1. International Conference Entrepreneurship education-​a priority for the higher
education institutions
8-9 October 2012,
Bucharest, Romania
Challenges of Entrepreneurship E-education:
Evidence from a Developing Country
DR. SAEED JAFARI MOGHADAM*, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
DR. REZA ZAEFARIAN*, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
AIDIN SALAMZADEH*, PHD CANDIDATE
*FACULTY OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, UNIVERSITY OF TEHRAN

2. Introduction
 Higher education systems are facing rapid growth in recent years. This growth has
been highlighted by deploying virtual systems as in other aspects of life.
 According to Yasin et al. [1], we could classify higher education through three
distinct stages over the past 50 years: (i) closed system, (ii) transition system, and
(iii) open system. The trends in higher education show the movement of universities
toward the third stage and virtual systems have accelerated this movement.
 In Iran, higher education has more than 80 years of history and more than
3,800,000 students are being accepted in Iranian universities each year. Iran has
more than 2 million students that 20% of them are graduate students.
 Iranian universities are experiencing the second stage of higher education and in
some cases are approaching the third stage. Entrepreneurship education has a long
history in the world, but it has existed for less than one decade in Iran. UT, as a
pioneer university in Iran, launched entrepreneurship programs at master level in
its Faculty of Entrepreneurship in 2005.

3. Statement of Problem
 Increasing demand for entrepreneurship education in Iran, especially from
entrepreneurs, governmental managers and the private sector, who cannot leave their job
on one hand and the growth of information technology in higher education in Iran on the
other hand, has made the UT offer virtual learning as a new way for delivering
entrepreneurship education.
 Before entrepreneurship, the University suggested two programs for virtual learning
which were appreciated by students. This experience has led to applying e-learning
technology to entrepreneurship education. However, it is important to determine if e-
learning technologies are appropriate for entrepreneurship education. This program
attracted many postgraduate students in Iran.
 The main concern is "what are the challenges of this type of education in the field of
entrepreneurship?"
 The entrepreneurship education in Iran has been accompanied by virtual systems and
movements toward the third stage of higher education. Therefore, we are facing serious
challenges in realizing virtual programs for entrepreneurship students.
 The main research aims are to find the drivers and barriers of e-education at the Faculty
of Entrepreneurship. This paper also detects the role of different factors in the process of
e-education development at the Faculty of Entrepreneurship in a system approach view.

4. Literature Review
 Entrepreneurship and business education have emerged in different contexts as a way to
develop entrepreneurial cultures to create new ventures and businesses to promote
entrepreneurship and to foster entrepreneurial mindsets through education and learning [3],
[4].
 Current business education programs are strongly criticized for not being in direct transaction
with the changing business environment. One general criticism is that business education has
become too task-oriented and does not emphasize on the multi-dimensional complexities of
problems [9].
 Along with the development and expansion of information technology and communications, E-
education has emerged as an example for modern education. Among the advantages of E-
education, are the free interaction between the learners and the professor and students among
themselves without time and space limitations through synchronous and asynchronous
learning networks model [16].
 A combination of electronic and classroom education not only saves time and costs compared
to the traditional in-class learning but also increases the feasibility of course scheduling and
gives attention to learning effectiveness at the same time [17].
 Generally speaking, utilization of information technology in education is broadly accepted and
considering its advantages, in the future this acceptance will be on the rise. In spite of these
advantages, virtual systems have confronted with some barriers and problems, too.

5. Research Methodology
 In this research, authors studied the relevant literature of
entrepreneurship education program from a systems approach and the
most important drivers and barriers of e-education at the Faculty of
Entrepreneurship recognized through in-depth interviews with
entrepreneurship education experts (Faculty members at the Faculty of
Entrepreneurship) and e-learning experts. Finally, we have used a
structured questionnaire to rank these enablers and barriers.

6. Research Design
 Step (1) identifying critical success factors of entrepreneurship
education with the systems approach and identifying inputs, processes
and output elements as well as environmental elements, which were
done through the literature review;
 Step (2) identifying the most important drivers and barriers of e-
education at the Faculty of Entrepreneurship based on gathered
information by: - In-depth interviews with ten faculty members of the
E-learning programs at the Faculty of Entrepreneurship, and -
Questionnaires have filled out by e-learning students at the master’s
level (65 completed questionnaires);
 Step (3) Identifying the most important drivers and barriers based on
in-depth interviews with ten faculty members. These professors have
been selected based on their contribution in e-learning system and
their performance evaluation by students;
 Stage (4) Identifying suggestions for improving the e-education
program, based on in-depth interviews with ten faculty members

7. Research Findings:
Table 1. Drivers and Barriers for E-learning performance
improvement (agreement percentage)
Ministry of Science, Research
Inputs Proceses University National International
and Technology
National wide student Holding some classes like … Reputation of the Novelty and attractiveness of Growth of e-learning
Support of master courses(45%)
(53%) (42%) University (94%) Entrepreneurship (52%) courses (75%)
Growth of
Diversity in student Motivated student as drivers Flexibility of course To give recognition to e-learning Novelty and attractiveness of
entrepreneurship
background (62%) between other students (63%) period (52%) courses (72%) e-learning courses (78%)
education (52%)
Interested (potential) Informal relationship between University Support of e- Ministry of Labor support Development of virtual
students (83%) students (52%) learning courses (42%) (42%) systems (42%)
Drivers Interested professors
Professional forum (52%)
e-learning center of Support of Private sector
(42%) university (37%) managers (37%)
More accessible professors (78%)
Unfamiliarity with
Non-standard Interviews Novelty of e-learning systems (52%) International competitors
course attendance policy (60%) entrepreneurship in private
(31%) (63%)
sector (48%)
Inflexibility in the structure of Unfamiliarity with
Too many Candidates
Weak Curriculum (75%) Traditional rules (78%) Ministry of Science, Research, and entrepreneurship in public
(53%)
Technology (83%) sector (32%)
Limitations of course Unfamiliarity of policy
Lack of Online Restrictions of virtual system to
material in native makers with entrepreneurship
interviews (37%) development of skills (58%)
language (23%) (91%)
Unequal opportunity of Low experienced staff lack of e-learning systems in
Lack of group debates (32%)
interviewees (45%) (37%) public sector (52%)
Ambiguous result of Lack of students and professor Bureaucratic teaching Slow internet connection
interviews (48%) debates (37%) methods (72%) speed (75%)
Low computer skills Limitation of course selection
(55%) (45%)
Incorrect student
Lack of High speed internet (42%)
selection method (87%)
Lack of expert Availability of data banks Just at
professors (83%) University(37%)
Barriers Lack of enough staff Low experience of professors in
(32%) virtual systems (45%)
Lack of effective Inconsistency of courses and Iran's
assessment center (35%) business environment (83%)
Lack of budget (25%)

8. Suggestions
 (i) Establishing effective interaction between faculty and its environment (partnership and other
stakeholders): This means that there should be appropriate channels between the agents- students,
teachers, beneficiaries, etc.- in e-learning process Otherwise, the learning process might lead in just a non-
effective version of traditional learning systems. In order to avoid that, the faculty should define its value
chain more properly;
 (ii) Designing and developing new teaching methods appropriate to virtual programs: Virtual programs
are inherently different from the traditional learning methods in several ways which are discussed earlier.
Therefore, one of the main findings of this research is that the need to developing a new system is crucial
for improving the e-learning system. As our findings show, still the agents are more likely to follow the
traditional learning systems;
 (iii) Introduction and promotion of entrepreneurship e-education system at society: One of the most
significant gaps in the country is to provide entrepreneurship e-learning services in the country level. At
present, the entrepreneurship e-education services are only provided by the Faculty of Entrepreneurship
at UT. By introducing these programs in the country, the level of entrepreneurship would grow in a better
manner;
 (iv) Increasing the motivation of potential students to attend in e-education programs: As discussed
earlier, there is a need to highlight and develop the entrepreneurship e-education programs in the country.
This goal would not be achieved until we increase the motivation of potential students to attend in these
programs. Therefore, we should concentrate on two issues simultaneously: the entrepreneurship e-
education systems, and potential students; and
 (v) Designing an effective process of candidates' assessment: After fulfilling the above mentioned criteria,
we need an effective process for assessing the candidates. Otherwise, the learning process will not be done
perfectly. In order to do so, we need new assessment methods and techniques to evaluate the extent to
which the knowledge of candidates has improved.

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10. Thank you
for your attention!