Enhancing Students’ Entrepreneurial Competencies through Extracurricular Activities—A Pragmatic Approach to Sustainability-Oriented Higher Education

Abstract

Entrepreneurship can provide a creative, disruptive, problem-solving-oriented approach to the current economic, environmental, and social challenges of the world. This article aims to provide an analysis about the way universities can have an impact on developing entrepreneurial competence in students through extracurricular activities. The research relies on a questionnaire survey of students at the University of Petrosani, who participated in a range of entrepreneurial activities both online during the COVID-19 pandemic and face-to-face afterwards. The methodology consisted of applying principal component analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the indicators, followed by classification of the respondents through cluster analysis and training of a feedforward neural network. After finishing the network-training process, the error was minimized, resulting in three classes of respondents. Furthermore, based on the three classes, follow-up conclusions, policies, and decisions can be issued regarding the perception of entrepreneurship at the societal level, which is beneficial for academia and entrepreneurs, as well as for future research undertaken in this field. The key conclusion of our research is that entrepreneurship education is a real facilitator of the transition to sustainable entrepreneurship. Students perceived meeting successful entrepreneurs as being among the most effective extracurricular activities, assessing online activities as useful, and the field of study proved to be an important factor in their entrepreneurial intention.

Enhancing student competencies through entrepreneurship and cultural collaboration: A community engagement approach

“…Entrepreneurship has become increasingly important in economic theory due to its significant role in the development of today's global economy, and its impact extends beyond business growth and achieving business-environment sustainability (Apostolopoulos et al, 2018;Hannon, 2013;Isac et al, 2023;Mariani et al, 2022). Entrepreneurship also plays a vital role in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).…”

“…Entrepreneurship contributes to achieving this goal by creating new businesses and jobs, particularly in emerging economies. Therefore, governments consider encouraging new entrepreneurship a significant political purpose, from its contribution to business development and job creation and social and environmental perspectives (Isac et al, 2023). Sustainable entrepreneurship pursues economic, ecological, and social goals integrated into business operations.…”

“…Sustainable entrepreneurship pursues economic, ecological, and social goals integrated into business operations. While recognizing and using business opportunities, entrepreneurs can support social transformation by favoring more sustainable products and services, which contributes to achieving several SDGs (Apostolopoulos et al, 2018;Isac et al, 2023).…”

“…The importance of universities in developing and exploiting students' entrepreneurial capital is highlighted by empirical evidence (Hannon, 2013;Hassan, 2020;Isac et al, 2023;Sharma et al, 2020;Vig, 2023). Universities serve as incubators for entrepreneurial talent and play a pivotal role in creating an environment that fosters entrepreneurial mindsets (Hassan, 2020).…”

“…University training and entrepreneurial education also help develop graduates' motivation and capabilities to engage effectively in entrepreneurial activities. It instils in them the confidence and skills needed to take on the challenges of entrepreneurship, helping to shape their entrepreneurial intentions and developing an entrepreneurial way of thinking and skills (Isac et al, 2023). They encourage students to think creatively, take calculated risks, and explore innovative solutions.…”