There’s a “moderate boom” in entrepreneurship in Australian universities

 Alex Maritz and Quan Nguyen (both La Trobe U) and Martin Bliemel (UTS) make the conclusion in a major research-survey, to be published in the journal Education and Training.

There’s ordinary news: “There is a sparse and inconsistent distribution of programmes and initiatives at Australian higher education institutions, particularly against the backdrop of rapidly expanding start-up and entrepreneurship eco-systems,” they warn.

And good news: However, they also find reason for “optimism for growth of the discipline,” pointing to, “proactive growth of new players,” such as Flinders U, Uni Canberra and La Trobe U.

How they know: Supported by a comprehensive analysis of theory and practise, the authors update a 2015 survey to rank all universities on 12 attributes, covering teaching programmes, subjects, chairs, entrepreneurs in residence, incubators and eco-systems, plus statistical analysis of content in plans.

Where’s strong: They find substantial change in the top ten between 2015 and ’18; Uni Adelaide was first last year and second in ’15. It is followed by, UTS two (nine in 2015), Uni Queensland, three (four), La Trobe U, four (21), Flinders U five (18),  Swinburne U six (one), Uni Melbourne seven (five), RMIT, eight (seven), Uni Canberra nine (19) and Uni SA ten (eight).

Where’s getting better : includes Murdoch U (33 in ’15 and 19 last year), Deakin U (34 improving to 17)  QUT (up from 11 to 22)and CQU (27 last year and 37 in 2015).

Where’s not fussed: There is not as much movement over time at the other end; Victoria U 30 (26), Charles Sturt U 31 (32), Monash U 32 (31), Charles Darwin U 33 (36), Southern Cross U 34 (25), James Cook U 35 (29), Edith Cowan U 36 (24), UNE 37 (38), Uni Southern Queensland 38 (30), Australian Catholic U 39 (35), Uni Notre Dame 40 (39).

All up:  Increases in senior appointments and development of incubators and accelerators means a “moderate boom” in EE, the authors include