Entrepreneurship and response strategies to challenges in engineering and design education

• Autores: Ulrik Jørgensen, Andrés Valderrama
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 28, no. 2, 2012, págs. 407-415
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Entrepreneurship is one of the contemporary expectations to engineers and their training at engineering schools. But what isentrepreneurship? We propose three different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship in engineering and design programs. They are:(1) the technology-driven promotion response centered in technological development; (2) the business selection response strategycentered in business skills (which should be additional to the technical skills); and (3) the design intervention response strategyfocused on a network approach to technology, business and society. These conceptualizations are response strategies fromengineering communities, professors and institutions to perceived challenges. We argue that all engineering educators deal in oneway or another with the three response strategies when approaching issues of curricular design, academic reform and theinternational accreditation of programs. To illustrate our argument, we present the three response strategies as they are found atthe Technical University of Denmark (DTU). We also discuss the different perceptions of the role of engineering knowledge theyentail. One radical response is found in the case of the DTU program, Design and Innovation. This was conceived as a deliberateattempt to constitute the third response strategy as an alternative to the first, which we argue is the dominant strategy inengineering programs around the world.