Development of Entrepreneurship Opportunity Identification Course in Entrepreneurship Education Program for Engineering Students at Jiaxing University

Abstract

The research objective was to explore the influence of the EOI course on the EOI ability of engineering students and, based on this, develop and validate the EOI course on the EOI ability of engineering students in Jiaxing University. Phase 1 used a post-test quasi-experimental group and control group design. The experimental group took compulsory and elective EEP courses, while the control group only took the compulsory EEP courses. The researcher administered a questionnaire to both groups on the effect of EEP on EOI. In Phase 2, a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used to conduct the developed course intervention experiment with the experimental group. A pretest-posttest questionnaire and a structured interview survey on EOI abilities were administered. The research results showed that Phase 1 confirmed that EEP and EOI are positively correlated, but the current EEP is not significant in improving the EOI ability of engineering students. Phase 2 confirmed that the EOI training course developed with the combination of research results and theoretical basis could effectively improve the EOI ability of students. This research provides multiple avenues for future research, such as the survey methodology that could be used to develop the curriculum. It would be beneficial to conduct further empirical testing on how the developed curriculum influences students' EOI in more specific aspects for future research.