PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the reasons why most Tanzanian graduates do not consider entrepreneurship as an attractive career option despite dire labor market conditions, while a small number of them are able to benefit from local opportunities.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing insights from capability and social capital perspectives, a qualitative investigation based on interviews, group discussions and document analysis was undertaken to explore how this phenomenon can be explained and remedied.FindingsThis study shows that many graduates value entrepreneurship as a potential career but many find their way to be act upon these aspirations blocked. Indeed, actual entrepreneurial capability is only available to a minority of graduates with access to powerful connections who are able to benefit from technological and financial conversion factors. Most graduates cannot benefit from these conversion factors due to the lack of the necessary social capital to break through to the legal, tax, financial and cultural systems. Hence, the authors argue that social capital itself is actually a critical conversion factor toward developing entrepreneurial capability.Research limitations/implicationsThe insight formulated in this study are based on a qualitative analysis of the Tanzanian context and formulated specifically for this particular context. At the same time, the country shares many characteristics with other countries in Africa, many of which are struggling to move toward a more entrepreneurial society. Hence, the recommendations may partially be transferable beyond the specific Tanzanian situation. Theoretically, the notion that social capital should be considered as a key conversion factor enabling aspiring entrepreneurs in translating valued functionings into actualized functionings and thus toward enhancing entrepreneurial capability opens up novel avenues for empirical research into how entrepreneurship can be stimulated.Social implicationsThis study searches for conversion factors from the actual “functioning” toward the real “capability” allowing to succeed as a new graduate and find that social capital itself might act as the critical conversion factor. That brings the authors to the recommendations for policy makers, educators and media, argued in such a way that the entrepreneurial capability of young graduates and their ability to tap into relevant social capital can be enhanced.Originality/valueThe combination and integration of the Sen’s capability approach with social capital perspectives offers a novel way to explain difference in responses to the Tanzanian institutions and their ability to act upon a valued functioning such as opportunity-driven entrepreneurship.
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In this article I will address the changes and innovations in the music profession in Europe which are faced by our students and graduates, as well as new developments in their music careers. We will look into the question of what musicians’ changing needs are and will then show how conservatoires in Europe respond to them. Consequently the various roles that musicians have within their changing career patterns and the profession will be addressed and an example will be given through the description of an emerging career type, that of the (performing and educating) musician who is engaged with new audiences in various social contexts, in other venues than the traditional concert venues. This will be followed by an exploration of the joint master programme New Audiences and Innovative Practice, which has been developed with a number of music academies in Europe and the USA and in which this particular type of musician and practice are central. The article will then finish by exploring the interconnection between the performing and educational roles of today’s musicians, the question of how these two inform each other and how this can lead to the strengthening of musicians’ learning processes. Lastly I will reflect on what these developments mean for curricula in the music academy.
Competencies deemed relevant and meaningful by international business professionals and implemented in IB education still do not produce work-ready graduates. This may be because these competencies are not perceived as relevant or meaningful by students. This study was conducted to gain students’ perspectives on the relevance and meaningfulness of the HTIBP talent competency framework and how they perceived working with it. Results show that the five competency domains of the HTIBP competency framework are perceived as relevant and meaningful by students, in alignment with the professional field, however, this was not the case for a few associated items (behaviors) like “showing entrepreneurship” and “improving ideas from others.” The lack of clarity of these behaviors resulted in less experienced relevance and meaningfulness by students. Our findings will help educators to better facilitate students’ understanding the meaning and relevance of competencies. This may help to improve alignment with the professional field.
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