Entrepreneurship Program in Fourth Year

Is it possible to teach entrepreneurship? If so, how? In July, 76 entrepreneurship professors representing 35 European countries, India, and Singapore arrived at HBS to learn more about the case method and the role it can play in educating future entrepreneurs. The European Entrepreneurship Colloquium on Participant-Centered Learning (EECPCL) immerses participants in an eight-day program that focuses on fine-tuning teaching techniques, developing courses, and honing strategies to engage students in discussion. Since its launch in 2005, 250 professors have attended the program.

“As the world globalizes, we need to give back, and pedagogy happens to be something we’re good at,” observes HBS professor Howard Stevenson, who cochaired the program with HBS senior lecturer Mike Roberts and professor Youngme Moon. Stevenson adds that a number of case collaborations have come about as a result of the relationships formed between HBS faculty and participants from abroad.

“This program has had a tremen-dous impact in Europe,” says Bert Twaalfhoven (MBA ’54), founder and president of the European Foundation for Entrepreneurship Research (EFER) and the EECPCL’s financial supporter. “We’ve seen change through the development of new materials and a different approach to teaching; it’s also transformed many institutions through the integration of entrepreneurship into the curriculum,” adds Karen Wilson (MBA ’91), a foundation adviser and board member who has worked with HBSon the development of EECPCL.

Alumni gather biannually under the auspices of the foundation to continue the exchange of ideas and to collaborate on program development and research in entrepreneurship. “It is very gratifying to see the effect this program has had in a relatively brief time,” says Twaalfhoven. “We all need to learn, earn, and return.”