Assignment I Guidelines

You have been appointed as one of the Malaysian ministers, and you head a ministry (it can be

an existing ministry or a hypothetical ministry). You will need to come out with either a

Microeconomic or a Macroeconomics proposal to counter/enhance a specific issue of your

choice. Bear in mind, you must have the facts (statistics or citations) to support your proposal.

i) Some ideas/title that you may want to consider:

a. Twice parenting

b. Encouraging domestic travel

c. Transforming vandalism into art

d. Technology and socialization

e. Experiential education

f. Gaming and enhancement of innovation/imagination

g. Sports assimilation/integration

h. Etc

ii) Background/introduction

a. In this section, you will need to explain:

i. what is the problem that the country is facing

ii. why it is necessary to take action/enhancement

iii. is there a call by the country to push the agenda forward

iii) What do you propose- what is the medium of execution

a. How is the role played

b. In what context

You may follow the above guidelines or you may come up with your own sub-titles. Please be

creative in your writing.

Your submission: 5 pages 1.5 spacing font size times roman 12

Submission date: e mail by 1st November, 2014 11.59 pm

References: At least 10 references (journal references are highly encouraged).

Group assignment: Maximum 5 students to a group

Assignment I 20%

The role of higher education: Effects from socialization and experiential learning

Introduction

For more than 20 years, business educators have lamented that pedagogy in higher learning

institutions is not in line with the needs of industry (Blaylock et al., 2009). Within the scope of

higher learning pedagogy, the dearth of synergy between theory and practice has raised concerns

among practitioners, educators and graduate students. Rather than reengineering the curriculum

per say, Campbell, Heriot, and Finney (2006) call for a more viable approach that transforms the

current pedagogy into the desired integrative nature of business, exposes students to real-world

scenarios, and, in turn, provides a more effective business education learning experience for

students.

Entrepreneurship began as part of the new frontier in education in the 1990s (Katz, 1991)

and, since then, has developed and expanded tremendously. According to Blackburn and

Kovalainen (2009), entrepreneurship deserves more attention, transformation, and support. In line

with the need for such a pedagogical transformation, the call by the Malaysian government in the

Tenth Malaysia Plan 20112015 to provide programs to strengthen graduates competitiveness

and resilience has received scrutiny by many higher learning institutions in Malaysia. Coupled

with the Budget 2014 announcement, the Malaysian government will allocate RM50 million1

under the Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund to encourage graduates to venture into entrepreneurship

after graduation. This allocation is expected to reduce the unemployment rate among graduates.

The fund is managed by the SME Bank, and it will provide soft loans of up to RM500,000 at a 4

per cent interest rate. The purpose of establishing entrepreneurial education is to give students the

1 As of 17th April, US$1.00 = RM3.2428.

skills to become entrepreneurs (Lin 2008; Weber, 2011). According to Harmeling and

Sarasvathy (2013), an entrepreneurial mind-set positively affects society to set up own business

and career.

Taking the governments call to provide improved skills and entrepreneurial development

into account, this study examines the growth of business and entrepreneurship in Malaysian

universities. According to Souitaris, Zerbinati, and Al-Laham (2007), universities are important

institutions that provide society with important learning and inspirational resources that foster

entrepreneurship. Universities aim to establish a business and entrepreneurial mind-set among

students and to trigger educational transformation through experiential education and

socialization. This study also sheds new light on the role of entrepreneurial education in indirectly

cultivating an entrepreneurial mind-set among students in a desired ontology. The field of

experiential education research has paid insufficient attention to understanding learners and

learning. Although much research has attempted to understand the effectiveness of appropriate

experiential learning that could provide positive learning outcomes, little attention has been

directed to understanding the roles of experiential pedagogy, socialization, and the environment in

transforming beliefs and cultivating mind-sets in accordance with educational philosophy. As

Corbett (2007) and Walter, Parboteeah, and Walter (2011) argue, researchers have not examined

how factors at the individual and environmental levels interact and integrate to shape academic

entrepreneurship.

With an increasingly competitive job market (Hopkins, Raymond, & Carlson, 2011) and

the over-supply of graduates, this study focuses on how business educators can help students

develop an entrepreneurial mind-set and skills. Research on the meanings of experiential

pedagogy, socialization, and environment to students, including the ways these support student

learning and learning outcomes, remains scarce. It is crucial that research on entrepreneurship in

universities remains a key area of study (Rasmussen & Borch, 2010). The current study aims to

assess the feasibility of socialization and experiential learning that entails a blend of experiential

curriculum, framing of actual real-world scenarios and activities, and the creation of learning

practices that lead to successful and knowledgeable entrepreneurs. Therefore, I draw on conceptual

notions of socialization and experiential learning, practice, and reflexivity as a method to develop

entrepreneurial experiential pedagogy.

The goal of this research is to provide an initial understanding of group socialization theory

on whether learning systems in universities can cultivate creative entrepreneurial students through

the use of socialization. I posit that business and entrepreneurial experiential pedagogy constitutes

an initial stage to cultivate more entrepreneurial mind-sets among students. In this study, to

eliminate other influences the socialization context involves only socialization in the school and

experiential learning. Thus, this study examines the plausibility of integrating theory and practice

into higher learning pedagogy and of employing socialization and business environment

experiential pedagogy to nurture entrepreneurs through group socialization and experiential

learning. Eckhardt and Shane (2003) argue that understanding the progression of entrepreneurship

is important for entrepreneurship research. Thus, the findings of this study should prove beneficial

for initiators of entrepreneurship schemes and programs and enterprise education.

Role of higher education

Malaysian universities with concentration in business and entrepreneurship work to teach students

the fundamentals, theories, applications, and processes of business and entrepreneurship. They

strive to show that the business world is an ecosystem that constantly affects and is affected by

competitors, and as such, each business must be flexible and adaptable to survive. According to

Griffiths et al. (2012), such knowledge is important to foster innovative entrepreneurship. At the

universities, undergraduate students are exposed to real work, interacting with business people, in

a live and real-time situation. By drawing on the experiences of both undergraduates and graduates

in a private university in Malaysia with a focus on business and entrepreneurial education, we aim

to clarify the roles of socialization and experiential learning and to address the challenges in

producing entrepreneurs in higher learning institutions.

The main emphasis is on students socialization and experiential learning through the exposure

to real business environments and activities. Students are encouraged to run their own businesses

on campus, and the university provides the facilities for doing so. Students are required to handle

their own inventory, stocking, ordering, business strategies, and so on. Students are also

encouraged to run entrepreneurial clubs and activities with the aim to reap profits and market share.

In addition, the university invites companies that need consulting services and that will provide

students with real hands-on business scenarios. These companies send representatives to the

campus to brief students on their expansion and development plans, and in return students are

required to study the companies, products, and strategies and to provide proper planning and

strategies to the management teams. Students must present the plans to top management at the end

of the semester for assessment. Case studies and problem-based learning are also taught at the

university.

The socialization and experiential learning processes comprise five interactive stages:

i. Students enroll in a higher education institution, bringing with certain values,

aspirations, and other personal goals.

ii. During their study duration, students are exposed to various experiential learning and

socializing influences.

iii. Students evaluate the various stimuli influences and experiences.

iv. Students make decision and choices to conform to and transform behavior (and vice

versa).

v. Students then personalize those stimuli and experiences to connect them with their

own personal goals.