International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue XI, November 2022|ISSN 2454-6186

Entrepreneurial University: Assessing the Concept in Zimbabwean State Universities Harare, Zimbabwe

 Makanzwa Mercy Masunda¹*, Patience Hove², John Marumbwa³, Mlisa Jasper Ndlovu^4
1Harare Institute of Technology, Technopreneurship Development Centre, Zimbabwe
²University of Zimbabwe P. O. Box MP 167, Mt Pleasant Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
³Dept of Management Studies, Great Zimbabwe University Masvingo, Zimbabwe
⁴Dept of Business Management, National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe
* Corresponding author

Abstract: The world over universities are taking a new trajectory, evolving from their tripartite mission of teaching and learning, research and community service to be at the forefront of innovation and entrepreneurship. This evolution forces integration of social and economic development into the university curriculum and propels the transformation from a conventional university to an entrepreneurial one. The aim of study was to assess how far state universities have become entrepreneurial and innovative. The data was collected in 2022 with an entrepreneurial self-assessment survey that was based on the HEInnovate framework, an entrepreneurial university evaluation tool that provides a guiding framework of key pillars of individual and organisational capacities required of a university to be entrepreneurial. Out of the 13 state universities in the country, responses were obtained from 11 institutions. The analysis concentrated on the assessments of the eight dimensions of entrepreneurial and innovative capacities. The top three dimensions are digital transformation and capability (mean of 3.73), university business/external relationships for knowledge (mean of 3.64), and leadership and governance (mean of 3.55) while the bottom three are measuring the impact of their entrepreneurial efforts (mean of 3.36), organizational capacity, people and incentives (mean of 3.14) and entrepreneurial development in teaching and learning (mean of 2.97). The researchers strongly recommend Zimbabwean state universities to work very hard to rectify the negative dimensions before one can say they have become entrepreneurial and innovative.

Keywords: entrepreneurial university, innovation HEInnovate framework, Education 5.0, entrepreneurship education, self-assessment.

I. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

The world over universities are taking a new trajectory, evolving from their tripartite mission of teaching and learning, research and community service to be at the forefront of innovation and entrepreneurship. This has been necessitated by increases in populations which have made the public pressurize universities to provide access to higher education as well by pressure from governments asking universities to contribute to the social and economic development of their nations (Alghamdi, 2020; Liu, van der Sijde, 2021).

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