The power of the Entrepreneurial Mindset in Higher Education

This course is designed for champions of enterprise and entrepreneurship in Higher Education. There are many champions: academics, staff in the professional and central support services, managers and leaders.  

Entrepreneurial thinking is not confined to the business school or the technology transfer office. An entrepreneurial mindset can positively impact undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, continuing and executive education, careers support, research, innovation, business development and external partnerships. Students from every academic discipline can benefit from developing an entrepreneurial mindset whether their ambitions are related to future employment, self-employment or entrepreneurship. In fact, every strategic and operational aspect of Higher Education can benefit from adopting an entrepreneurial approach.

Individually and collectively, champions are typically working to bring about change that will transform the educational experience of students and generate economic, social and cultural impacts in the local ecosystem and wider society. Even in normal circumstances, change is never easy and there are many obstacles to be anticipated and overcome but things are currently even more challenging given the numerous difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Perhaps the greatest challenge is the ongoing uncertainty about when things might be able to return to normal. There has never been a greater need for the entrepreneurial mindset to help us all to navigate a path through these many uncertainties towards a safer and stronger future.

Introduction to the course

The course is offered by the Entrepreneurial Mindset Network, a free membership organisation with members in 73 countries. The Network’s mission is to enable individuals to create change - whether in their own lives, their team, their organisation or society - through the power of the entrepreneurial mindset. 

This course is designed to help champions of enterprise and entrepreneurship to survive, thrive and bring about much-needed change in their organisations. The course provides you with the right knowledge, with the necessary facts to help you understand change. The course helps you to develop the right skills, the ability to work in new ways and implement change. Above all the course helps you to develop the right mindset, one that gives you the confidence to deal with the uncertainty and complexity of change. 

The course is built around a definition of the entrepreneurial mindset that offers a robust framework by which to examine the current challenges and opportunities. The outcome will be that you will strengthen 7 essential entrepreneurial behaviours and create the solutions that are most suited to your own context. In turn you can role model these behaviours to other people so that they too can adapt to the new circumstances. With the right mindset, like an entrepreneur, you take ownership of problems, you don’t sit back and wait, you take the initiative, you create solutions, you make the best use of the available resources, and you work to create success for yourself, your team and your organisation.