Entrepreneurship Education and Community Outreach at the University of Botswana

As in other business education programmes elsewhere, the University of Botswana integrates entrepreneurship into its business education programme. It incorporates experiential learning and carefully arranged student placement in industries and workplaces. This practice differs from the traditional business education programme as it involves a variety of learning activities and experiences which reflect the spirit and principle of entrepreneurship (Solomon et al. 2002; Wilson, Llewellyn, and Robertson 2003). This article is based on a study which aimed to assess and evaluate the benefits of the University of Botswana Business Clinic (UBBC) to students, and the outcomes of its community outreach to the prospective and new enterprise owners. The findings suggest that the Clinic’s activities included value-adding experiential learning, which enhanced the students’ entrepreneurial education experience, and in the process, extended business support to the local community. However, there was lack of continuity and efficient coordination of these activities, which hampered the Clinic from realising its full potential to develop entrepreneurial skills, knowledge and values in the students and the local community. In spite of this shortcoming, the UBBC has a potential role to play in facilitating and coordinating the integration of entrepreneurship education into the University’s programmes and disciplines, as part of the University’s aim to be an enterprising institution for national benefit (University of Botswana 2004,5).