49. The Government’s Role in the Importance of Entrepreneurship Education Amongst University Students in Malaysia

The growth of entrepreneurship in Malaysia and the number of enterprises being created in the last decade are evidence of sheer amount and variety of supporting mechanisms and policies established by the government. These include funding, physical infrastructure, trade advisory and support, and entrepreneurship education to ensure that challenges in the national and global markets can be faced and abated with equipped knowledge and support. To nurture and sustain entrepreneurial education and related initiatives, the Malaysian Government has pushed forward the transformation of teaching and learning focusing on entrepreneurial skills in the National Higher Education Action Plan 2007–2010. Thus, the most significant endeavor is the emergence of a formal entrepreneurial education at the local higher education institutions (HEIs) in Malaysia. In the past 5 years, entrepreneurship education has grown dramatically in Malaysia resulting to 19 universities offering entrepreneurship education and training. Furthermore, in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015–2015, the government’s aspiration is to instill an entrepreneurial mindset throughout Malaysia’s higher education system. Such programs introduced at the tertiary level are to encourage the young generation to delve themselves into becoming “job creators” rather than “job seekers” by channeling and realizing their untapped potential to innovate creating economic and commercial value. Positive outcomes from entrepreneurial education would be perceived as a reduction in unemployment levels and job-seeking exercise by university graduates. However, there was a reported increase in the unemployment rate in 2015 of 3.1 % amounting to 400,000 unemployed individuals who have completed their studies in the last 6 months despite being given entrepreneurship education. This chapter intends to discuss the government’s role and initiatives in ensuring that the entrepreneurship education addresses the importance of self-reliance, willingness, and the level of interests of students at universities to embark on entrepreneurship venture upon graduating, thus reducing the dependency of graduates to be employed.