Examining the entrepreneurship curriculum in Malaysian polytechnics

• The study identifies that the entrepreneurship syllabus in polytechnics is not effective.
• Criticisms regarding the teaching approaches which appear to be inappropriate.
• Instructors do not possess the requisite entrepreneurial skills, knowledge or training.
• The results show limitations in Malaysian polytechnics' success at creating entrepreneurial excitement in students.

This paper aims to empirically examine the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship curriculum used in Malaysian polytechnics in respect of students' entrepreneurial tendencies. Of 600 questionnaires distributed, a total of 506 students completed the General Enterprising Tendency (version 2) Test (GETv2) survey, which gave a valid response rate of 84.3 per cent. The study identifies that the entrepreneurship syllabus in polytechnics is not effective and that students are not imbued with entrepreneurial knowledge, skills or attributes during their studies. The teaching approaches appear inappropriate and the instructors do not possess the requisite entrepreneurial skills, knowledge or training. The outcome of this study will be used by researchers, institutions of higher education and policy makers to improve the state of entrepreneurship education and to employ effective teaching methodologies in the area of entrepreneurship education in Malaysia. This is one of the first comprehensive studies to explore how the entrepreneurship curriculum is delivered within Malaysian polytechnics.