First-Generation College Students in the Israeli Periphery Contending With Challenges in an Entrepreneurship Education Program

Proceedings of ‏The 3rd International Conference on Academic Research in Science, Technology and Engineering

Year: 2020

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/3rd.icate.2020.11.124

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First-Generation College Students in the Israeli Periphery Contending With Challenges in an Entrepreneurship Education Program

Shani Kuna and Ronit Nadiv

ABSTRACT: 

In this ethnographic research, we explore the experiences of undergraduate first-generation students in a new academic entrepreneurship education program. Considering the market-oriented turn in academia and given the vast resources spent on entrepreneurship education, a debate has recently emerged regarding the contribution of such programs to students. We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with a sample of 44 students in a new annual entrepreneurship program in a college in the periphery of Israel. The students perceived a significant gap between their wish to acquire entrepreneurial skills and their self-conception as unwelcome parties in the entrepreneurial domain associated with elite groups. Consequently, these first-generation students reported low entrepreneurial intentions. Our findings indicate that despite their initial enthusiasm about entrepreneurship education, first-generation students experienced challenges that may hamper their chances of success as students as well as young entrepreneurs in the labor market. Although Israel may be known as “the start-up nation,” entrepreneurship education is not readily accepted by all, as it can be perceived as a mechanism that exacerbates rather than alleviates geographical and economic disparities. Our study provides a critical perspective on entrepreneurship education in academic institutions. Practical implications are offered.

Keywords: entrepreneurship education, higher education, first-generation students, challenge.