The challenge of implementation: Anchoring innovation and entrepreneurship in the practice of higher education teachers

Reaching the students in innovation and entrepreneurship courses is hard, when the courses are a requirement but not included in the main project of the curriculum. It is a major paradox for lecturers, who have never participated in and cannot see the relevance of such course, to implement these concepts in daily teaching, as it is strongly encouraged by policy makers and educations.
This paper aims to discuss how lecturers experience the challenge of teaching their own discipline while being imposed to embrace and promote innovation and entrepreneurship teaching. Through a single study case of the BATCoM education at VIA University College, Denmark, the paper shows that the knowledge, use and implementation of the concepts is far from anchored in the lecturers’ daily practices.
Through qualitative interviews the paper highlights different aspects considered, to determine the research question of the paper: which factors influence the degree of implementation of innovation and entrepreneurship in the individual lecturers’ daily teaching?
The paper questions the common approach taken by higher educational institutions whereby lecturers are urged to teach innovation and entrepreneurship with minor or no background experience in the field