Frontiers in Computer Education

Frontiers in Computer Education – Wang (ed.)

© 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-02797-8

Entrepreneurship education research in college and university

based on tacit knowledge theory

Na Chen

Dean’s Office, Shijiazhuang University of Economics, Shijiazhuang, China

XiaoQin Cai

Center for Scholarship Dissemination, Shijiazhuang University of Economics, Shijiazhuang, China

ABSTRACT: This thesis states the tacit knowledge theory and relationship between the tacit knowledge theory

and entrepreneurship education based on the working experience of the author in university and some related

document literature. Then it goes on to discuss the problems of China’s entrepreneurship education research

in colleges and universities in the present stage based on tacit knowledge theory. And it expresses the author’s

opinions on the development of China’s entrepreneurship education research in colleges and universities in terms

of the idea and goal of entrepreneurship education, teaching method, curriculum system, practice platform, and

social support mechanism, etc.

Keywords: Tacit knowledge theory; College and university; Entrepreneurship education

1 INTRODUCTION

From the beginning of the 21st century, China has

begun to implement the entrepreneurship education.

At the present stage, the entrepreneurship education

has been carried out in some considerable scale and

achieved preliminary results. The entrepreneurship

education, a subject with strong practical character-

istic, aims to cultivate the students’ entrepreneurial

ability. The entrepreneurship education has become an

important concept and component of China’s higher

education. How to carry out the entrepreneurship edu-

cation and improve college students’ entrepreneurial

ability has been a hot topic researched extensively

among scholars. Some scholars have reached a con-

sensus in their researches based on tacit knowledge

theory. The exploration of tacit knowledge theory and

the research on it has to some extent promoted the

development of the entrepreneurship education in col-

leges and universities. However, it is not easy to put

the theory into practice. The entrepreneurship educa-

tion research in college and university based on the

tacit knowledge theory need a process to be estab-

lished and implemented. There are still some problems

in the entrepreneurship education research in college

and university.

This thesis attached emphasis to research on prob-

lems of China’s entrepreneurship education in colleges

and universities in the present stage based on tacit

knowledge theory. And it presents the author’s opin-

ions on the development of China’s entrepreneurship

education research in colleges and universities in terms

of the concept and goal of entrepreneurship educa-

tion, teaching method, curriculum system, practice

platform, and social support mechanism, etc.

2 TACIT KNOWLEDGE THEORY

In 1958, Michael Polanyi, the British physicist and

philosopher, in his “Personal Knowledge”, states for

the first time the tacit knowledge theory. Polanyi

believed the human knowledge could fall into two cat-

egories: the first category is called explicit knowledge,

which could be described by written words, chart and

mathematical for mula and could be combined, stored,

looked for again and converted into related practice

by different mechanism. It is characterized by normal-

ization and systematization. It is easy to communicate

and share with people that explicit knowledge.Another

category, which is called tacit knowledge, is rooted

in individual and his mental model. By contrast with

the former, it is difficult to be code and communi-

cate with. Technical, restricted by circumstances, it

belongs to personal experience which is hard to share

with others. Highly personal and hard to standardized

are characteristics of tacit knowledge.

Compared with the explicit knowledge, it is difficult

to clearly express or to formulate the tacit knowl-

edge. By some ways, it can be put into words. It is

a highly personal knowledge which is individual and

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