Abstract:

Entrepreneurship education has expanded significantly over the past two decades, moving beyond traditional business school settings to encompass a wide range of disciplinary contexts within higher education. Universities increasingly recognize that entrepreneurial competences are relevant not only for future entrepreneurs but also for graduates who must navigate complex, uncertain, and rapidly changing professional environments. Within this context, entrepreneurship education is progressively oriented toward the development of entrepreneurial mindsets rather than focusing exclusively on venture creation or business planning skills. This paper investigates how entrepreneurship education contributes to the development of entrepreneurial mindsets among university students participating in interdisciplinary learning environments.

In this study, entrepreneurial mindset is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct that includes attitudes, cognitive orientations, and behavioral tendencies such as initiative, resilience, opportunity recognition, creative problem-solving, adaptability, and tolerance for ambiguity. These competencies are increasingly regarded as essential for innovation, employability, and professional adaptability across diverse fields of study. Entrepreneurship education programs that emphasize experiential learning and interdisciplinary collaboration are therefore considered particularly promising for fostering such mindsets among students from non-business disciplines.

The study adopts a mixed-methods research design in order to capture both measurable changes in entrepreneurial mindset and students’ subjective learning experiences. The research was conducted with undergraduate students enrolled in interdisciplinary entrepreneurship courses offered across several academic programs. These courses brought together students from different disciplinary backgrounds, including business, social sciences, engineering, and humanities, and engaged them in collaborative, project-based learning activities oriented toward identifying and addressing real-world challenges.

Quantitative data were collected through pre-course and post-course survey instruments designed to assess key dimensions of the entrepreneurial mindset, including initiative, resilience, opportunity recognition, and creative problem-solving. These measures allowed for the identification of potential shifts in students’ attitudes and competencies following participation in entrepreneurship education activities. In addition, qualitative data were gathered through reflective learning journals, team project documentation, and course evaluation materials in which students described their learning experiences, perceived challenges, and personal development throughout the course.

The results indicate that experiential and challenge-based pedagogical approaches play a particularly important role in fostering entrepreneurial mindsets across disciplinary boundaries. Students engaged in problem-based projects and collaborative activities reported increased confidence in addressing complex and uncertain situations, as well as improved ability to generate innovative ideas and work effectively with peers from different academic backgrounds. The analysis of reflective journals further suggests that interdisciplinary collaboration stimulated perspective-taking and encouraged students to reconsider their assumptions about problem-solving processes and professional roles.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial mindset, employability, experiential learning, higher education innovation.