Building a System for Cultivating College Students’ Entrepreneurial Competence from the Perspective of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education: A Corporate Needs-Based Approach
Zhixin Yang1 Hao Deng1 Xiuyuan Shen2 Nan Jiang1* 1School of Management Guangxi Minzu UniversityAbstract 2Guangxi Medical College *Corresponding author: Nan Jiang Email: yangzhixin97@126.com Zhixin Yang Email:yzx121047@163.com Hao Deng Email:denghao188@163.com Xiuyuan Shen Email:18677053297@163.com This study examines the cultivation of entrepreneurial competencies among university students through the lens of innovation and entrepreneurship education. By analyzing corporate requirements for entrepreneurial talents—including market insight, resource integration, risk resilience, and innovative thinking—the research evaluates the alignment between current university programs ‘objectives, content, methodologies, and evaluation systems and enterprise needs. The paper proposes four strategic approaches: 1) aligning educational goals with corporate demands, 2) restructuring curricula to match industry requirements, 3) innovating implementation methods through enterprise integration, and 4) refining evaluation mechanisms based on business needs. These strategies aim to achieve precise alignment between entrepreneurial education systems and corporate requirements, enhance students’ entrepreneurial capabilities, provide enterprises with demand-aligned talent, and foster collaborative development between innovation education and industry needs. Keywords Innovation and entrepreneurship education; enterprise needs; entrepreneurial competence; training system; competency development Introduction As a pivotal direction in higher education reform, innovation and entrepreneurship education primarily aims to cultivate talents with entrepreneurial spirit and capabilities to meet the growing demand for such professionals in economic and social development. However, current practices in some universities fail to adequately align with corporate needs, resulting in issues like overly generalized training objectives, disconnect between theoretical content and practical application, methods that inadequately enhance practical skills, and evaluation systems that miss key industry requirements. These shortcomings hinder both the development of students ‘entrepreneurial competencies and the fulfillment of enterprises’ talent needs. Establishing a student entrepreneurship training framework through a corporate demand-oriented approach can not only optimize the effectiveness of innovation education, boost students’ entrepreneurial capabilities and market competitiveness, but also provide enterprises with well-prepared talent. This strategy promotes deeper integration between higher education and socioeconomic development, carrying significant theoretical and practical implications. The connotation reconstruction of college students’ entrepreneurial ability from the perspective of enterprise demand Decomposition of entrepreneurial competence components in the dimension of enterprise needs In the actual operation of enterprises, market expansion, resource allocation, risk management, and innovation-driven development are core requirements that directly shape the competency framework of entrepreneurial talents. When recruiting such professionals, HR departments typically prioritize market sensitivity, resource integration capabilities, risk resilience, and innovative thinking as key evaluation criteria. Through systematic analysis of entrepreneurial education literature and in-depth interviews with HR managers from 10 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we have established an element framework for college students’ entrepreneurial competencies. Market sensitivity encompasses accurate industry trend analysis and deep user demand exploration—such as identifying new market opportunities from policy adjustments or uncovering unmet needs through behavioral analytics. Resource integration capabilities refer to effectively consolidating dispersed assets like capital, talent, technology, and distribution channels, exemplified by combining university research with corporate market resources for entrepreneurial projects. Risk resilience involves managing uncertainties during startup phases, including timely strategy adjustments when projects face setbacks or securing alternative funding sources during cash flow constraints. Innovative thinking emphasizes unconventional approaches, such as drawing inspiration from cross-industry business models to develop competitive products or services. These elements are valued by enterprises because market sensitivity helps steer development direction, resource integration enhances operational efficiency, risk resilience reduces startup failure probabilities, and innovative thinking delivers sustainable competitive advantages. Analysis of the logical convergence between innovation and entrepreneurship education and enterprise needs The essence of innovation and entrepreneurship education lies in cultivating talents with entrepreneurial spirit and capabilities, which aligns closely with the human capital theory’s core perspective that education enhances talent competencies. Given that enterprises’ demand for entrepreneurial talents serves as a critical support for their operational development, innovation and entrepreneurship education precisely provides enterprises with talent resources that meet their needs by nurturing students ‘entrepreneurial abilities. The hierarchy of needs theory further explains that enterprises’ talent demands encompass basic execution capabilities, core innovation capabilities, and advanced strategic capabilities. The curriculum system of innovation and entrepreneurship education (such as entrepreneurship fundamentals, business model design, and risk management) precisely covers these levels, forming a precise alignment between capability cultivation and enterprise demands. In a university-local tech enterprise collaboration project, students participated in real enterprise operations throughout the process—from market research to product prototype development and resource integration. The enhanced market sensitivity, resource integration capabilities, and risk resistance demonstrated by students perfectly match the needs of entrepreneurial talents in enterprises. This practical case fully validates the logical congruence between innovation and entrepreneurship education and enterprise demands in reality. The practical representation of integrating enterprise needs into the cultivation of college students’ entrepreneurial ability Analysis of enterprise demand responsiveness at the level of training objectives A review of educational objectives in university entrepreneurship programs (including training plans and syllabi) reveals that while most institutions mention entrepreneurial spirit and innovation capabilities, they fail to clearly define specific competencies required by enterprises, such as market insight and resource integration. Interviews with university administrators and faculty indicate that objective formulation primarily follows guidelines from education authorities and institutional talent development strategies, with enterprise feedback often remaining superficial rather than being genuinely incorporated into goal-setting. When comparing these objectives with corporate requirements for entrepreneurial talent, significant gaps emerge. Some universities overgeneralize their objectives by emphasizing abstract entrepreneurial traits without addressing practical operational needs, while others deviate from industry demands by prioritizing theoretical knowledge over practical skill development. Assess the degree of enterprise demand matching at the cultivation level An analysis of the curriculum system for innovation and entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions (covering core courses and practical courses) reveals that while most universities include foundational entrepreneurship and innovation management in their core courses, they inadequately address practical operational aspects such as business model design and market research. Practical courses predominantly focus on entrepreneurship competitions and simulation training, with insufficient integration of real-world corporate scenarios. Examination of textbook content shows that some materials still prioritize traditional entrepreneurship models, lagging in introducing emerging business models like live-streaming e-commerce and the sharing economy under the digital economy context, failing