INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT
8.3 Orientations and choices made
By extending the objectives pursued, the question was raised about the training provision segmentation. This made it possible to match the diversity of the public to the needs observed within the different components of the university. The main idea that was chosen was to design a program of actions and interventions comprising different levels. This would familiarize the students with this subject and allow them to discover entrepreneur- ial models in order to boost their will to undertake the program.
The general schemes were declined in such a way as to fit the specific backgrounds and professional orientations, that is, researcher/entrepreneur, law student or psychology student, the self-employed, the pharmacy student/pharmacist, and so on. Parallel to this, it seemed advisable to our minds to conceive the means likely to foster the development of the students’ entrepreneurial capacities.
Entrepreneurial teaching generally follows two main objectives: acting on intention and acting on action. As regards this type of teaching, the CRÉACTIV’NANTES project aims at enriching the students’ interest. On the one hand, this bears in mind the youthful age of the mainly student public, of whom only a small number will supposedly launch into a venture at the end of their university studies. On the other hand, considering the cultural gap that exists between the world of university and that surrounding a venture undertaking, the objectives focus more on entrepreneurial culture than on the implemen- tation of an entrepreneurial project. This leaves the task of assisting the relevant projects to the specialized organizations. The objective therefore is not the creation of entrepre- neurs nor the inception of new ventures, but the development of the students’ willingness to become entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs within any type of organizations, public, private or association (Saporta and Verstraete, 1999).
8.3.1 An original positioning: a resource center at the service of all the participants Given that the route towards entrepreneurship is often a privileged one due to an access to an entrepreneurial culture via family agencies1 or friends, or by previous personal Operating an entrepreneurship center in a large university 135
ventures, CRÉACTIV’NANTES operates by pursuing its prime objective of incorpo- rating entrepreneurship into both the culture and outlook of students and teachers/
researchers. This objective is divided into sub-objectives as in Figure 8.1.
The multidisciplinarity of the university was a definite asset right from the moment the CRÉACTIV’NANTES project was conceived. In fact, it made it necessary to consider the cultural diversity, the diversity of the ideas and common conceptions, and it enhanced the need for adaptation. CRÉACTIV’NANTES must be a service that is common to the whole university but must be tailored to the multiplicity of the teaching, the research, the culture and the background. This means being constantly receptive to the expectancies of teachers, researchers and students when designing such a program.
8.3.2 What CRÉACTIV’NANTES offers
CRÉACTIV’NANTES strives to make its activities available to all members of the uni- versity, identical for each and everyone but suited to all. These activities are all developed in association with the CCI, which provides a logistic and educational backup as well as bringing in its knowledge of the entrepreneurial environment.
8.3.2.1 Roundtable discussions CRÉACTIV’NANTES holds roundtable sessions between university people (students, teachers and researchers) and entrepreneurs with a view to creating a type of osmosis between both worlds. Our aim in this is to acculturate students in respect to entrepreneurial culture (Drucker, 1985; Fayolle, 2003; Gasse, 1985).
These encounters take place with the agreement, and more often at the request, of teach- ers who teach a small number of students in a particular year of study. Another objective is to get in speakers who are legitimate participants in the students’ view. In addition, every effort is made to invite entrepreneurs who have had university training and possibly in the same subject as the students and teachers who are attending.
The stage is not set so much therefore for a conference as for an exchange. This has the major advantage in that students are entitled to ask personal questions ‘Do you really have the time to drop your children offat school?’, ‘Do you have the feeling you work too hard?’, ‘What does your husband think when you tell him your plans?’, ‘Why didn’t your first venture come to anything?’, ‘Where did you get the money to get going? Banks don’t really trust young people like us.’ Such questions make it possible to break down the stereotyped image of a heroic entrepreneur being totally aloof and inaccessible. The encounters help the student to get bearings notably on the function of the entrepreneur but also on the world of work. These meetings represent real places of exchange between individuals who come from different worlds and who do not know each other.
136 Handbook of research in entrepreneurship education Developing the entrepreneurial
culture
A softly softly approach to creating companies
Enhancing entrepreneurial behaviors
Opening up university to a business creating
environment Figure 8.1 The lines of development of the entrepreneurial culture
Such meetings equally develop students’ self awareness, that is, the way in which they perceive themselves and their awareness of relating to the models to which they have iden- tified themselves (Filion, 1994; 1990). In this way, the entrepreneur models from which students can draw their inspiration probably play a paramount role, and the sooner the face-to-face encounter takes place on the course, the more time the student can lend thought to what he or she wants to do and to therefore envisage his or her future.
Finally, such meetings can make the students aware, and even change their conceptions, of the relationship between the firm and themselves. When the students discover that being an entrepreneur can forge their professional paths and is accessible to them, they may con- template this alternative to being a wage earner. In this perspective, we can distinguish ‘self- enterprise’ on one side, and ‘entrepreneurs for their own lives’, on the other side.
As the project has developed, the active participation of teachers as well as their support system have become a cornerstone of the project, and this is framed with an objective of enrichment and cultural development, given the weight of authority that the teachers’ opinions being to bear on a pending issue. More generally, it has seemed indis- pensable that the university environment should play this role of promoter in order to make others aware that ‘being an entrepreneur’ is a path that can be followed and by basing itself on the diffusion of models of local entrepreneurs. The university had every interest in subscribing to such a method. Apart from the aim of downplaying the proce- dure for starting a business by helping both students and researchers to broaden their horizons when they meet entrepreneurs of ‘that ilk’, such encounters also help the uni- versity to integrate better with its environment. The entrepreneurs readily fall in with this situation and uncover an aspect of the university and the world of teaching that they were previously unaware of. They therefore came over as more open and more dynamic, but these meetings demonstrate above all that the university possesses resources, know-how and skills which can equally be assets for the companies themselves.
8.3.2.2 The workshops A second main feature of the CRÉACTIV’NANTES project is the workshops, that is, 12-hour sessions (suggestion boxes) or 21-hour sessions (tool boxes), during which the students and researchers assess their entrepreneurial capabilities, their professional paths and the place such a project has in them (Table 8.1). In the tool box sessions, they learn about the fundamental elements that carry through both the venture-creating project and the drafting of a business plan.
The choice was made at first to enhance the multidisciplinarity of the university:
● The groups comprise 15 people, students and researchers from different back- grounds. As a result, an engineering student liaises with a management student and a sociology lecturer.
● All kinds of projects are considered, ranging from the creation of a small private venture to a student service association.
Naturally, attendance at these workshops is voluntary, although a training attendance cer- tificate is delivered at the end of the session, at the students’ request.
Initially, these workshops were reserved only for students or teachers with an idea for a project. This did not mean studying the project with them, but assisting them upstream in their appraisals. Having come to an agreement with the project partners, particularly Operating an entrepreneurship center in a large university 137
in the CCI and science park, each bearer of a defined project would be directed towards an ad hoc help structure. In fact, it was more a question of pre-incubating the project than actually providing help to achieve it.
Since 2004, suggestion box meetings have been held to bring in people who do not have a project but who are asking themselves questions, ‘fairly tempted by this adventure’
without ‘really knowing why’.
8.3.2.3 Entrepreneurship Day Entrepreneurship Day provides a meeting place for entrepreneurs, their advisors, students and teachers/researchers. This event is hosted in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry who call on their own network of entrepreneurs to attend.
There are three themes running through the conferences: research enhancement via the creation of firms, the creation and acquisition of firms and the creation of social economic firms.
The game-like aspect which attracts the students comes from the activities surrounding the different subjects, ranging from the analysis of one’s entrepreneurial capabilities to the mastering of a brainstorming session via talking-head forums. What is striking is the theme that has most interested the students in all these workshops is ‘my capabilities of undertaking a venture’: a hundred or so of them took turns to meet a psychologist, took tests, or became involved in discussions related to the notions of entrepreneurial capabil- ities. The interest aroused by this workshop shows that the creation of a firm is actually perceived by the students as being first and foremost a personal adventure. The ‘techni- cal’ aspects involved in undertaking a venture continue to be tools at the service of this personal adventure.
8.3.2.4 A personalized reception CRÉACTIV’NANTES is situated in the middle of the main university campus. The consular project leader is on duty there on a part-time basis and can meet students who present their projects to him, and inform him of their doubts, while benefiting from his advice. This leader had never seen any students in the CCI before, and the fact that he has an office on site allows students to overcome any reser- vations they may have, that is, the students feel less intimidated and they do not feel com- pelled to come up with a result nor even have to implement the project in order to benefit 138 Handbook of research in entrepreneurship education
Table 8.1 CRÉACTIV’NANTES workshop schedule
Suggestion box: 4 discovery modules Tool box: 7 operational modules
● Different ways of being an entrepreneur ● Methodologies and project implementation
● My entrepreneurial capabilities: knowing tools
myself better to start a business more ● Knowing one’s economic environment
efficiently and the market
● To approach idea research idea techniques ● The economic viability of one’s project
● The project method ● Finding the financial backing
● Laying down one’s commercial approach
● Choosing one’s status and the administrative procedures
● Presenting one’s business plan
from this advice. Geographical proximity thus creates social proximity. The project leader learns about the university world as he goes out to meet teachers/researchers, organizes workshops for students who see him on campus and see his name on the programs. In fact, he closely contributes to a process of mutual provision that will gradually break down barriers and draw in an increasing number of students seeking advice.
8.3.2.5 Synthesis Figure 8.2 synthesizes the CRÉACTIV’NANTES educational program.