of the economic turbulence experienced during recent times in both domestic and international markets. Much of the extant research in enterprise and entrepreneurship education, and related themes, can be traced directly and/or indirectly to government inspired and/or funded initiatives. Independent research is also expanding at a fast rate and contributes considerably to a more rounded and better informed debate. There exists a need for a focus on practitioner input, dissemination and representation. The articles in this journal aim to make a significant and empirically rigorous contribution to the rapidly expanding body of knowledge in this important topic of research, and authors offer a critical perspective on diverse aspects and contexts associated with enterprise and entrepreneurship education. The journal is designed to be convergent, rather than divergent in nature. It seeks to make a significant contribution to the development of conceptual, contextual and practical aspects of this fast moving topic of research.
