ABSTRACT
There is now consensus that entrepreneurial skills can be learned and entrepreneurship can be taught. Consequently, entrepreneurship programmes across all levels of education have rapidly expanded internationally, including in sub-Saharan universities where it is promoted to address the growing youth under- and unemployment challenge. However, previous research argues that a skills gap among entrepreneurship educators, primarily related to their subject knowledge and pedagogical toolbox, impedes the effective implementation of the subject. This chapter explores the challenges entrepreneurship educators experience in teaching the new subject in Higher Education. Interviews with 13 entrepreneurship educators were conducted and analysed using an inductive thematic approach. The study's results identified academic managers’ lack of understanding of entrepreneurship education and their subsequent lack of active support for its implementation as a substantial factor limiting the practice of entrepreneurship educators in Higher Education. While macro-contextual factors and institutional context are now recognised as critical factors impacting entrepreneurial activity, the role and impact of academic managers as a contextual factor influencing entrepreneurship educators remains under-researched and literature on the topic remains limited mainly to the mandatory school context. Findings from this study intend to extend our understanding of academic managers as a contextual factor within the Higher Education context and entrepreneurship education.
