Generalist or specific studies for engineering entrepreneurs?: Comparison of French engineering students' trajectories in two different curricula

Purpose – French engineering students are traditionally reluctant to envisage entrepreneurship. Can a new engineering school aimed at fostering entrepreneurship reverse this trend? The purpose of this paper is to compare the development of engineering students' entrepreneurial intentions and perceived career orientation of the prestigious engineering training schools (Ecole Centrale de Lille) and ITEEM, whose curriculum is dual (engineering+management), new and based on active pedagogies.Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on qualitative analysis of 12 in‐depth interviews and quantitative longitudinal analysis of data obtained from a questionnaire administered each year to all students from both schools.Findings – Results show that ITEEM fosters students' entrepreneurial and project management careers, whereas Centrale promotes the traditional technical model of an engineer. Family background of students is close in both schools. Level of entrepreneurial intention at enrolling is higher at I...

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