Entrepreneurship Education through Distance Learning: The EDI Experience

Abstract

In the context of economics in transition like India, where agriculture is no longer able to provide gainful employment of the teeming millions, and only a limited percentage have access to higher learning to gain entry to profitable occupations, entrepreneurship education seems to be an ideal solution to the problems of unemployment, which in turn can lead to economic development, The sheer magnitude of the number of people to be trained, their geographical distribution across the country and the costs of training them define a task that seems gigantic by any standards. If one compares the task with the means at hand, i.e. training and educational infrastructure developed for entrepreneurship training in the country. capacities available and number of professionals engaged in the task, it looks like a very disproportionate ratio. The issue, therefore, translates itself as addressing institutionally, the problem of making a meaningful impact, in the field of entrepreneurship education, where the target groups are large dispersed and diverse. Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) an apex national institution has a track record of successful and replicable entrepreneurship training experiences. It has been addressing the issue for quite some time. While the Institute has a rich bank of training and research resources, design of face to face training programmes precludes the possibility of training more than a few hundred of entrepreneurs each year. The capabilities, therefore, can only make a dent in the monumental task required on the entrepreneurship front. EDI has developed using this tried and tested training capabilities at the Institute, a distance learning programme on entrepreneurship education to enable a large multitude of potential entrepreneurs to get access to the benefits of expertise built up at EDI, in a cost effective manner.