External stakeholders are an important source of expertise that can be used in the design and delivery of entrepreneurial teaching and learning. Regular engagement with external stakeholders is key in addressing future skills needs and addressing societal challenges. Guest lecturers, life case studies and interviews are some of the frequently used formats of engaging external stakeholders in the delivery on the curriculum. Entire courses can be co-delivered or team-taught by academics and practitioners and such collaboration delivers benefits for both parties. It can be a learning experience for the teachers by gaining practical insights into entrepreneurial practice and the most recent challenges and requirements of the world of work, while the practitioners benefit from academic reflection about their practices, networking with students as potential future recruits and gaining insights into up-to-date research methodologies and results. Students benefit from witnessing the explicit link between research and practice in the programme, fostering their analytical and reflective skills. Having teachers and practitioners in the classroom together also facilitates quality control, as not all practitioners are equally gifted in inspiring and interacting with students in a productive way. Engagement of the external stakeholders can however already start at the design of the curriculum by integrating external stakeholders’ experience and expertise into the development of learning activities.

An HEI can support a diversity of collaborative partnerships with local communities and organisations, local and regional governments, chambers of commerce, industry and HEI alumni to foster the development and delivery of high-quality course content. External stakeholders as educators in higher education can also be institutionalised, for example by introducing Industry Professorships or an ‘Executive in Residence’ programme, in which for example retired entrepreneurs spend significant periods of time (such as six months) at the higher education institution. In addition, such practitioners can be involved in developing or reviewing the strategy of the higher education institution on entrepreneurship co-operation as well as in reviewing programme content and models of teaching.