Higher education policies and academic entrepreneurialism: conceptual linkages and a contextual approach

This chapter surveys the state of the field and presents a rigorous account of the core and cutting-edge concepts, timely and novel issues and pioneering theories related to the subject of entrepreneurialism and higher education policies. Apart from conceptualising the linkage between higher education policies and entrepreneurialism, it will also use the empirical example of Hong Kong and illustrates a contextual approach to understand the role of higher education policies in an attempted capitalist restructuring from a finance-led model to an innovation-led model (Baark & So, 2006). The case of Hong Kong demonstrates the state level response, by cities, instead of firms, to the interurban competition and capitalist restructuring in the global knowledge economy (Jessop 1998; Jessop and Sum 2000), particularly through capitalising the academic profession and scientific capital (Tang, 2020). The contextual approach expounded by this chapter will offer international readers a lesson learned for the function of higher education policies in reconsidering academic entrepreneurialism and rejuvenating innovation in the post-COVID precarious 21st century.