Necessity of Mentoring in Entrepreneurship Education: Reflection by Practitioners

Abstract

The significance of entrepreneurship education and its potential benefit to the wider community has led higher education institutions and providers in the United Kingdom and other countries to facilitate its pedagogy and andragogy in many various forms. It is mostly taught as an elective module, embedded into various course curriculums, or offered as a stand-alone degree program. The ultimate aim of these modules usually is to engender entrepreneurial competencies in students (Fayolle 2013; Gartner 1990; Matlay 2009; Khalefa et al. 2013; Middleton 2013; Alsharief and El-Gohary 2016; Eid et al. 2017). Meanwhile, the delivery of entrepreneurship by various Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and internal processes such as thinkingtakes various forms, such as classroom focus, hands-on approaches to setting up a business, writing business plans, case studies, role play, provision of incubators, competitions, conferences, simulations, and so on (Henry et al. 2005). However, an important facet of the delivery and success of entrepreneurship education is mentoring, especially for those intending to explore their ideas. In this regard, mentoring boosts the likelihood of success being achieved by any budding entrepreneur, and it complements other forms of delivery (Peterman and Kennedy 2003). Furthermore, entrepreneurship education in HEIs provides an avenue for students to interact with others and bring all their past and present learning to bear on entrepreneurship-themed topic(s). As such, mentoring is a significant aspect of entrepreneurship education, predominantly in the formation and running of a business (El-Gohary and Eid 2013; El-Gohary et al. 2012, 2016). The experience of mentoring is mostly gained from an experienced staff member or visiting entrepreneurs to guide a student through this process. The mentoring process provides equal benefits to the mentor as well as the mentee, and as a secondary benefit provides the opportunity for reverse mentoring through the mentee. Critical reflective practice is a key part of mentors’ personal and professional development, and it enables them to improve and be accountable as academics or practitioners to enhance the mentoring process better. This paper illustrates the need to further encourage reflection as part of mentoring and leverage the immense knowledge that could be gained from reverse mentoring during the process. As it is evident that mentoring has engendered success in various phases of entrepreneurship (Bridgstock 2013; Rideout and Gray 2013), this paper will highlight the benefits of mentoring in entrepreneurship education for both the mentee and mentor via reflection and reverse mentoring as supported by some scholars in the field, such as Marcinkus (2012). The personal narrative here explores and reflects on the experience of practitioners and identifies areas to be explored in the future; this will influence practice and enhance students’ experience. The paper provides engineering students and educators with a great opportunity to understand entrepreneurship mentoring, which might help in creating a new generation of engineering entrepreneurs.