Fostering entrepreneurship education in engineering curricula in Greece. Experience and challenges for a Technical University.

While entrepreneurship has emerged as an important mechanism for the generation of social returns in terms of economic growth and job creation, entrepreneurship education is still something new in Europe and the debate about the need and the way of introduction of specific entrepreneurship courses in higher education is on going. This paper deals with the introduction of entrepreneurship education in engineering curricula. More specific it presents the experience of the National Technical University in Greece, as a case in point for discussing the need of an interdisciplinary approach in designing engineering curricula. The main argument is that the introduction of entrepreneurship education in University curricula should not result as an application of policy initiatives only related to economic imperatives. It should be part of a more general discussion related to educational priorities and of a strategic design of University curricula in order to provide engineers with entrepreneurial and management skills that will enhance their profile in accordance with the new requirements of the knowledge-based economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]