Description
In this explanation pertaining to kozminski university supporting the entrepreneurial potential of higher education.
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Case Study No. 8:
Kozminski University, Poland:
Developing minds for ambitious
entrepreneurship and training teachers at
other universities
May 2015
Author: Professor Jerzy Cie?lik
About the sepHE Study
The study "Supporting the entrepreneurial potential of higher education"
was based on a contract between the European Commission, Directorate
General Education and Culture (DG EAC), and empirica Gesellschaft für
Kommunikations- und Technologieforschung mbH (co-ordinator – Bonn,
Germany) as well as the University of Wuppertal, UNESCO Chair of
Entrepreneurship and Intercultural Management (Wuppertal, Germany).
The study’s main purpose was collecting 20 case studies about insightful
practice in entrepreneurship education at European universities. This is one
of them. The findings from a cross-case analysis are included in the Final
Report which is available at the study’s homepage and at DG EAC’s website.
Supporting the entrepreneurial
potential of higher education
http://www.sephHE.eu
[email protected]
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8 Kozminski University, Poland: Developing minds
for ambitious entrepreneurship and training
teachers at other universities
Overview of contents
8.1 The university’s entrepreneurial profile .................................................................................4
8.1.1 The university’s overall approach to entrepreneurship education .......................................... 4
8.1.2 Leadership and governance .................................................................................................. 4
8.1.3 Resources: people and financial capacity .............................................................................. 5
8.2 Entrepreneurship in curricula and teaching ...........................................................................6
8.2.1 Overview about curricular offers ............................................................................................ 6
8.2.2 Origins and operationalisation of teaching ambitious entrepreneurship at KU ....................... 8
8.2.3 Target groups ...................................................................................................................... 10
8.2.4 Designing lectures and courses – basic curricular decisions ............................................... 10
8.2.5 Setting of entrepreneurship teaching ................................................................................... 12
8.2.6 Instructors: teachers and mentors........................................................................................ 12
8.2.7 Management of entrepreneurship education ....................................................................... 13
8.3 Extra-curricular projects in entrepreneurship education .......................................................14
8.4 Institutional aspects of entrepreneurship education.............................................................16
8.5 Outreach to external stakeholders ......................................................................................17
8.5.1 Types of relationships with external stakeholders ................................................................ 17
8.5.2 Training educators from other Polish universities ................................................................ 18
8.6 Impact and lessons learned ................................................................................................20
8.6.1 Measuring impacts of KU’s entrepreneurship education approach ...................................... 20
8.6.2 Lessons learned – success factors for launching EE ........................................................... 21
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Abstract
Kozminski University (KU) is a Polish private business and law school established in
1993. It has 5,300 students and a leading position in management education in Poland
as well as Central and Eastern Europe. KU offers curricular entrepreneurship education
for Bachelor, Master and PhD degrees. Most offers are for BA students in Management
with a Major in Entrepreneurship. While KU had been offering entrepreneurship
courses since its early years, since 2004 the University has embarked on promoting
ambitious entrepreneurship among students. This proved to be a fruitful direction but
necessitated reshaping minds and attitudes of students and teachers, shifting their
focus away from small-scale establishments to business ventures with growth
ambitions. Such a shift turned out to be challenging: the pool of students with the right
mindset for ambitious entrepreneurship was so far found to be limited at KU itself.
However, KU established links with students from other universities in the region and
country and from non-business academic disciplines in extra-curricular activities. In
these activities it was particularly fruitful for the quality of business projects to mix
students from various disciplines like business management, engineering, agriculture
and arts. KU also initiated a programme for training entrepreneurship lecturers from
other higher education institutions who in turn introduced entrepreneurship courses in
40 non-business universities in Poland. KU’s experiences in entrepreneurship
education and lessons learned may be particularly relevant for “catching up” higher
education institutions with limited prior experience in teaching entrepreneurship. It may
be important for the transferability of such experiences that a substantial part of
teaching materials is already available in written form.
Case study fact sheet
Full name of the university and location: Akademia Leona Ko?mi?skiego (Kozminski University)
Legal status: Private higher education institution
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Year of foundation: 1993
Number of students: 5,300
Number of employees: Total 361, of which teaching and research staff: 211,
administrative staff: 150.
Budget in most recent financial year: 66.8 mln PLN (15.9 mln euro 57. mln PLN (13.8 mln Euro)
Financial year ending 30.09.2013
Academic profile: Business and law school
Entrepreneurial profile: Developing skills and attitudes of students towards ambitious
forms of entrepreneurship. Disseminating know-how in teaching
entrepreneurship among non-business HEIs in Poland. Initiating
programmes supporting ambitious entrepreneurship in the
Mazovia Region and Warsaw Metropolitan Area.
Activities focused in this case study: Developing minds for ambitious entrepreneurship and interactions
with other higher education institutions
Case contact person(s): Prof. Jerzy Cie?lik, Kozminski University
Information included in this case study is from end of year 2014 unless stated differently.
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8.1 The university’s entrepreneurial profile
8.1.1 The university’s overall approach to entrepreneurship education
Key characteristics of EE at Kozminski University
The “entrepreneurial orientation” of Kozminski University (KU) is deeply rooted in its
history. The university was established in Warsaw in 1993 as part of an entrepreneurial
revolution in the higher education system in Poland. After the collapse of the communist
system in 1989, over 350 private HEIs have been established in addition to an existing,
approximately 100, public universities. KU has been offering courses about
entrepreneurship since its early years. The Chair of Entrepreneurship exists since the
inception of Kozminski University. KU has two specialties in entrepreneurship education
(EE): firstly, focusing on ambitious entrepreneurship rather than small business. KU
shifted to this focus in 2004. Secondly, KU extends this focus also to other universities in
the Warsaw region, and KU plays a key role in training entrepreneurship teachers all over
Poland.
Publicity of the Kozminski case
The case of EE at Kozminski University (KU) is well-known in Poland, particularly through
KU’s outreach to other universities. It may also be known in other Eastern European
countries. However, Kozminski University has not yet received considerable attention in
Western Europe. This is changing gradually as a result of a policy to obtain international
accreditations. At the end of 2014, Kozminski University was listed among those
universities worldwide which obtained the three most prestigious accreditations.
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8.1.2 Leadership and governance
Importance of government strategies
Although being a private institution, governmental strategies had profound impact on
KU’s operations and also on EE. Responding to governmental requirements, KU
broadened its teaching and outreach programmes to be more strongly related to research
and publications in international journals. This also applied to EE.
Importance of EE in the university’s strategy
The new university was initially registered under the name Academy of Management and
Entrepreneurship which reflected an orientation on training both managers of large
corporations and entrepreneurs. Later the university changed its name to Kozminski
University (Akademia Leona Ko?mi?skiego) to give credit to its patron and late Professor
Leon Ko?minski but also to reflect a broader scope of education offers including
sociology, psychology and law.
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From AACSB, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, based in Tampa,
Florida, US; AMBA, the Association of MBAs, based in London; and EQUIS, European Quality
Improvement System, based in Brussels.
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Entrepreneurship is deeply rooted in the university’s culture. Although it is not specifically
mentioned in the KU’s mission statement, entrepreneurship is crucial in the
implementation of four of six strategic programmes implemented during 2011 – 2016:
Strengthening the position in academic research: Entrepreneurship and innovation
has been identified as a research field where KU has a good chance to narrow the
distance to leading academic institutions worldwide.
Internationalisation and worldwide brand reception: KU has been recognised as a
leader in entrepreneurship education in Poland, participating in various pan-European
initiatives. This contributes to the international recognition of KU’s brand.
High level of student satisfaction: The surveys on KU students’ entrepreneurial
background and attitudes (most recently from 2013) showed that 50% either have
family business roots or run their own firm. Therefore, for KU students it is important
to obtain not only basic techniques of new venture creation but also practical
knowledge on how to grow existing firms.
Development of long-term relationships with industry and community: Polish
higher education institutions are generally criticised for their weak ties with the
business sector. By establishing such links with entrepreneurs in the Mazovia Region
a region in mid-north-eastern Poland with Warsaw as its centre, KU seeks to stand at
the forefront of positive changes in that respect.
Extent of high level commitment to implementing entrepreneurship education
The generally favourable attitude of university leadership towards entrepreneurship is
reflected in an interview given by KU rector Prof. Witold Bielecki on the occasion of
ending the project “Warsaw, the Capital of Ambitious Business” (2009 – 2011):
“Entrepreneurs are people who climb the hill. But after reaching the top they quickly get
bored and look for another challenge. They are addicted to continuously climbing up. The
role of KU is to teach our students the techniques of climbing up, particularly when the
slope is steep.” Bielecki specialises in information supplies and operations management,
and published a book and several articles on the application of internet-based simulation
games in teaching entrepreneurship.
Level of faculties’ and units’ autonomy to act and organisational implementation
Teaching, research and extra-curricular activities in the field of entrepreneurship are
subject to laws and regulations issued by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of
Poland, as well as the statute and detailed regulations of the Senate and the Rector of
KU. Within this framework, the KU’s faculty has substantial autonomy in designing
entrepreneurship courses and conducting extra–curricular activities.
8.1.3 Resources: people and financial capacity
Human resources for entrepreneurship education
The core staff involved in entrepreneurship education at Kozminski University is
composed of six experts with diverse backgrounds. Occasionally, lecturers from other
departments are invited to run specialist courses. At the same time, practitioners are
often invited as guest speakers.
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Financial resources for entrepreneurship education
The delivery of the core entrepreneurship curricula is covered within the general budget
of KU. Basic coaching of KU students is also undertaken by the lecturers without
additional pay. When it comes to specialised training and mentoring, the
entrepreneurship team is expected to demonstrate an entrepreneurial approach in
seeking additional funding. During 2007 – 2014, the most important sources were EU
structural funds, grants from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and the Polish
National Science Foundation.
8.2 Entrepreneurship in curricula and teaching
8.2.1 Overview about curricular offers
The key target group in entrepreneurship education at KU are Bachelor of Arts (BA)
students in Management who opted for a Major in Entrepreneurship. The majority of
courses listed in Exhibit 1-1 are primarily offered to that group. However, many courses
which are compulsory for BA Entrepreneurship Major students are also offered as
electives for other BA, as well as Master of Arts (MA) students. At the MA level there are
dedicated courses which attempt to address the interests of MA students specialising in
various aspects of management, finance, economics, and administration. There is one
general course for MA students dealing with macroeconomic aspects of
entrepreneurship.
At PhD level the entrepreneurship offer includes two courses. One deals with
methodological issues in researching about entrepreneurship. The second is a dedicated
workshop during which students learn how to use tools and approaches developed in the
field of entrepreneurship, which would make working on their PhD thesis more efficient.
Exhibit 8-1: Overview about prominent curricular EE offers at Kozminski University
No. Name, degree Objectives Target groups Offered
since
[year]
No. of
participants
in 2013/14
Bachelor level
1 Principles of
Entrepreneurship (BA)
Introducing core concept of
entrepreneurship
All BA students in
Management
2013 310
2 New Venture Creation
(BA)
Introduction to starting own
business
ENT Major* students 1995 110
3 Family Business
Development (BA)
Introductory course on family
business
ENT Major students 2003 110
4 Project Workshop on
Family Business
Development (BA)
Dedicated programme for
students with family business
roots
ENT Major students 2012 10
5 Regional and Local
Dimensions of
Entrepreneurship (BA)
Understanding local
dimensions of
entrepreneurship and links
between entrepreneurial
community and local
administration
ENT Major students 2007 30
6 Entrepreneurial Networks
(BA)
Exploring the networking
potential for small firms
ENT Major students 2007 30
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7 Sociology in
Entrepreneurship (BA)
Specialized course focusing
on sociological aspects of
entrepreneurship
MA students
(Specialization
Sociology in
Management
2011 35
Master level
8 New Venture Financing
(BA, MA)
Identifying sources of finance
for start-ups
ENT Major as well as
MA students in
Management and
Finance
2000 40
9 International
Entrepreneurship (BA,
MA)
Preparing prospective
entrepreneurs for going
international
ENT Major as well as
MA students in
Management and
Economics
2005 80
10 Internet-based
Entrepreneurship (BA,
MA)
Focus on small firms relying
on Internet technologies
ENT Major as well as
MA students in
Management
2007 40
11 Entrepreneurial Marketing
(BA, MA)
Focus on marketing
techniques in young and
small firms
ENT Major as well as
MA students in
Management
2008 40
12 Creativity and
Innovativeness (BA, MA)
Workshop aimed at
developing creative thinking
in business
ENT Major as well as
MA students in
Management
2008 110
13 Entrepreneurship and
New Venture
Development (MA)
Basis entrepreneurship
course MA level
MA students in
Management who did
not attend
entrepreneurship
courses at BA level.
1998 40
14 Entrepreneurship and
Economic Development
(MA)
Basic macroeconomic course
on the role of
entrepreneurship in economic
development
MA students in
Management and
Economics
2011 120
15 Entrepreneur and
Entrepreneurship (MA)
Introductory course on
entrepreneurship
MA students in
Administration
2009 20
16 Small Enterprise
Consulting (MA)
Focusing on building
consulting skills for small
business
MA students in
Management
(Specialisation
Management
Consulting)
2009 20
Doctoral level
17 Researching
Entrepreneurship (PhD)
Presenting research methods
and sources of data while
researching small firms
PhD students in
Management and
Economics
2010 25
18 PhD as an Entrepreneurial
Project (PhD)
Dedicated workshop on
improving of writing PhD
thesis with entrepreneurship
tools and approaches.
PhD students in
Management and
Economics
2010 25
* ENT Major – BA students in Management with Major in Entrepreneurship
Source: Kozminski University
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8.2.2 Origins and operationalisation of teaching ambitious
entrepreneurship at KU
External and internal environment
The decision to extend entrepreneurship programmes for KU students to a particular
focus on ambitious business undertakings was the result of both external and internal
factors, as shown in Exhibit 1-2. They are elaborated in the following decriptions.
Exhibit 8-2: Factors leading to KU’s specialisation in ambitious entrepreneurship
Source: Kozminski University
External factors
With regard to external factors, there was an unprecedented growth of entrepreneurial
activities in Poland after 1989 as a result of transition from the centrally planned to the
market economy system. Between 1989 and 2008, the number of active business
establishments increased three-fold. Consequently, the ratio of business owners as a
percent of labour force has reached the levels of countries like Germany and France
(Cie?lik and van Stel, 2014).
In recent years, awareness grew among the research community and policymakers that
their focus should be shifted from increasing the number of start-ups to expanding the
quality component of the Polish business sector. At the same time, there is a
discussion about moving various support measures from the central to the regional or
even local level. It also became clear that the traditional dichotomy of small business
versus high-tech start-ups is not sufficient as it neglects a very important category of
ambitious entrepreneurs who, although not necessarily depending on high profile
innovations, strive for rapid growth of turnover, employment and profits. After Poland’s
accession to the EU, various measures were implemented to support high-tech academic
entrepreneurship, including for example, science parks, technology incubators and direct
financial support. At the same time, limited effort has been made to support high-growth
ventures which do not necessarily rely on sophisticated technologies.
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A somewhat related factor was the rapid increase of the number of university
graduates after 1989; it quadrupled between 1989 and 2010. This positive development
paved the way for shifting the economy to a knowledge-based, innovation-driven phase.
The negative result was that university graduates are currently facing difficulties to find
decent employment in large corporations. This in turn shifted their attention to starting
own businesses as an alternative carrier path.
Internal factors
KU students were found to have reflected these macroeconomic trends. According to a
large-scale questionnaire survey in 2013 conducted by the Chair of Entrepreneurship,
only half of KU students did not have any prior business experiences. The remaining half
either originated from families with business traditions or ran their own business or both.
However, while taking entrepreneurship courses students typically focused on traditional
self-employment business opportunities without growth ambitions, thus not requiring
extensive use of knowledge and skills acquired in the course of studies.
Another disquieting factor was that, although 44% of KU students originated from families
with own business background, only a minority was engaged in their parents’ businesses.
Many students openly declared lack of interest in engaging in family business,
considering employment in large corporations as a more attractive career path.
As an additional factor there is a KU tradition in research about knowledge-based
entrepreneurship. Back in the 1990s, Prof. Stefan Kwiatkowski, the first Head of the Chair
of Entrepreneurship, launched an international research programme in this new and
promising field, resulting in a series of publications (Kwiatkowski and Edvinsson, 1999).
Learning from international experiences
In addition to external and internal factors described in the previous section, the vast
body of the accumulated international know-how and experiences in teaching
entrepreneurship at the university was of crucial importance at the implementation stage.
For KU as a “catching up” institution it was a natural step to tap on these resources by
conducting thorough analyses of relevant experiences, particularly those of universities in
the US, the UK and Scandinavia. Exhibit 1-3 explains how the study of international
experiences has affected the concept of ambitious entrepreneurship teaching at KU.
Exhibit 8-3: International experiences in teaching entrepreneurship and lessons for KU
Business types: Running traditional small
business is different from running small
entrepreneurial ventures
Concept of ambitious entrepreneurship
operationalised for teaching
Teaching for entrepreneurship rather than
about entrepreneurship
Shifting from traditional lectures to
workshops engaging students in solving
practical problems
Textbooks: yes, but combined with
additional material and internet tools
Modern textbooks on ambitious
entrepreneurship and dedicated website
with additional course material
Engaging practitionersin teaching
entrepreneurship
Appointing Executives-in-Residence,
inviting guest speakers
Broadening the scope of teaching through
extra-curricular activities
Launching series of projects assisting
students and university graduates in
ambitious entrepreneurship
Source: Kozminski University
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8.2.3 Target groups
The key target group of entrepreneurship teaching at KU is BA students in Management
who have chosen a Major in Entrepreneurship (see section 1.2.1 above). At the MA level,
only limited entrepreneurship courses are offered. However, students can take additional
courses as electives. PhD students have two specialised courses on research methods
and tools.
8.2.4 Designing lectures and courses – basic curricular decisions
Objectives of EE – operationalisation of ambitious entrepreneurship for teaching
In recent years, consensus grew among entrepreneurship educators about a need to fill
the gap between traditional small business and high tech entrepreneurship. Appropriate
for the KU’s approach is the title of a leading textbook by Katz and Green (2011),
“Entrepreneurial small business”. Authors of another major textbook declare that “you can
be both entrepreneur and a small business owner” (Longenecker et al. 2011, p.5). In view
of the lack of a widely accepted definition of ambitious entrepreneurship in academic
research there was a need for a pragmatic operationalisation of this concept for
entrepreneurship teaching at KU, as demonstrated in Exhibit 1-4. More specifically, KU
followed a broader concept of an ambitious entrepreneur (Stam et al, 2012, p.26): An
ambitious entrepreneur is someone who engages in the entrepreneurial process with the
aim to create as much value as possible, which implies that KU has not focused only on
high-growth or high-tech ventures.
Exhibit 8-4: Operationalisation of ambitious entrepreneurship for teaching at KU
Growth-
oriented
ventures based
on proactive
imitation(in
modern and
traditional
sectors)
High-
tech
entre-
preneur-
ship
Inter-
national
entre-
preneur-
ship
Internet-
based
entre-
preneur-
ship
Franchising
entre-
preneur-
ship
Entre-
preneur-
shipin
creative
industries
Growth-orientedfamily business
Ambitiousentrepreneurship
Source: Kozminski University
The components of ambitious entrepreneurship depicted in the Exhibit are not exclusive
but rather overlapping. The framework serves the designation of core and elective
courses, as well as extra-curricular activities.
Pilot programme development
In view of the high percentage of KU students originating from families with business
traditions, a dedicated pilot teaching and advisory programme was launched in 2012,
named “Family Business Development”. Formally it was a workshop for master
students who, instead of writing a standard master thesis, prepared a detailed
development plan of the business run by their parents. In addition to Prof. Jerzy Cie?lik
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as workshop co-ordinator, an outside business consultant was recruited to assist
students in the financial and market analysis.
Among ten students initially joining the programme, six dropped quickly. The key reason
was the hesitance of their parents, small business owners, to release financial data. On
the other hand the elaboration of a detailed development plan was considered by the
students as more difficult and time-consuming than writing a standard master thesis. The
remaining four students completed development plans and the results were encouraging.
As all of their parents’ businesses were small firms, development plans were the first
professional financial and market analyses ever prepared. Students equipped with such
documents could demonstrate to their parents the practical relevance of their knowledge
accumulated in the course of study at KU.
Based on the evaluation of the results of the pilot, the consulting project “Family
Business Development” is now being offered at the undergraduate (BA) level for
students with Entrepreneurship Major. The core course “New Venture Creation” has been
redesigned to focus on ambitious ventures. In addition, “Internet-based Entrepreneurship”
and “International Entrepreneurship” have been included as obligatory courses whereas
“Franchising” and “Entrepreneurship in Creative Sectors” became elective courses.
Teaching methods
At the time when the ambitious entrepreneurship programme started at KU in 2004, KU
EE teachers found that there was already a clear consensus among entrepreneurship
educators worldwide. This consensus was that the teaching methods used should
encourage active involvement of students in solving practical problems, which
entrepreneurs are confronted with when starting a new business.
In the internet era, paper textbooks are still an important vehicle for conveying knowledge
to students. However, it must be supported by additional tools and materials available
electronically for students and lecturers. As a result, KU shifted from traditional lectures to
workshops addressing practical issues with the use of additional didactic tools and course
materials. In 2006 a modern textbook “Ambitious Entrepreneurship” was published in
Polish (Cie?lik, 2006), with subsequent editions in 2008 and 2010. Simultaneously, a
related website was developed by the author, containing additional materials like mini-
cases, videos and shortened version of the textbook in English for international students.
Dedicated tools were developed in Excel for example, for evaluating business
opportunities, elaborating initial business concepts and business plans, and selecting the
optimal taxation regime. The website content is open to all visitors through a Creative
Commons License, except some content available exclusively to entrepreneurship
lecturers (e.g. PowerPoint presentations, tests, methodical notes). The exclusive content
is available upon registration free of charge. The website was initially developed by Prof.
J. Cie?lik but with the establishment of the National Network of Academic
Entrepreneurship Educators (SEIPA) (see below section 1.5) the content was moved to
its current domain at SEIPA (http://www.seipa.edu.pl).
Kozminski University has also followed another recommendation stemming from
accumulated experiences of international universities in teaching entrepreneurship,
namely adding various extra curriculum activities to regular entrepreneurships courses.
Specific projects and initiatives are presented in section 1.3.
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8.2.5 Setting of entrepreneurship teaching
Locations of EE offers
All courses for regular KU students are offered at the KU campus in Warsaw. Special
programmes and outreach projects are also mostly offered at KU. There were various
attempts to use distant learning which, so far, brought mixed results. With regard to
training of entrepreneurship educators from other Polish universities (see 1.5.2 below) the
major obstacle in conducting consultations and exchanging experiences resulted from
excessive time required for travelling from distant locations. Several attempts were made
to use distant learning with video-conferencing. However, this proved to be rather
inefficient due to inadequate infrastructure and preference for direct contacts by the
participants. At the same time, distant methods worked when providing consultations for
young entrepreneurs. On implementing the Programme “Warsaw, the Capital of
Ambitious Business” (see 1.3. below) an electronic platform was developed, allowing
business consultants to monitor new business ventures based on core data regularly
submitted by entrepreneurs online. As a result, it was sufficient to schedule face-to-face
meetings only once a month.
Timing of EE offers
Timing of entrepreneurship courses for regular KU students depends on the teaching
plan adopted at university level. With respect to the extra-curricular and outreach
activities, the timing depends on the availability of external funds. Sometimes this creates
delays which are detrimental for efficient project implementation. For example, the
experiences with the programme of training entrepreneurship educators from other Polish
universities indicated the need for repeating the basic training course every second year.
This is because some trained entrepreneurship educators leave the university and new
staff joins. KU has been able to obtain financing from the Ministry of Science and Higher
Education for the two rounds in 2007 – 2011 but could not obtain additional budget for the
consecutive period.
8.2.6 Instructors: teachers and mentors
EE teachers from KU
As of end-2014, the KU’s team of EE teachers consists of six experts with different fields
of specialisation:
Jerzy Cie?lik, PhD, Associate Professor, Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship,
specialisation in entrepreneurship policy and ambitious entrepreneurship.
Izabela Ko?adkiewicz, PhD, Associate Professor, Head of the Chair of
Entrepreneurship, specialisation in family business and corporate governance.
André van Stel, PhD, Associate Professor, specialisation in entrepreneurship and
economic development as well as solo entrepreneurs.
Svetlana Gudkova, PhD, Assistant Professor, specialisation in creativity and
entrepreneurship as well as social capital and entrepreneurial networks.
Piotr Kaczmarek-Kurczak, PhD, Assistant Professor, specialisation in
entrepreneurship in creative industries, internet business, and international
entrepreneurship.
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Marta Wojtyra, M.A., Teaching Assistant, specialisation in family business.
Based on international experiences of engaging practitioners in teaching
entrepreneurship, Jerzy Cie?lik, former CEO and founder of Ernst & Young Poland, was
appointed as full-time Professor of Entrepreneurship at Kozminski University in 2004. The
scope of his duties turned out to be much broader than it would be for a typical
appointment of an Entrepreneur- or Executive-in-Residence. It encompasses teaching
and research but also administrative responsibilities.
Occasionally, lecturers from other departments are invited to run specialist courses.
Guest speakers
KU frequently invites guest speakers on an ad hoc basis. There were also attempts to
invite entrepreneurs as guest speakers for specific courses. Here however, the results
were mixed. First, it was difficult to co-ordinate the participation of invited entrepreneurs
in the regular courses due to their heavy workload. Last-minute cancellations took place.
Second, the content of presentations made by entrepreneurs did not always
corresponded to particular learning objectives. This latter shortcoming was partially
remedied by elaborating detailed guidelines for entrepreneurship lectures on how to
prepare and effectively manage the contributions of invited entrepreneurs.
8.2.7 Management of entrepreneurship education
Teacher and trainer management at KU
Training of entrepreneurship educators at KU reflects, on the one hand, accumulated
experiences but also some internal university regulations. When a new course is
introduced, a course leader (typically professor) prepares the course materials and runs a
pilot course for students in which other lecturers participate. Newly recruited teaching
assistants always start with participating in a course run by an experienced lecturer.
Finally, according to recently adopted university-wide regulations, Heads of Chairs are
obliged to regularly inspect teaching of all staff and give their input.
Extending ambitious entrepreneurship education to other universities
While establishing a solid base for teaching entrepreneurship at KU, several internal and
external influences prompted initiatives to reach students and graduates also from other
universities in Poland. The following factors were important:
Limited number of talented students: Only a limited number of KU students qualify
for participation in advanced extra-curricular projects. In such projects, the KU seeks
to provide assistance such as training, mentoring and financial support for students to
implement ambitious business projects. However, for some areas like
entrepreneurship in creative sectors and technology-based entrepreneurship, many
KU students were found to be simply not sufficiently equipped with the necessary
knowledge, skills and talents.
Teaming up with other disciplines: KU found that the key success factor in
ambitious entrepreneurship is the formation of entrepreneurial teams with a
diversified professional background, experiences and resources. KU is basically a
business and law school. It was felt that teaming up with students in engineering,
agriculture and arts studies would be beneficial.
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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Aiming for national leadership: As part of a broader strategy, KU leaders thought
that the university’s competitive position could be strengthened not only through
providing superior entrepreneurship education for KU students but also by becoming
a widely recognised national leader in that field.
Using available infrastructure played a key role. KU sought to set up a dedicated
website with additional functionalities which served as an electronic platform for
running entrepreneurship courses, allowing, inter alia, monitoring individual student
projects. With minor adaptation this platform can be used for wider projects involving
participants from other universities.
Interest in EE from other disciplines: Regarding external factors, growing interest
in entrepreneurship as a career path developed in Poland among students from non-
business studies. Such demand increased particularly after 2005 when the increasing
supply of university graduates was confronted with saturating or even declining
demand for such graduates in the corporate sector.
Due to these influences KU decided to launch extra-curricular activities to reach students
from other universities – see the next chapter.
8.3 Extra-curricular projects in entrepreneurship education
Overview about extra-curricular EE activities at Kozminski University
In view of the KU’s ambition to also offer extra-curricular projects to other Polish
universities, since 2006 practically all extra-curricular activities initiated at KU have been
offered to a wider audience of students and graduates from other HEIs at the local
(Warsaw Municipality), regional (Mazovia Region) and national levels. A brief description
of such projects is given below. Exhibit 1-5 shows an overview.
Exhibit 8-5: Overview of extra-curricular EE activities at Kozminski University
No. Name Objectives Target group Offered
in / since
No. of
participants
1 How to start your own
business
Training and
professional advice from
business consultants
Students from the
Mazovia Region
2006 -
2007
120
2 Warsaw, the Capital of
Ambitious Business
Supporting the idea of
ambitious
entrepreneurship
Students and university
graduates living in
Warsaw
2009 -
2011
360
3 Entrepreneurship in
Creative Industries
Entrepreneurship
training for artists
Creative arts
professionals in Warsaw
Metropolitan Area
2009 –
2013
130
4 INNOVATOR Supporting high
technology
entrepreneurship
Young university teachers
and PhD students in hard
sciences
2007 –
2009
50
5 Aula Polska Informal network for
exchanging business
ideas
Young enthusiasts of
internet businesses
From
2012
onwards
120 – 150 in
each
session
A key enabling factor for running extra-curricular entrepreneurship projects was the
availability of EU financing of such projects after Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004.
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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Moreover, priority in financing was given to wider-scope projects, involving broader
spectrum of beneficiaries.
How to start your own business
“How to start your own business” was a training and advisory programme for students in
the Mazovia Region from 2006 to 2007. 120 students from 32 universities in the Mazovia
Region received training and professional advice from business consultants. 25 of them
started a new business, from which twelve received financial support from EU funds. This
project helped to refine teaching methodologies to take into account the background and
attitudes of non-business students. It also served as a testing ground for an already
existing electronic platform and its capacity for running projects with a wider scope.
Warsaw, the Capital of Ambitious Business (2009 – 2011)
This EU-funded project in co-operation with Warsaw Municipality attracted 360
participants receiving training and consultancy. These were students and university
graduates living in Warsaw. 228 of them started new businesses and 72 received
financial support. In this project the idea of ambitious entrepreneurship was put forward
for the first time in Poland, as an alternative of supporting self-employment on the one
hand and high-tech on the other. The focus was on ambitious projects, albeit the large
number of students and university graduates in Warsaw. At the same time the project
uncovered a large potential for knowledge-based entrepreneurship among professionals
willing to give up secure employment in large firms and starting their own business.
Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries (2009 – 2013)
“Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries” was another EU-funded project addressed to
the creative arts professionals in the Warsaw Metropolitan Area. 130 artists were trained
of which 100 started a new business with financial support from the EU. Again this project
uncovered great demand for support of entrepreneurial activities and integrating the
business community in creative sectors. This was reflected in the establishment of the
Association of Creative Entrepreneurs by project participants.
INNOVATOR (2007 – 2009)
INNOVATOR was a high technology entrepreneurship course for young university
teachers and PhD students in natural sciences. The project was sponsored by the Polish
National Science Foundation. Altogether 50 young scientists received training and
professional advice in three rounds. Authors of the best projects received further financial
support from the National Science Foundation. Several leading spin-off companies
emerged from INNOVATOR, one currently being quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Another interesting outcome of the INNOVATOR programme was the social high-tech
project named Bank Mleka (Human Milk Bank). This is a non-profit organisation offering
technologically advanced storage and distribution of natural human breast milk for
babies. It was initiated by a young biotechnologist, lured to entrepreneurship while
participating in the INNOVATOR programme. The experience accumulated during three
rounds of the INNOVATOR programme pointed to some systemic weaknesses in the
education of potential academic high-tech entrepreneurs. The participants, on average
approximately 30 years old, were exposed to entrepreneurial thinking for the first time.
This proved to be late as at that time their minds were focused on technological aspects
of the new venture. The results, i.e. the number and quality of high-tech start-ups, could
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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potentially have been much greater if INNOVATOR participants had received basic
entrepreneurship training at the bachelor or master level.
Aula Polska (2012 onwards)
Aula Polska was an informal network of young enthusiasts of internet businesses. It
started as a bottom-up initiative. Young people meet twice a month, listen to
presentations from more experienced peers and exchange ideas during a subsequent
pizza event. Each session gathers typically 120 to 150 participants. Since 2012
Kozminski University hosts Aula sessions at its premises and provides organisational and
financial support.
Overall initial results
With the accumulated experiences in implementing extra–curricular entrepreneurship
programmes, the organisers found that the wider formula of involving students and
graduates from various universities was right. First of all it increased the quality of
participating students. In fact, KU students represented less than 10% of participants.
This was because in the selection process non-business students and university
graduates presented better initial business concepts and were later more diligent in
preparation of the fully-fledged business plans.
At the same time there is a positive “reverse demonstration effect” for KU students. An
increased interest has been noted in specific courses like “Internet-based
Entrepreneurship” and “Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries”. Since regular Aula
Polska sessions are nowadays organised at Kozminski University premises, many KU
students attend them regularly.
8.4 Institutional aspects of entrepreneurship education
Organisational set-up and change
The Chair of Entrepreneurship exists since the inception of Kozminski University. During
the first decade (1993 – 2003) the focus was on implementing basic courses in
entrepreneurship. In the second decade (2004 – 2013), attention shifted to ambitious
forms of entrepreneurship in a wider context: prompting entrepreneurship development at
the regional and local level, reaching to other universities, and extending the concept of
entrepreneurship beyond the business sector.
As the scope of extra-curricular activities and research in entrepreneurship expanded, in
2010 the research and outreach activities were moved to the newly established Centre
for Entrepreneurship
2
. However, both units operate in an integrated way, under joint
management, sharing both staff and premises (see Exhibit 1-6).
2
Seehttp://www.kozminski.edu.pl/index.php?id=5012, last accessed 23/3/2015.
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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Exhibit 8-6: Organisation of entrepreneurial activities at KU
Source: Kozminski University
Mindsets and attitudes
A significant percentage of KU students have already been exposed to entrepreneurship
before attending KU, either by running an own business or due to family business
traditions. Therefore, KU attempted to shape their mindsets and attitudes not towards
entrepreneurship in general but to the ambitious forms of entrepreneurship. To that end,
the booklet presenting the coaching and consulting offer in entrepreneurship to KU
students bears the title “We support ambitious entrepreneurship”. However, shifting
mindsets turned out to be challenging: as described in section 1.3, experience with extra-
curricular activities showed that non-business students and graduates from other
universities so far showed more promising efforts to develop ambitious enterprises than
students from KU. Second, the KU entrepreneurship team refrains from coaching routine
business projects. This sometimes results in negative reactions from the students.
8.5 Outreach to external stakeholders
8.5.1 Types of relationships with external stakeholders
KU’s entrepreneurial orientation is deeply rooted in its history as one of the first private
higher education institutions in Poland. Later on, links with external stakeholders were
formalised. In 2003, the International Corporate Advisory Board was founded with the
participation of leading international and Polish executives. The growing number of
internship programmes is managed within the framework of long term agreements with
companies and financial institutions.
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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According to the experiences accumulated at KU, the opportunities for direct
engagement of entrepreneurs in teaching are quite limited. It is very difficult to go
beyond the invited guest speaker formula. This is due to the formalisation of the didactic
process with specific requirements for course delivery and assessment. There are
national and even EU-wide regulations which must be followed in this respect. Active
entrepreneurs do not feel comfortable in such an environment, not to mention the limited
time that they can devote to teaching students.
KU has built a strong Alumni Club with regular meetings, constant communication
through a website, newsletters, social media and job counselling. Each year three KU
alumni with the most spectacular and successful career paths receive special awards, the
"Kozminski Lions". One of the awards is given to the most successful entrepreneur.
8.5.2 Training educators from other Polish universities
Lessons from international experiences
Training of entrepreneurship lecturers from other higher education institutions, particularly
from non-business disciplines, was another important offspring of KU’s ambitious
entrepreneurship programme. The decision to launch a “training of trainers” approach
was largely influenced by experiences from other countries in similar undertakings. The
KU paid particular attention to national programmes for supporting venture-premiership
lecturers in HEIs initiated by the UK National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship
established in 2004, later renamed to National Center for Entrepreneurship Education.
Another example is the German organisation FGF (Förderkreis Gründungsforschung
e.V.) which was instrumental in establishing chairs of entrepreneurship at a number of
German universities. A similar approach was taken in the US in an initiative launched in
2011 to improve entrepreneurship education in 350 engineering universities across the
country. A nationwide project called Epicenter is being financed by the US National
Science Foundation and managed by Stanford University. It offers training for lecturers,
sophisticated pedagogical tools and serves as a platform for sharing best practices.
Situation in teaching entrepreneurship in Polish non-business universities
The reason why KU concentrates on non-business universities in training the trainers
reflects an urgent need. This is because entrepreneurship courses were almost non-
existent at such universities ten years ago. On the other hand, KU’s initial experiences in
regional extra-curricular programmes demonstrated that non-business students, once
equipped with relevant knowledge and skills and being familiarised with entrepreneurial
thinking, put forward much better new venture projects than their business counterparts.
After 2006, when KU’s core academic textbook on ambitious entrepreneurship was
published and accompanied by a dedicated website, there were a number of inquiries
addressed to KU to run entrepreneurship courses outside KU. Such requests could not
be accommodated due to time limitations and because of a potential conflict of interest.
“Training of trainers” projects initiated by KU during 2007 – 2011
In 2007, Kozminski University received a grant from the Polish Ministry of Science and
Higher Education to train a first group of 20 university lecturers, preparing them for
introducing basic courses in entrepreneurship at their universities. The support included:
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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methodological and pedagogical tools (PowerPoint presentations, tests) available to
university teachers only;
teaching materials and tools for students available on the dedicated website – the
original content has meanwhile been broadened and diversified, including videos and
English language materials;
short (two-day) “kick-off” workshops for all participating lecturers;
ongoing support and monitoring of the implementation of the pilot course in
entrepreneurship which was an obligatory requirement for all lecturers participating in
the programme.
In 2008, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education provided finance to KU for training
the next group of entrepreneurship educators. In addition to 20 lecturers from new
universities, six pairs of lecturers from the previous group and consultants received
training on the implementation of more advanced extra-curricular forms of
entrepreneurship education, thus mirroring the KU’s experience with such programmes.
Entrepreneurship lecturers participating in the programme
During 2007 – 2011, the programme encompassed over 50 university lecturers from 40
non-business universities in Poland. The implementation of entrepreneurship courses
marked a qualitative change in those universities, becoming a triggering factor for further
local initiatives. At the same time it revealed certain problems and barriers:
Turnover of universities’ lecturers: in several cases the lecturers trained in running
entrepreneurship courses left their universities, which jeopardised the continuation of
such courses. This seems to be inevitable and calls for a continued effort to
“replenish” lost educators. It has been estimated that in order to ensure continuity and
expansion in teaching entrepreneurship at Polish universities, every second year, 20
new entrepreneurship educators need to be trained. At the end of 2014, KU was
seeking funding for the next round.
Entrepreneurial attitude of entrepreneurship educators: the key lesson from the
“training of trainers” programme is that successfully launching entrepreneurship
education strongly depends on the entrepreneurial mindset of the lecturers. This does
not mean previous business experience, but rather character traits like energy, drive
and enthusiasm; inspiring students and shaping their entrepreneurial minds. The KU
also considers a drive to establish contacts with the business community, launching
new projects and seeking finance for such initiatives as important.
Unfortunately, such entrepreneurial attitudes as described in the following box text were
found to be quite rare among lecturers participating in the programme. This may call for a
more sophisticated selection of the next group of entrepreneurship lecturers receiving
training and support.
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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An exemplary case of shaping lecturers’ entrepreneurial mindsets
Dr Agnieszka Skala, Assistant Professor from Warsaw Polytechnic, may serve as a good
example for training teachers in entrepreneurship education. In 2007 she participated in
the first group of university lecturers being trained in a KU-managed project. In 2008 she
introduced a basic course on Innovative Entrepreneurship in one department of the
Warsaw Polytechnic. The course was a major success and was rated highly by students.
In 2009 she obtained funds to initiate a large-scale project aimed at launching
entrepreneurship courses in an additional 15 departments of the Warsaw Polytechnic.
She co-ordinated the training of entrepreneurship lecturers thus further extending the
idea of “training of trainers”. In 2012, she co-founded the “Innovation Nest” (SPIN
School), a nationwide initiative focusing on young promising internet start-ups. In 2013,
she graduated from the prestigious Lean Launchpad Educators Program at the University
of California in Berkeley, US.
Source: Kozminsky University
Support from the leadership of participating universities
The key enabling factor in launching entrepreneurship education was the support from
the universities’ leadership. In a typical environment of hard science studies, agricultural
or engineering universities, the entrepreneurship subjects are being viewed as “soft”, thus
less important than “hard” ones representing the core of students’ curricula. In order to
implement entrepreneurship courses and convince the university teachers about their
usefulness, a lecturer must rely on full support from the university’s management.
Unfortunately, in a number of institutions this was not the case. As a partial remedy in the
second round of training of lecturers, the final decision about admission was conditional
upon a written declaration of support from the Rector of a certain university.
Network of Academic Entrepreneurship Educators in Poland (SEIPA)
The lecturers trained in KU experienced the “feeling of loneliness” while struggling to
introduce entrepreneurship courses of their home universities. This experience led to the
establishment of the Network of Academic Entrepreneurship Educators in Poland
(SEIPA). This is an informal network composed of entrepreneurship lecturers
participating in the KU-managed training programmes as well as others interested in
relevant materials and methodologies, exchanging ideas, and best practices. In 2011, all
teaching content was moved to the SEIPA website. KU’s Prof. Jerzy Cie?lik is the co-
ordinator for the SEIPA network.
8.6 Impact and lessons learned
8.6.1 Measuring impacts of KU’s entrepreneurship education approach
When evaluating the impact of KU’s EE approach regarding key lessons learned and
transferability to other universities, one needs to bear in mind KU’s “catching-up context”.
KU believes its experiences are particularly relevant for universities lagging behind in EE
and intend to quickly narrow the gap with leading international education institutions in
this field. In this regard, the impact of the entrepreneurship education approach taken at
KU can be evaluated in four distinct, albeit interlinked areas:
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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Driving students’ attention towards ambitious, growth-oriented ventures. In its
entrepreneurship courses, KU exposed students to alternatives to traditional small
business thinking about entrepreneurship. Particularly, extra-curricular activities have
been stressing the message to “do not think small”. The positive impact of this
approach was demonstrated in a number of ways: The survival rate of businesses
launched as a result of several extra-curricular projects implemented by KU as
described above was much higher than the average in Poland. For example,
according to a survey of firms receiving support under the programme “Warsaw, the
Capital of Ambitious Business”, 72% of those firms established in 2010 were still
active in 2013, whereas the average ratio for Poland in same period was 42%.
Moreover, the ratio between employer- and non-employer firms was higher as well.
Filling the gap between small business and high-growth, high-tech ventures.
Entrepreneurship as a career option for university graduates is typically seen as a
choice between traditional small business establishments and high-growth, high-tech
ventures. KU’s experience helped to identify a substantial “intermediate zone” where
university graduates could engage in ambitious business projects which basically
have an imitative character but enable students to use knowledge and skills gained in
their studies.
Involving students and graduates from various education institutions in extra-
curricular projects. Here the KU found a clearly demonstrable impact. By limiting
participation to KU students, i.e. to business students, certain projects such as
supporting entrepreneurship in the creative sector would not have been possible to
implement. The “reverse demonstration effect” for the KU students should not be
neglected as well.
Promoting entrepreneurship education in non-business universities. KU sees a
direct and clearly visible impact of its efforts to promote EE at other Polish
universities: 40 Polish non-business universities launched entrepreneurship courses
afterwards. This impact was achieved at relatively low costs. For training 52 lecturers
from 40 universities, KU received two grants from the Ministry of Science and Higher
Education, totalling 461,000 PLN or 110,000 euro. Thus the average cost per
university was less than 3,000 euro.
An important outcome of KU’s “training of trainers” approach was the establishment of the
Network of Academic Entrepreneurship Educators in Poland (SEIPA). Although it worked
as a loose network at the end of 2014, it had already played an important role in
integrating the community of academic entrepreneurship lecturers in Poland. This may
lead to a more formalised structure in the future.
8.6.2 Lessons learned – success factors for launching EE
Summary of lessons learned from this case
The know-how about EE accumulated by Kozminski University may be particularly
relevant to universities with limited experience in teaching entrepreneurship. Based on
the experiences accumulated since 2007, KU identified three success factors for
launching entrepreneurship education in non-business universities: entrepreneurial
entrepreneurship educators, a network of academic entrepreneurship educators,
and support from university leadership. KU found that these factors mutually reinforce
each other. The key figure in this process is an “entrepreneurial entrepreneurship
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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educator” who receives support from the university’s top management and is part of
nationwide network.
Transferability to other universities
In principle, other universities may easily adopt KU’s EE approach. There is material
available that could facilitate a transfer of the approach or parts of it: KU’s experiences in
teaching entrepreneurship are described in a monograph (in Polish) “Education for
Academic Entrepreneurship” (Cie?lik et al., 2011). There is a small booklet available
promoting ambitious entrepreneurship among students, published in Polish in 2013, titled
“We support Ambitious Entrepreneurship”. Various course materials, tools, and
methodologies are freely available – under a Creative Commons License – on a
dedicated website (www.seipa.edu.pl). Some materials are also available in English.
These materials may help other universities to assess whether KU’s approach could be
valuable for them.
References
Research for this case study was conducted by Professor Jerzy Cie?lik, Director of the
Centre for Entrepreneurship at Kozminski University, on behalf of the study for supporting
the entrepreneurial potential of higher education (sepHE). The author has been deeply
involved and in fact managed the process of engaging Kozminski University in ambitious
entrepreneurship education. Although effort has been made by the author to ensure
objectivity, some personal reflection was unavoidable.
Sources and references used include desk research plus:
Interviews and other sources
Panel discussion held on 25 of July 2014 at Kozminski University premises with two
entrepreneurship lecturers at Kozminski University Prof. Izabela Ko?adkiewicz and
Prof. Piotr Kaczmarek-Kurczak.
Interview with Prof. Agnieszka Skala – an entrepreneurship lecturer at the Warsaw
Polytechnic. The interview has been carried out on 23 July 2014 at Warsaw
Polytechnic premises.
The case study relied heavily on discussions and presentations of students and
graduates participating in various extra-curricular programmes initiated by KU. Some
of them have been summarised in an unpublished master thesis by M. Balicka
(2009) or videotaped.
As a background material, a large-scale questionnaire survey covering 28% of the entire
population of KU students has been used. The survey has been administered on
behalf of KU Chair of Entrepreneurship in May 2013.
Literature
Balicka, M. (2009): Kszta?towanie postaw przedsi?biorczych studentów poprzez programy
edukacyjne (Shaping entrepreneurial minds of students through educational
programmes). Unpublished KU master thesis, Warsaw: Kozminski University.
Cie?lik, J., Guli?ski, J., Matusiak, K.B., Skala-Po?niak, A. (2011): Edukacja dla
przedsi?biorczo?ci akademickiej, (Education for Academic Entrepreneurship),
Warsaw: PARP.
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
23
Katz, J.A., Green II, R.P. (2011) Entrepreneurial Small Business, New York: McGraw Hill.
Kwiatkowski, S. Edvinsson, L. (eds.) (1999) Knowledge Café for Intellectual
Entrepreneurship, Leon Kozminski Academy for Entrepreneurship and Management:
Warsaw.
Longenecker, J.G, Petty, J. W., Palich,, L.E., Hoy, F. (2011): Small Business Management:
Launching and Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures, South-Western Cengage Learning:
Mason, OH.
Stam, E., Bosma, N., van Witteloostuijn, A., De Jong, J. Bogaert,S., Edwards, A., Jaspers,
F. (2012): Ambitious entrepreneurship: a review of the state of the art, Vlaamse Raad
voor Wetenschap en Innovatie. StudieReeks 23. Brussels, Belgium.
Websites
Ambitious Entrepreneurship, www.cieslik.edu.pl. Last accessed 15 August 2014.
SEIPA,http://www.seipa.edu.pl. Last accessed 15 August 2014.
doc_108761136.pdf
In this explanation pertaining to kozminski university supporting the entrepreneurial potential of higher education.
1
Case Study No. 8:
Kozminski University, Poland:
Developing minds for ambitious
entrepreneurship and training teachers at
other universities
May 2015
Author: Professor Jerzy Cie?lik
About the sepHE Study
The study "Supporting the entrepreneurial potential of higher education"
was based on a contract between the European Commission, Directorate
General Education and Culture (DG EAC), and empirica Gesellschaft für
Kommunikations- und Technologieforschung mbH (co-ordinator – Bonn,
Germany) as well as the University of Wuppertal, UNESCO Chair of
Entrepreneurship and Intercultural Management (Wuppertal, Germany).
The study’s main purpose was collecting 20 case studies about insightful
practice in entrepreneurship education at European universities. This is one
of them. The findings from a cross-case analysis are included in the Final
Report which is available at the study’s homepage and at DG EAC’s website.
Supporting the entrepreneurial
potential of higher education
http://www.sephHE.eu
[email protected]
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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8 Kozminski University, Poland: Developing minds
for ambitious entrepreneurship and training
teachers at other universities
Overview of contents
8.1 The university’s entrepreneurial profile .................................................................................4
8.1.1 The university’s overall approach to entrepreneurship education .......................................... 4
8.1.2 Leadership and governance .................................................................................................. 4
8.1.3 Resources: people and financial capacity .............................................................................. 5
8.2 Entrepreneurship in curricula and teaching ...........................................................................6
8.2.1 Overview about curricular offers ............................................................................................ 6
8.2.2 Origins and operationalisation of teaching ambitious entrepreneurship at KU ....................... 8
8.2.3 Target groups ...................................................................................................................... 10
8.2.4 Designing lectures and courses – basic curricular decisions ............................................... 10
8.2.5 Setting of entrepreneurship teaching ................................................................................... 12
8.2.6 Instructors: teachers and mentors........................................................................................ 12
8.2.7 Management of entrepreneurship education ....................................................................... 13
8.3 Extra-curricular projects in entrepreneurship education .......................................................14
8.4 Institutional aspects of entrepreneurship education.............................................................16
8.5 Outreach to external stakeholders ......................................................................................17
8.5.1 Types of relationships with external stakeholders ................................................................ 17
8.5.2 Training educators from other Polish universities ................................................................ 18
8.6 Impact and lessons learned ................................................................................................20
8.6.1 Measuring impacts of KU’s entrepreneurship education approach ...................................... 20
8.6.2 Lessons learned – success factors for launching EE ........................................................... 21
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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Abstract
Kozminski University (KU) is a Polish private business and law school established in
1993. It has 5,300 students and a leading position in management education in Poland
as well as Central and Eastern Europe. KU offers curricular entrepreneurship education
for Bachelor, Master and PhD degrees. Most offers are for BA students in Management
with a Major in Entrepreneurship. While KU had been offering entrepreneurship
courses since its early years, since 2004 the University has embarked on promoting
ambitious entrepreneurship among students. This proved to be a fruitful direction but
necessitated reshaping minds and attitudes of students and teachers, shifting their
focus away from small-scale establishments to business ventures with growth
ambitions. Such a shift turned out to be challenging: the pool of students with the right
mindset for ambitious entrepreneurship was so far found to be limited at KU itself.
However, KU established links with students from other universities in the region and
country and from non-business academic disciplines in extra-curricular activities. In
these activities it was particularly fruitful for the quality of business projects to mix
students from various disciplines like business management, engineering, agriculture
and arts. KU also initiated a programme for training entrepreneurship lecturers from
other higher education institutions who in turn introduced entrepreneurship courses in
40 non-business universities in Poland. KU’s experiences in entrepreneurship
education and lessons learned may be particularly relevant for “catching up” higher
education institutions with limited prior experience in teaching entrepreneurship. It may
be important for the transferability of such experiences that a substantial part of
teaching materials is already available in written form.
Case study fact sheet
Full name of the university and location: Akademia Leona Ko?mi?skiego (Kozminski University)
Legal status: Private higher education institution
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Year of foundation: 1993
Number of students: 5,300
Number of employees: Total 361, of which teaching and research staff: 211,
administrative staff: 150.
Budget in most recent financial year: 66.8 mln PLN (15.9 mln euro 57. mln PLN (13.8 mln Euro)
Financial year ending 30.09.2013
Academic profile: Business and law school
Entrepreneurial profile: Developing skills and attitudes of students towards ambitious
forms of entrepreneurship. Disseminating know-how in teaching
entrepreneurship among non-business HEIs in Poland. Initiating
programmes supporting ambitious entrepreneurship in the
Mazovia Region and Warsaw Metropolitan Area.
Activities focused in this case study: Developing minds for ambitious entrepreneurship and interactions
with other higher education institutions
Case contact person(s): Prof. Jerzy Cie?lik, Kozminski University
Information included in this case study is from end of year 2014 unless stated differently.
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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8.1 The university’s entrepreneurial profile
8.1.1 The university’s overall approach to entrepreneurship education
Key characteristics of EE at Kozminski University
The “entrepreneurial orientation” of Kozminski University (KU) is deeply rooted in its
history. The university was established in Warsaw in 1993 as part of an entrepreneurial
revolution in the higher education system in Poland. After the collapse of the communist
system in 1989, over 350 private HEIs have been established in addition to an existing,
approximately 100, public universities. KU has been offering courses about
entrepreneurship since its early years. The Chair of Entrepreneurship exists since the
inception of Kozminski University. KU has two specialties in entrepreneurship education
(EE): firstly, focusing on ambitious entrepreneurship rather than small business. KU
shifted to this focus in 2004. Secondly, KU extends this focus also to other universities in
the Warsaw region, and KU plays a key role in training entrepreneurship teachers all over
Poland.
Publicity of the Kozminski case
The case of EE at Kozminski University (KU) is well-known in Poland, particularly through
KU’s outreach to other universities. It may also be known in other Eastern European
countries. However, Kozminski University has not yet received considerable attention in
Western Europe. This is changing gradually as a result of a policy to obtain international
accreditations. At the end of 2014, Kozminski University was listed among those
universities worldwide which obtained the three most prestigious accreditations.
1
8.1.2 Leadership and governance
Importance of government strategies
Although being a private institution, governmental strategies had profound impact on
KU’s operations and also on EE. Responding to governmental requirements, KU
broadened its teaching and outreach programmes to be more strongly related to research
and publications in international journals. This also applied to EE.
Importance of EE in the university’s strategy
The new university was initially registered under the name Academy of Management and
Entrepreneurship which reflected an orientation on training both managers of large
corporations and entrepreneurs. Later the university changed its name to Kozminski
University (Akademia Leona Ko?mi?skiego) to give credit to its patron and late Professor
Leon Ko?minski but also to reflect a broader scope of education offers including
sociology, psychology and law.
1
From AACSB, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, based in Tampa,
Florida, US; AMBA, the Association of MBAs, based in London; and EQUIS, European Quality
Improvement System, based in Brussels.
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Entrepreneurship is deeply rooted in the university’s culture. Although it is not specifically
mentioned in the KU’s mission statement, entrepreneurship is crucial in the
implementation of four of six strategic programmes implemented during 2011 – 2016:
Strengthening the position in academic research: Entrepreneurship and innovation
has been identified as a research field where KU has a good chance to narrow the
distance to leading academic institutions worldwide.
Internationalisation and worldwide brand reception: KU has been recognised as a
leader in entrepreneurship education in Poland, participating in various pan-European
initiatives. This contributes to the international recognition of KU’s brand.
High level of student satisfaction: The surveys on KU students’ entrepreneurial
background and attitudes (most recently from 2013) showed that 50% either have
family business roots or run their own firm. Therefore, for KU students it is important
to obtain not only basic techniques of new venture creation but also practical
knowledge on how to grow existing firms.
Development of long-term relationships with industry and community: Polish
higher education institutions are generally criticised for their weak ties with the
business sector. By establishing such links with entrepreneurs in the Mazovia Region
a region in mid-north-eastern Poland with Warsaw as its centre, KU seeks to stand at
the forefront of positive changes in that respect.
Extent of high level commitment to implementing entrepreneurship education
The generally favourable attitude of university leadership towards entrepreneurship is
reflected in an interview given by KU rector Prof. Witold Bielecki on the occasion of
ending the project “Warsaw, the Capital of Ambitious Business” (2009 – 2011):
“Entrepreneurs are people who climb the hill. But after reaching the top they quickly get
bored and look for another challenge. They are addicted to continuously climbing up. The
role of KU is to teach our students the techniques of climbing up, particularly when the
slope is steep.” Bielecki specialises in information supplies and operations management,
and published a book and several articles on the application of internet-based simulation
games in teaching entrepreneurship.
Level of faculties’ and units’ autonomy to act and organisational implementation
Teaching, research and extra-curricular activities in the field of entrepreneurship are
subject to laws and regulations issued by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of
Poland, as well as the statute and detailed regulations of the Senate and the Rector of
KU. Within this framework, the KU’s faculty has substantial autonomy in designing
entrepreneurship courses and conducting extra–curricular activities.
8.1.3 Resources: people and financial capacity
Human resources for entrepreneurship education
The core staff involved in entrepreneurship education at Kozminski University is
composed of six experts with diverse backgrounds. Occasionally, lecturers from other
departments are invited to run specialist courses. At the same time, practitioners are
often invited as guest speakers.
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Financial resources for entrepreneurship education
The delivery of the core entrepreneurship curricula is covered within the general budget
of KU. Basic coaching of KU students is also undertaken by the lecturers without
additional pay. When it comes to specialised training and mentoring, the
entrepreneurship team is expected to demonstrate an entrepreneurial approach in
seeking additional funding. During 2007 – 2014, the most important sources were EU
structural funds, grants from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and the Polish
National Science Foundation.
8.2 Entrepreneurship in curricula and teaching
8.2.1 Overview about curricular offers
The key target group in entrepreneurship education at KU are Bachelor of Arts (BA)
students in Management who opted for a Major in Entrepreneurship. The majority of
courses listed in Exhibit 1-1 are primarily offered to that group. However, many courses
which are compulsory for BA Entrepreneurship Major students are also offered as
electives for other BA, as well as Master of Arts (MA) students. At the MA level there are
dedicated courses which attempt to address the interests of MA students specialising in
various aspects of management, finance, economics, and administration. There is one
general course for MA students dealing with macroeconomic aspects of
entrepreneurship.
At PhD level the entrepreneurship offer includes two courses. One deals with
methodological issues in researching about entrepreneurship. The second is a dedicated
workshop during which students learn how to use tools and approaches developed in the
field of entrepreneurship, which would make working on their PhD thesis more efficient.
Exhibit 8-1: Overview about prominent curricular EE offers at Kozminski University
No. Name, degree Objectives Target groups Offered
since
[year]
No. of
participants
in 2013/14
Bachelor level
1 Principles of
Entrepreneurship (BA)
Introducing core concept of
entrepreneurship
All BA students in
Management
2013 310
2 New Venture Creation
(BA)
Introduction to starting own
business
ENT Major* students 1995 110
3 Family Business
Development (BA)
Introductory course on family
business
ENT Major students 2003 110
4 Project Workshop on
Family Business
Development (BA)
Dedicated programme for
students with family business
roots
ENT Major students 2012 10
5 Regional and Local
Dimensions of
Entrepreneurship (BA)
Understanding local
dimensions of
entrepreneurship and links
between entrepreneurial
community and local
administration
ENT Major students 2007 30
6 Entrepreneurial Networks
(BA)
Exploring the networking
potential for small firms
ENT Major students 2007 30
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7 Sociology in
Entrepreneurship (BA)
Specialized course focusing
on sociological aspects of
entrepreneurship
MA students
(Specialization
Sociology in
Management
2011 35
Master level
8 New Venture Financing
(BA, MA)
Identifying sources of finance
for start-ups
ENT Major as well as
MA students in
Management and
Finance
2000 40
9 International
Entrepreneurship (BA,
MA)
Preparing prospective
entrepreneurs for going
international
ENT Major as well as
MA students in
Management and
Economics
2005 80
10 Internet-based
Entrepreneurship (BA,
MA)
Focus on small firms relying
on Internet technologies
ENT Major as well as
MA students in
Management
2007 40
11 Entrepreneurial Marketing
(BA, MA)
Focus on marketing
techniques in young and
small firms
ENT Major as well as
MA students in
Management
2008 40
12 Creativity and
Innovativeness (BA, MA)
Workshop aimed at
developing creative thinking
in business
ENT Major as well as
MA students in
Management
2008 110
13 Entrepreneurship and
New Venture
Development (MA)
Basis entrepreneurship
course MA level
MA students in
Management who did
not attend
entrepreneurship
courses at BA level.
1998 40
14 Entrepreneurship and
Economic Development
(MA)
Basic macroeconomic course
on the role of
entrepreneurship in economic
development
MA students in
Management and
Economics
2011 120
15 Entrepreneur and
Entrepreneurship (MA)
Introductory course on
entrepreneurship
MA students in
Administration
2009 20
16 Small Enterprise
Consulting (MA)
Focusing on building
consulting skills for small
business
MA students in
Management
(Specialisation
Management
Consulting)
2009 20
Doctoral level
17 Researching
Entrepreneurship (PhD)
Presenting research methods
and sources of data while
researching small firms
PhD students in
Management and
Economics
2010 25
18 PhD as an Entrepreneurial
Project (PhD)
Dedicated workshop on
improving of writing PhD
thesis with entrepreneurship
tools and approaches.
PhD students in
Management and
Economics
2010 25
* ENT Major – BA students in Management with Major in Entrepreneurship
Source: Kozminski University
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8.2.2 Origins and operationalisation of teaching ambitious
entrepreneurship at KU
External and internal environment
The decision to extend entrepreneurship programmes for KU students to a particular
focus on ambitious business undertakings was the result of both external and internal
factors, as shown in Exhibit 1-2. They are elaborated in the following decriptions.
Exhibit 8-2: Factors leading to KU’s specialisation in ambitious entrepreneurship
Source: Kozminski University
External factors
With regard to external factors, there was an unprecedented growth of entrepreneurial
activities in Poland after 1989 as a result of transition from the centrally planned to the
market economy system. Between 1989 and 2008, the number of active business
establishments increased three-fold. Consequently, the ratio of business owners as a
percent of labour force has reached the levels of countries like Germany and France
(Cie?lik and van Stel, 2014).
In recent years, awareness grew among the research community and policymakers that
their focus should be shifted from increasing the number of start-ups to expanding the
quality component of the Polish business sector. At the same time, there is a
discussion about moving various support measures from the central to the regional or
even local level. It also became clear that the traditional dichotomy of small business
versus high-tech start-ups is not sufficient as it neglects a very important category of
ambitious entrepreneurs who, although not necessarily depending on high profile
innovations, strive for rapid growth of turnover, employment and profits. After Poland’s
accession to the EU, various measures were implemented to support high-tech academic
entrepreneurship, including for example, science parks, technology incubators and direct
financial support. At the same time, limited effort has been made to support high-growth
ventures which do not necessarily rely on sophisticated technologies.
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A somewhat related factor was the rapid increase of the number of university
graduates after 1989; it quadrupled between 1989 and 2010. This positive development
paved the way for shifting the economy to a knowledge-based, innovation-driven phase.
The negative result was that university graduates are currently facing difficulties to find
decent employment in large corporations. This in turn shifted their attention to starting
own businesses as an alternative carrier path.
Internal factors
KU students were found to have reflected these macroeconomic trends. According to a
large-scale questionnaire survey in 2013 conducted by the Chair of Entrepreneurship,
only half of KU students did not have any prior business experiences. The remaining half
either originated from families with business traditions or ran their own business or both.
However, while taking entrepreneurship courses students typically focused on traditional
self-employment business opportunities without growth ambitions, thus not requiring
extensive use of knowledge and skills acquired in the course of studies.
Another disquieting factor was that, although 44% of KU students originated from families
with own business background, only a minority was engaged in their parents’ businesses.
Many students openly declared lack of interest in engaging in family business,
considering employment in large corporations as a more attractive career path.
As an additional factor there is a KU tradition in research about knowledge-based
entrepreneurship. Back in the 1990s, Prof. Stefan Kwiatkowski, the first Head of the Chair
of Entrepreneurship, launched an international research programme in this new and
promising field, resulting in a series of publications (Kwiatkowski and Edvinsson, 1999).
Learning from international experiences
In addition to external and internal factors described in the previous section, the vast
body of the accumulated international know-how and experiences in teaching
entrepreneurship at the university was of crucial importance at the implementation stage.
For KU as a “catching up” institution it was a natural step to tap on these resources by
conducting thorough analyses of relevant experiences, particularly those of universities in
the US, the UK and Scandinavia. Exhibit 1-3 explains how the study of international
experiences has affected the concept of ambitious entrepreneurship teaching at KU.
Exhibit 8-3: International experiences in teaching entrepreneurship and lessons for KU
Business types: Running traditional small
business is different from running small
entrepreneurial ventures
Concept of ambitious entrepreneurship
operationalised for teaching
Teaching for entrepreneurship rather than
about entrepreneurship
Shifting from traditional lectures to
workshops engaging students in solving
practical problems
Textbooks: yes, but combined with
additional material and internet tools
Modern textbooks on ambitious
entrepreneurship and dedicated website
with additional course material
Engaging practitionersin teaching
entrepreneurship
Appointing Executives-in-Residence,
inviting guest speakers
Broadening the scope of teaching through
extra-curricular activities
Launching series of projects assisting
students and university graduates in
ambitious entrepreneurship
Source: Kozminski University
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8.2.3 Target groups
The key target group of entrepreneurship teaching at KU is BA students in Management
who have chosen a Major in Entrepreneurship (see section 1.2.1 above). At the MA level,
only limited entrepreneurship courses are offered. However, students can take additional
courses as electives. PhD students have two specialised courses on research methods
and tools.
8.2.4 Designing lectures and courses – basic curricular decisions
Objectives of EE – operationalisation of ambitious entrepreneurship for teaching
In recent years, consensus grew among entrepreneurship educators about a need to fill
the gap between traditional small business and high tech entrepreneurship. Appropriate
for the KU’s approach is the title of a leading textbook by Katz and Green (2011),
“Entrepreneurial small business”. Authors of another major textbook declare that “you can
be both entrepreneur and a small business owner” (Longenecker et al. 2011, p.5). In view
of the lack of a widely accepted definition of ambitious entrepreneurship in academic
research there was a need for a pragmatic operationalisation of this concept for
entrepreneurship teaching at KU, as demonstrated in Exhibit 1-4. More specifically, KU
followed a broader concept of an ambitious entrepreneur (Stam et al, 2012, p.26): An
ambitious entrepreneur is someone who engages in the entrepreneurial process with the
aim to create as much value as possible, which implies that KU has not focused only on
high-growth or high-tech ventures.
Exhibit 8-4: Operationalisation of ambitious entrepreneurship for teaching at KU
Growth-
oriented
ventures based
on proactive
imitation(in
modern and
traditional
sectors)
High-
tech
entre-
preneur-
ship
Inter-
national
entre-
preneur-
ship
Internet-
based
entre-
preneur-
ship
Franchising
entre-
preneur-
ship
Entre-
preneur-
shipin
creative
industries
Growth-orientedfamily business
Ambitiousentrepreneurship
Source: Kozminski University
The components of ambitious entrepreneurship depicted in the Exhibit are not exclusive
but rather overlapping. The framework serves the designation of core and elective
courses, as well as extra-curricular activities.
Pilot programme development
In view of the high percentage of KU students originating from families with business
traditions, a dedicated pilot teaching and advisory programme was launched in 2012,
named “Family Business Development”. Formally it was a workshop for master
students who, instead of writing a standard master thesis, prepared a detailed
development plan of the business run by their parents. In addition to Prof. Jerzy Cie?lik
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as workshop co-ordinator, an outside business consultant was recruited to assist
students in the financial and market analysis.
Among ten students initially joining the programme, six dropped quickly. The key reason
was the hesitance of their parents, small business owners, to release financial data. On
the other hand the elaboration of a detailed development plan was considered by the
students as more difficult and time-consuming than writing a standard master thesis. The
remaining four students completed development plans and the results were encouraging.
As all of their parents’ businesses were small firms, development plans were the first
professional financial and market analyses ever prepared. Students equipped with such
documents could demonstrate to their parents the practical relevance of their knowledge
accumulated in the course of study at KU.
Based on the evaluation of the results of the pilot, the consulting project “Family
Business Development” is now being offered at the undergraduate (BA) level for
students with Entrepreneurship Major. The core course “New Venture Creation” has been
redesigned to focus on ambitious ventures. In addition, “Internet-based Entrepreneurship”
and “International Entrepreneurship” have been included as obligatory courses whereas
“Franchising” and “Entrepreneurship in Creative Sectors” became elective courses.
Teaching methods
At the time when the ambitious entrepreneurship programme started at KU in 2004, KU
EE teachers found that there was already a clear consensus among entrepreneurship
educators worldwide. This consensus was that the teaching methods used should
encourage active involvement of students in solving practical problems, which
entrepreneurs are confronted with when starting a new business.
In the internet era, paper textbooks are still an important vehicle for conveying knowledge
to students. However, it must be supported by additional tools and materials available
electronically for students and lecturers. As a result, KU shifted from traditional lectures to
workshops addressing practical issues with the use of additional didactic tools and course
materials. In 2006 a modern textbook “Ambitious Entrepreneurship” was published in
Polish (Cie?lik, 2006), with subsequent editions in 2008 and 2010. Simultaneously, a
related website was developed by the author, containing additional materials like mini-
cases, videos and shortened version of the textbook in English for international students.
Dedicated tools were developed in Excel for example, for evaluating business
opportunities, elaborating initial business concepts and business plans, and selecting the
optimal taxation regime. The website content is open to all visitors through a Creative
Commons License, except some content available exclusively to entrepreneurship
lecturers (e.g. PowerPoint presentations, tests, methodical notes). The exclusive content
is available upon registration free of charge. The website was initially developed by Prof.
J. Cie?lik but with the establishment of the National Network of Academic
Entrepreneurship Educators (SEIPA) (see below section 1.5) the content was moved to
its current domain at SEIPA (http://www.seipa.edu.pl).
Kozminski University has also followed another recommendation stemming from
accumulated experiences of international universities in teaching entrepreneurship,
namely adding various extra curriculum activities to regular entrepreneurships courses.
Specific projects and initiatives are presented in section 1.3.
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8.2.5 Setting of entrepreneurship teaching
Locations of EE offers
All courses for regular KU students are offered at the KU campus in Warsaw. Special
programmes and outreach projects are also mostly offered at KU. There were various
attempts to use distant learning which, so far, brought mixed results. With regard to
training of entrepreneurship educators from other Polish universities (see 1.5.2 below) the
major obstacle in conducting consultations and exchanging experiences resulted from
excessive time required for travelling from distant locations. Several attempts were made
to use distant learning with video-conferencing. However, this proved to be rather
inefficient due to inadequate infrastructure and preference for direct contacts by the
participants. At the same time, distant methods worked when providing consultations for
young entrepreneurs. On implementing the Programme “Warsaw, the Capital of
Ambitious Business” (see 1.3. below) an electronic platform was developed, allowing
business consultants to monitor new business ventures based on core data regularly
submitted by entrepreneurs online. As a result, it was sufficient to schedule face-to-face
meetings only once a month.
Timing of EE offers
Timing of entrepreneurship courses for regular KU students depends on the teaching
plan adopted at university level. With respect to the extra-curricular and outreach
activities, the timing depends on the availability of external funds. Sometimes this creates
delays which are detrimental for efficient project implementation. For example, the
experiences with the programme of training entrepreneurship educators from other Polish
universities indicated the need for repeating the basic training course every second year.
This is because some trained entrepreneurship educators leave the university and new
staff joins. KU has been able to obtain financing from the Ministry of Science and Higher
Education for the two rounds in 2007 – 2011 but could not obtain additional budget for the
consecutive period.
8.2.6 Instructors: teachers and mentors
EE teachers from KU
As of end-2014, the KU’s team of EE teachers consists of six experts with different fields
of specialisation:
Jerzy Cie?lik, PhD, Associate Professor, Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship,
specialisation in entrepreneurship policy and ambitious entrepreneurship.
Izabela Ko?adkiewicz, PhD, Associate Professor, Head of the Chair of
Entrepreneurship, specialisation in family business and corporate governance.
André van Stel, PhD, Associate Professor, specialisation in entrepreneurship and
economic development as well as solo entrepreneurs.
Svetlana Gudkova, PhD, Assistant Professor, specialisation in creativity and
entrepreneurship as well as social capital and entrepreneurial networks.
Piotr Kaczmarek-Kurczak, PhD, Assistant Professor, specialisation in
entrepreneurship in creative industries, internet business, and international
entrepreneurship.
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Marta Wojtyra, M.A., Teaching Assistant, specialisation in family business.
Based on international experiences of engaging practitioners in teaching
entrepreneurship, Jerzy Cie?lik, former CEO and founder of Ernst & Young Poland, was
appointed as full-time Professor of Entrepreneurship at Kozminski University in 2004. The
scope of his duties turned out to be much broader than it would be for a typical
appointment of an Entrepreneur- or Executive-in-Residence. It encompasses teaching
and research but also administrative responsibilities.
Occasionally, lecturers from other departments are invited to run specialist courses.
Guest speakers
KU frequently invites guest speakers on an ad hoc basis. There were also attempts to
invite entrepreneurs as guest speakers for specific courses. Here however, the results
were mixed. First, it was difficult to co-ordinate the participation of invited entrepreneurs
in the regular courses due to their heavy workload. Last-minute cancellations took place.
Second, the content of presentations made by entrepreneurs did not always
corresponded to particular learning objectives. This latter shortcoming was partially
remedied by elaborating detailed guidelines for entrepreneurship lectures on how to
prepare and effectively manage the contributions of invited entrepreneurs.
8.2.7 Management of entrepreneurship education
Teacher and trainer management at KU
Training of entrepreneurship educators at KU reflects, on the one hand, accumulated
experiences but also some internal university regulations. When a new course is
introduced, a course leader (typically professor) prepares the course materials and runs a
pilot course for students in which other lecturers participate. Newly recruited teaching
assistants always start with participating in a course run by an experienced lecturer.
Finally, according to recently adopted university-wide regulations, Heads of Chairs are
obliged to regularly inspect teaching of all staff and give their input.
Extending ambitious entrepreneurship education to other universities
While establishing a solid base for teaching entrepreneurship at KU, several internal and
external influences prompted initiatives to reach students and graduates also from other
universities in Poland. The following factors were important:
Limited number of talented students: Only a limited number of KU students qualify
for participation in advanced extra-curricular projects. In such projects, the KU seeks
to provide assistance such as training, mentoring and financial support for students to
implement ambitious business projects. However, for some areas like
entrepreneurship in creative sectors and technology-based entrepreneurship, many
KU students were found to be simply not sufficiently equipped with the necessary
knowledge, skills and talents.
Teaming up with other disciplines: KU found that the key success factor in
ambitious entrepreneurship is the formation of entrepreneurial teams with a
diversified professional background, experiences and resources. KU is basically a
business and law school. It was felt that teaming up with students in engineering,
agriculture and arts studies would be beneficial.
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Aiming for national leadership: As part of a broader strategy, KU leaders thought
that the university’s competitive position could be strengthened not only through
providing superior entrepreneurship education for KU students but also by becoming
a widely recognised national leader in that field.
Using available infrastructure played a key role. KU sought to set up a dedicated
website with additional functionalities which served as an electronic platform for
running entrepreneurship courses, allowing, inter alia, monitoring individual student
projects. With minor adaptation this platform can be used for wider projects involving
participants from other universities.
Interest in EE from other disciplines: Regarding external factors, growing interest
in entrepreneurship as a career path developed in Poland among students from non-
business studies. Such demand increased particularly after 2005 when the increasing
supply of university graduates was confronted with saturating or even declining
demand for such graduates in the corporate sector.
Due to these influences KU decided to launch extra-curricular activities to reach students
from other universities – see the next chapter.
8.3 Extra-curricular projects in entrepreneurship education
Overview about extra-curricular EE activities at Kozminski University
In view of the KU’s ambition to also offer extra-curricular projects to other Polish
universities, since 2006 practically all extra-curricular activities initiated at KU have been
offered to a wider audience of students and graduates from other HEIs at the local
(Warsaw Municipality), regional (Mazovia Region) and national levels. A brief description
of such projects is given below. Exhibit 1-5 shows an overview.
Exhibit 8-5: Overview of extra-curricular EE activities at Kozminski University
No. Name Objectives Target group Offered
in / since
No. of
participants
1 How to start your own
business
Training and
professional advice from
business consultants
Students from the
Mazovia Region
2006 -
2007
120
2 Warsaw, the Capital of
Ambitious Business
Supporting the idea of
ambitious
entrepreneurship
Students and university
graduates living in
Warsaw
2009 -
2011
360
3 Entrepreneurship in
Creative Industries
Entrepreneurship
training for artists
Creative arts
professionals in Warsaw
Metropolitan Area
2009 –
2013
130
4 INNOVATOR Supporting high
technology
entrepreneurship
Young university teachers
and PhD students in hard
sciences
2007 –
2009
50
5 Aula Polska Informal network for
exchanging business
ideas
Young enthusiasts of
internet businesses
From
2012
onwards
120 – 150 in
each
session
A key enabling factor for running extra-curricular entrepreneurship projects was the
availability of EU financing of such projects after Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004.
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Moreover, priority in financing was given to wider-scope projects, involving broader
spectrum of beneficiaries.
How to start your own business
“How to start your own business” was a training and advisory programme for students in
the Mazovia Region from 2006 to 2007. 120 students from 32 universities in the Mazovia
Region received training and professional advice from business consultants. 25 of them
started a new business, from which twelve received financial support from EU funds. This
project helped to refine teaching methodologies to take into account the background and
attitudes of non-business students. It also served as a testing ground for an already
existing electronic platform and its capacity for running projects with a wider scope.
Warsaw, the Capital of Ambitious Business (2009 – 2011)
This EU-funded project in co-operation with Warsaw Municipality attracted 360
participants receiving training and consultancy. These were students and university
graduates living in Warsaw. 228 of them started new businesses and 72 received
financial support. In this project the idea of ambitious entrepreneurship was put forward
for the first time in Poland, as an alternative of supporting self-employment on the one
hand and high-tech on the other. The focus was on ambitious projects, albeit the large
number of students and university graduates in Warsaw. At the same time the project
uncovered a large potential for knowledge-based entrepreneurship among professionals
willing to give up secure employment in large firms and starting their own business.
Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries (2009 – 2013)
“Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries” was another EU-funded project addressed to
the creative arts professionals in the Warsaw Metropolitan Area. 130 artists were trained
of which 100 started a new business with financial support from the EU. Again this project
uncovered great demand for support of entrepreneurial activities and integrating the
business community in creative sectors. This was reflected in the establishment of the
Association of Creative Entrepreneurs by project participants.
INNOVATOR (2007 – 2009)
INNOVATOR was a high technology entrepreneurship course for young university
teachers and PhD students in natural sciences. The project was sponsored by the Polish
National Science Foundation. Altogether 50 young scientists received training and
professional advice in three rounds. Authors of the best projects received further financial
support from the National Science Foundation. Several leading spin-off companies
emerged from INNOVATOR, one currently being quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Another interesting outcome of the INNOVATOR programme was the social high-tech
project named Bank Mleka (Human Milk Bank). This is a non-profit organisation offering
technologically advanced storage and distribution of natural human breast milk for
babies. It was initiated by a young biotechnologist, lured to entrepreneurship while
participating in the INNOVATOR programme. The experience accumulated during three
rounds of the INNOVATOR programme pointed to some systemic weaknesses in the
education of potential academic high-tech entrepreneurs. The participants, on average
approximately 30 years old, were exposed to entrepreneurial thinking for the first time.
This proved to be late as at that time their minds were focused on technological aspects
of the new venture. The results, i.e. the number and quality of high-tech start-ups, could
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potentially have been much greater if INNOVATOR participants had received basic
entrepreneurship training at the bachelor or master level.
Aula Polska (2012 onwards)
Aula Polska was an informal network of young enthusiasts of internet businesses. It
started as a bottom-up initiative. Young people meet twice a month, listen to
presentations from more experienced peers and exchange ideas during a subsequent
pizza event. Each session gathers typically 120 to 150 participants. Since 2012
Kozminski University hosts Aula sessions at its premises and provides organisational and
financial support.
Overall initial results
With the accumulated experiences in implementing extra–curricular entrepreneurship
programmes, the organisers found that the wider formula of involving students and
graduates from various universities was right. First of all it increased the quality of
participating students. In fact, KU students represented less than 10% of participants.
This was because in the selection process non-business students and university
graduates presented better initial business concepts and were later more diligent in
preparation of the fully-fledged business plans.
At the same time there is a positive “reverse demonstration effect” for KU students. An
increased interest has been noted in specific courses like “Internet-based
Entrepreneurship” and “Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries”. Since regular Aula
Polska sessions are nowadays organised at Kozminski University premises, many KU
students attend them regularly.
8.4 Institutional aspects of entrepreneurship education
Organisational set-up and change
The Chair of Entrepreneurship exists since the inception of Kozminski University. During
the first decade (1993 – 2003) the focus was on implementing basic courses in
entrepreneurship. In the second decade (2004 – 2013), attention shifted to ambitious
forms of entrepreneurship in a wider context: prompting entrepreneurship development at
the regional and local level, reaching to other universities, and extending the concept of
entrepreneurship beyond the business sector.
As the scope of extra-curricular activities and research in entrepreneurship expanded, in
2010 the research and outreach activities were moved to the newly established Centre
for Entrepreneurship
2
. However, both units operate in an integrated way, under joint
management, sharing both staff and premises (see Exhibit 1-6).
2
Seehttp://www.kozminski.edu.pl/index.php?id=5012, last accessed 23/3/2015.
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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Exhibit 8-6: Organisation of entrepreneurial activities at KU
Source: Kozminski University
Mindsets and attitudes
A significant percentage of KU students have already been exposed to entrepreneurship
before attending KU, either by running an own business or due to family business
traditions. Therefore, KU attempted to shape their mindsets and attitudes not towards
entrepreneurship in general but to the ambitious forms of entrepreneurship. To that end,
the booklet presenting the coaching and consulting offer in entrepreneurship to KU
students bears the title “We support ambitious entrepreneurship”. However, shifting
mindsets turned out to be challenging: as described in section 1.3, experience with extra-
curricular activities showed that non-business students and graduates from other
universities so far showed more promising efforts to develop ambitious enterprises than
students from KU. Second, the KU entrepreneurship team refrains from coaching routine
business projects. This sometimes results in negative reactions from the students.
8.5 Outreach to external stakeholders
8.5.1 Types of relationships with external stakeholders
KU’s entrepreneurial orientation is deeply rooted in its history as one of the first private
higher education institutions in Poland. Later on, links with external stakeholders were
formalised. In 2003, the International Corporate Advisory Board was founded with the
participation of leading international and Polish executives. The growing number of
internship programmes is managed within the framework of long term agreements with
companies and financial institutions.
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According to the experiences accumulated at KU, the opportunities for direct
engagement of entrepreneurs in teaching are quite limited. It is very difficult to go
beyond the invited guest speaker formula. This is due to the formalisation of the didactic
process with specific requirements for course delivery and assessment. There are
national and even EU-wide regulations which must be followed in this respect. Active
entrepreneurs do not feel comfortable in such an environment, not to mention the limited
time that they can devote to teaching students.
KU has built a strong Alumni Club with regular meetings, constant communication
through a website, newsletters, social media and job counselling. Each year three KU
alumni with the most spectacular and successful career paths receive special awards, the
"Kozminski Lions". One of the awards is given to the most successful entrepreneur.
8.5.2 Training educators from other Polish universities
Lessons from international experiences
Training of entrepreneurship lecturers from other higher education institutions, particularly
from non-business disciplines, was another important offspring of KU’s ambitious
entrepreneurship programme. The decision to launch a “training of trainers” approach
was largely influenced by experiences from other countries in similar undertakings. The
KU paid particular attention to national programmes for supporting venture-premiership
lecturers in HEIs initiated by the UK National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship
established in 2004, later renamed to National Center for Entrepreneurship Education.
Another example is the German organisation FGF (Förderkreis Gründungsforschung
e.V.) which was instrumental in establishing chairs of entrepreneurship at a number of
German universities. A similar approach was taken in the US in an initiative launched in
2011 to improve entrepreneurship education in 350 engineering universities across the
country. A nationwide project called Epicenter is being financed by the US National
Science Foundation and managed by Stanford University. It offers training for lecturers,
sophisticated pedagogical tools and serves as a platform for sharing best practices.
Situation in teaching entrepreneurship in Polish non-business universities
The reason why KU concentrates on non-business universities in training the trainers
reflects an urgent need. This is because entrepreneurship courses were almost non-
existent at such universities ten years ago. On the other hand, KU’s initial experiences in
regional extra-curricular programmes demonstrated that non-business students, once
equipped with relevant knowledge and skills and being familiarised with entrepreneurial
thinking, put forward much better new venture projects than their business counterparts.
After 2006, when KU’s core academic textbook on ambitious entrepreneurship was
published and accompanied by a dedicated website, there were a number of inquiries
addressed to KU to run entrepreneurship courses outside KU. Such requests could not
be accommodated due to time limitations and because of a potential conflict of interest.
“Training of trainers” projects initiated by KU during 2007 – 2011
In 2007, Kozminski University received a grant from the Polish Ministry of Science and
Higher Education to train a first group of 20 university lecturers, preparing them for
introducing basic courses in entrepreneurship at their universities. The support included:
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
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methodological and pedagogical tools (PowerPoint presentations, tests) available to
university teachers only;
teaching materials and tools for students available on the dedicated website – the
original content has meanwhile been broadened and diversified, including videos and
English language materials;
short (two-day) “kick-off” workshops for all participating lecturers;
ongoing support and monitoring of the implementation of the pilot course in
entrepreneurship which was an obligatory requirement for all lecturers participating in
the programme.
In 2008, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education provided finance to KU for training
the next group of entrepreneurship educators. In addition to 20 lecturers from new
universities, six pairs of lecturers from the previous group and consultants received
training on the implementation of more advanced extra-curricular forms of
entrepreneurship education, thus mirroring the KU’s experience with such programmes.
Entrepreneurship lecturers participating in the programme
During 2007 – 2011, the programme encompassed over 50 university lecturers from 40
non-business universities in Poland. The implementation of entrepreneurship courses
marked a qualitative change in those universities, becoming a triggering factor for further
local initiatives. At the same time it revealed certain problems and barriers:
Turnover of universities’ lecturers: in several cases the lecturers trained in running
entrepreneurship courses left their universities, which jeopardised the continuation of
such courses. This seems to be inevitable and calls for a continued effort to
“replenish” lost educators. It has been estimated that in order to ensure continuity and
expansion in teaching entrepreneurship at Polish universities, every second year, 20
new entrepreneurship educators need to be trained. At the end of 2014, KU was
seeking funding for the next round.
Entrepreneurial attitude of entrepreneurship educators: the key lesson from the
“training of trainers” programme is that successfully launching entrepreneurship
education strongly depends on the entrepreneurial mindset of the lecturers. This does
not mean previous business experience, but rather character traits like energy, drive
and enthusiasm; inspiring students and shaping their entrepreneurial minds. The KU
also considers a drive to establish contacts with the business community, launching
new projects and seeking finance for such initiatives as important.
Unfortunately, such entrepreneurial attitudes as described in the following box text were
found to be quite rare among lecturers participating in the programme. This may call for a
more sophisticated selection of the next group of entrepreneurship lecturers receiving
training and support.
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An exemplary case of shaping lecturers’ entrepreneurial mindsets
Dr Agnieszka Skala, Assistant Professor from Warsaw Polytechnic, may serve as a good
example for training teachers in entrepreneurship education. In 2007 she participated in
the first group of university lecturers being trained in a KU-managed project. In 2008 she
introduced a basic course on Innovative Entrepreneurship in one department of the
Warsaw Polytechnic. The course was a major success and was rated highly by students.
In 2009 she obtained funds to initiate a large-scale project aimed at launching
entrepreneurship courses in an additional 15 departments of the Warsaw Polytechnic.
She co-ordinated the training of entrepreneurship lecturers thus further extending the
idea of “training of trainers”. In 2012, she co-founded the “Innovation Nest” (SPIN
School), a nationwide initiative focusing on young promising internet start-ups. In 2013,
she graduated from the prestigious Lean Launchpad Educators Program at the University
of California in Berkeley, US.
Source: Kozminsky University
Support from the leadership of participating universities
The key enabling factor in launching entrepreneurship education was the support from
the universities’ leadership. In a typical environment of hard science studies, agricultural
or engineering universities, the entrepreneurship subjects are being viewed as “soft”, thus
less important than “hard” ones representing the core of students’ curricula. In order to
implement entrepreneurship courses and convince the university teachers about their
usefulness, a lecturer must rely on full support from the university’s management.
Unfortunately, in a number of institutions this was not the case. As a partial remedy in the
second round of training of lecturers, the final decision about admission was conditional
upon a written declaration of support from the Rector of a certain university.
Network of Academic Entrepreneurship Educators in Poland (SEIPA)
The lecturers trained in KU experienced the “feeling of loneliness” while struggling to
introduce entrepreneurship courses of their home universities. This experience led to the
establishment of the Network of Academic Entrepreneurship Educators in Poland
(SEIPA). This is an informal network composed of entrepreneurship lecturers
participating in the KU-managed training programmes as well as others interested in
relevant materials and methodologies, exchanging ideas, and best practices. In 2011, all
teaching content was moved to the SEIPA website. KU’s Prof. Jerzy Cie?lik is the co-
ordinator for the SEIPA network.
8.6 Impact and lessons learned
8.6.1 Measuring impacts of KU’s entrepreneurship education approach
When evaluating the impact of KU’s EE approach regarding key lessons learned and
transferability to other universities, one needs to bear in mind KU’s “catching-up context”.
KU believes its experiences are particularly relevant for universities lagging behind in EE
and intend to quickly narrow the gap with leading international education institutions in
this field. In this regard, the impact of the entrepreneurship education approach taken at
KU can be evaluated in four distinct, albeit interlinked areas:
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Driving students’ attention towards ambitious, growth-oriented ventures. In its
entrepreneurship courses, KU exposed students to alternatives to traditional small
business thinking about entrepreneurship. Particularly, extra-curricular activities have
been stressing the message to “do not think small”. The positive impact of this
approach was demonstrated in a number of ways: The survival rate of businesses
launched as a result of several extra-curricular projects implemented by KU as
described above was much higher than the average in Poland. For example,
according to a survey of firms receiving support under the programme “Warsaw, the
Capital of Ambitious Business”, 72% of those firms established in 2010 were still
active in 2013, whereas the average ratio for Poland in same period was 42%.
Moreover, the ratio between employer- and non-employer firms was higher as well.
Filling the gap between small business and high-growth, high-tech ventures.
Entrepreneurship as a career option for university graduates is typically seen as a
choice between traditional small business establishments and high-growth, high-tech
ventures. KU’s experience helped to identify a substantial “intermediate zone” where
university graduates could engage in ambitious business projects which basically
have an imitative character but enable students to use knowledge and skills gained in
their studies.
Involving students and graduates from various education institutions in extra-
curricular projects. Here the KU found a clearly demonstrable impact. By limiting
participation to KU students, i.e. to business students, certain projects such as
supporting entrepreneurship in the creative sector would not have been possible to
implement. The “reverse demonstration effect” for the KU students should not be
neglected as well.
Promoting entrepreneurship education in non-business universities. KU sees a
direct and clearly visible impact of its efforts to promote EE at other Polish
universities: 40 Polish non-business universities launched entrepreneurship courses
afterwards. This impact was achieved at relatively low costs. For training 52 lecturers
from 40 universities, KU received two grants from the Ministry of Science and Higher
Education, totalling 461,000 PLN or 110,000 euro. Thus the average cost per
university was less than 3,000 euro.
An important outcome of KU’s “training of trainers” approach was the establishment of the
Network of Academic Entrepreneurship Educators in Poland (SEIPA). Although it worked
as a loose network at the end of 2014, it had already played an important role in
integrating the community of academic entrepreneurship lecturers in Poland. This may
lead to a more formalised structure in the future.
8.6.2 Lessons learned – success factors for launching EE
Summary of lessons learned from this case
The know-how about EE accumulated by Kozminski University may be particularly
relevant to universities with limited experience in teaching entrepreneurship. Based on
the experiences accumulated since 2007, KU identified three success factors for
launching entrepreneurship education in non-business universities: entrepreneurial
entrepreneurship educators, a network of academic entrepreneurship educators,
and support from university leadership. KU found that these factors mutually reinforce
each other. The key figure in this process is an “entrepreneurial entrepreneurship
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educator” who receives support from the university’s top management and is part of
nationwide network.
Transferability to other universities
In principle, other universities may easily adopt KU’s EE approach. There is material
available that could facilitate a transfer of the approach or parts of it: KU’s experiences in
teaching entrepreneurship are described in a monograph (in Polish) “Education for
Academic Entrepreneurship” (Cie?lik et al., 2011). There is a small booklet available
promoting ambitious entrepreneurship among students, published in Polish in 2013, titled
“We support Ambitious Entrepreneurship”. Various course materials, tools, and
methodologies are freely available – under a Creative Commons License – on a
dedicated website (www.seipa.edu.pl). Some materials are also available in English.
These materials may help other universities to assess whether KU’s approach could be
valuable for them.
References
Research for this case study was conducted by Professor Jerzy Cie?lik, Director of the
Centre for Entrepreneurship at Kozminski University, on behalf of the study for supporting
the entrepreneurial potential of higher education (sepHE). The author has been deeply
involved and in fact managed the process of engaging Kozminski University in ambitious
entrepreneurship education. Although effort has been made by the author to ensure
objectivity, some personal reflection was unavoidable.
Sources and references used include desk research plus:
Interviews and other sources
Panel discussion held on 25 of July 2014 at Kozminski University premises with two
entrepreneurship lecturers at Kozminski University Prof. Izabela Ko?adkiewicz and
Prof. Piotr Kaczmarek-Kurczak.
Interview with Prof. Agnieszka Skala – an entrepreneurship lecturer at the Warsaw
Polytechnic. The interview has been carried out on 23 July 2014 at Warsaw
Polytechnic premises.
The case study relied heavily on discussions and presentations of students and
graduates participating in various extra-curricular programmes initiated by KU. Some
of them have been summarised in an unpublished master thesis by M. Balicka
(2009) or videotaped.
As a background material, a large-scale questionnaire survey covering 28% of the entire
population of KU students has been used. The survey has been administered on
behalf of KU Chair of Entrepreneurship in May 2013.
Literature
Balicka, M. (2009): Kszta?towanie postaw przedsi?biorczych studentów poprzez programy
edukacyjne (Shaping entrepreneurial minds of students through educational
programmes). Unpublished KU master thesis, Warsaw: Kozminski University.
Cie?lik, J., Guli?ski, J., Matusiak, K.B., Skala-Po?niak, A. (2011): Edukacja dla
przedsi?biorczo?ci akademickiej, (Education for Academic Entrepreneurship),
Warsaw: PARP.
sepHE case study Kozminski University v2.2
23
Katz, J.A., Green II, R.P. (2011) Entrepreneurial Small Business, New York: McGraw Hill.
Kwiatkowski, S. Edvinsson, L. (eds.) (1999) Knowledge Café for Intellectual
Entrepreneurship, Leon Kozminski Academy for Entrepreneurship and Management:
Warsaw.
Longenecker, J.G, Petty, J. W., Palich,, L.E., Hoy, F. (2011): Small Business Management:
Launching and Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures, South-Western Cengage Learning:
Mason, OH.
Stam, E., Bosma, N., van Witteloostuijn, A., De Jong, J. Bogaert,S., Edwards, A., Jaspers,
F. (2012): Ambitious entrepreneurship: a review of the state of the art, Vlaamse Raad
voor Wetenschap en Innovatie. StudieReeks 23. Brussels, Belgium.
Websites
Ambitious Entrepreneurship, www.cieslik.edu.pl. Last accessed 15 August 2014.
SEIPA,http://www.seipa.edu.pl. Last accessed 15 August 2014.
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