A Multidisciplinary Approach to Creating the Entrepreneurial Mindset Amongst Graduates

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate how one third level college in Ireland has responded to economic change with the development of a multi-disciplinary entrepreneurship programme and to explore its impact on the development of entrepreneurial mind-sets amongst its current students and graduates. The findings are based on results of surveys from twenty graduates from the programme who have come from a cross section of engineering and science disciplines. Findings of this study indicate that a dedicated entrepreneurship programme specifically designed for nonbusiness students has had an overwhelming positive impact on their entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions. In particular, students‟ understanding of entrepreneurship has been significantly changed since completing the programme, their level of confidence towards starting a business has increased and collectively the group have embraced the culture of entrepreneurship. This paper can provide useful information to academics in developing third level entrepreneurship programmes for non-business disciplines. The study is an innovative example of entrepreneurship education and creates a framework for other third level institutions to develop similar initiatives to help lay the foundations for entrepreneurship to be the norm, and as such will also be of interest to researchers in this space.