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Entrepreneurship lea has grown tremendously in recent decades and now encompasses more than economics or commerce. The entrepreneurship field today has become an interdisciplinary area of study that has found a secure niche in humanities, business, sciences, technology, and engineering education (Baporikar, 2014). Credit for this development belongs to many individuals – both practitioners and academicians – who have succeeded in relating entrepreneurial theory to the various problems of entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprise (SME) development (Baporikar, 2016). Hence, worldwide, entrepreneurship education is increasingly being recognized as an important element in the broader efforts to tackle the global youth and graduate employment challenge (Baporikar, 2014). National labor markets’ capacity to absorb the increasing numbers of new and young entrants, as well as provide decent and productive employment opportunities, is far from sufficient (Baporikar, 2011). The promotion of an enterprise culture and the creation of youth with entrepreneurial attitudes and habits of mind require commitment and long-term investments in education. For this, universities themselves must not remain traditional and become entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurial universities will not only contribute to the creation of new and innovative youth and sustainable enterprises but also benefits society as it creates social entrepreneurs and green entrepreneurs who provide solutions to current societal and environmental challenges. Yet various reports and studies reflect that entrepreneurial universities have not achieved these objectives globally and more so in emerging economies. That is because of the challenges and insufficient understanding of the critical success factors (CSFs) to become and succeed as an entrepreneurial university. Hence, adopting an exploratory approach with a systematic literature review this paper intends to focus on the challenges of entrepreneurial universities and identify the CSFs to succeed as entrepreneurial universities, and propose strategies to succeed as an entrepreneurial university.
Background
The concept of the entrepreneurial university denotes a major shift from its idealized 'ivory tower' model, where universities are free to undertake their activities (e.g. teaching and research) in pursuit (and dissemination) of knowledge for knowledge sake. According to Clark (2001), an entrepreneurial university is a university that can survive and adapt in highly complex and uncertain conditions of the environment in which it operates. As such, the concept of an entrepreneurial university is inter-related with academic capitalism and the scholarship of application and increasingly located within a strong market rationale promoted by increased neo-liberalization of the world order. Academic capitalism refers to how universities (particularly but not limited to public research universities) respond to neo-liberal tendencies to treat higher education policy as a subset of economic policy (Slaughter and Rhoades 2000). It refers to how universities and faculty deal with the market and exhibit market-like behaviors. The scholarship of application, however, is focused on the relevance of knowledge produced and disseminated in universities and its applicability and impact on society (Tang 2014). This can be seen in the increased focus and funding for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related programs and research across higher education systems, which are perceived to produce the necessary innovation required to sustain economic development and enhance the competitiveness of their respective countries. It can also be seen in the debates related to the relevance of the humanities and the social sciences to economic development and the public vs. private nature of higher education. Overall, the entrepreneurial university should be seen in terms of its ability to adapt and survive within an increasingly market environment, and in terms of its contribution to solutions to societal issues in their teaching, research, and extension functions.