A certificate is a document that shows potential employers that someone has completed focused, industry-specific training within the academic setting. A degree is awarded by a college or university to shows potential employers that one has completed significant coursework for a specific area of study. Certificates can be helpful when entering a career field that does not require a degree, and can also be useful when shifting to a new specialization within a familiar industry.

Degrees are offered at the associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate levels. Associate’s and bachelor’s degrees are for entry-level positions in certain industries, and master’s degrees or doctorates may be for executive-level roles or positions in higher education.

The above clarifications call for the understanding of the root and origin of the word ‘education‘ from the Latin root educate. ‘Educare’ means ‘to lead out or bring forth‘. It is an attempt to draw out the best in an individual’s mind and body. In its most literal sense, education means becoming developed from inside to outside. Thus, education is the process of developing the inner abilities of individuals for service to humanity.

Education is, therefore, the process of change and development of the individual. Change is the basic element of the process of education and it includes all those activities that make an individual become a useful member of the society. It also provides a channel for the transmission of human heritage from one generation to another. The systems of education found in global institutions are developed for the training of individual faculties, bureaucracy and enterprise. 

Education is naturally, the manifestation of the perfection that already exists in man and is resident in ‘the self’ in man which is a part of universal reality. Leading the self through education makes the individual aware of the power of the mind to a successful life.

Describing education in several other ways, buttress my point on the significance of entrepreneurship education for successful business ventures. 

To Aristotle: “Education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body. It develops man’s faculty, especially his mind so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of supreme truth, goodness and beauty of which perfect happiness essentially consists. Albert Einstein said, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.”

The above definitions of Education, create a concept in entrepreneurship education that emphasizes the mechanism of setting up, starting, and running a business.  It also deals with developing the attitudes, competencies, and behaviours required to function as an entrepreneur within the business and non-business ecosystems.

So, the definition of entrepreneurship education involves three key concepts: seeing opportunities, seizing opportunities, and creating value, it takes entrepreneurial skills to combine these three aspects. In that sense, it can entail creativity and innovation. Seeing and exploiting opportunities is what makes someone enterprising. That attitude can be widely applied.

The notion of entrepreneurship, which involves creating value, relates to running one’s own business. In this way, a company creates value; income, and freedom, for the environment, such as customers, the neighbourhood, and suppliers. It is important to mention that to add value, is much more than just money or income. It is often more about satisfaction and recognition. To be able to create value, an entrepreneurial attitude of being able to see and exploit opportunities (again and again) demands being enterprising.

Being enterprising is an important condition for entrepreneurship and also an umbrella term for entrepreneurial behaviour. Many institutions that award certificates and degrees claim to teach entrepreneurship in the classroom, but the lecturers have no experience in the daily practice of entrepreneurship. This is a problem, especially for learning entrepreneurial behaviour through a certificate or degree programme. The main laboratory for entrepreneurship education is the economy of the nation and the global trade in goods and services. Therefore, entrepreneurial education which develops skills through the change in mindsets, must involve a combination of creativity, flexibility, risk-taking, and perseverance in a continually changing world.

These contemporary skills as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are vital, and entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking are now more crucial than ever. But even in larger organizations – public and private – an enterprising mindset plays an essential role. They all play their part in any entrepreneurial ecosystem, with an important role in entrepreneurship and enterprise education.

There is a popular creativity term and concept “Think outside the box” that explains the major reasons why most graduates are not good entrepreneurs. They simply cannot see and think beyond their certificates. Many engineering degree holders work as bankers, and medical doctors with great skills in web and graphic design. Some skilled lawyers are very nimble with finances. The list is endless!

The basic truth of life is that the skills needed to be much sought after and become more successful in life are found outside the walls of the classrooms of the institutions. Certificates and degrees are just proof that you are teachable, it does not suggest what someone can do and their potential and gifts. The earth is full of possibilities when people think beyond their degrees and certificates.