Two members of staff at the National University of Science & Technology, College of Engineering (CoE) completed the introductory course on ‘Teaching Entrepreneurial Mindset’, facilitated by the prestigious Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and 100% sponsored by Prince Mohammad Bin Salman College for Business and Entrepreneurship, SA.
Only 40 places were available, and the participants had to meet their rigorous selection criteria. One of their objectives is to have both male and female representation from various institutions across the MENA region. Prekerthi Panikar and Ibrahim Issa Al Balushi, from the Department of Professional Development and Humanities at CoE, were selected to participate in this program.
Beginning May 1, Babson Academy offered Teaching Entrepreneurial Mindset. This is one of the most researched and debated areas amongst academic researchers. While some researchers believe that Entrepreneurs are born, others argue that they can be made. “Entrepreneurial mindset” is one of the most-desired learning outcomes of all Entrepreneurship Programs, but what may be entrepreneurial for one student may not be the same for another. Babson’s Entrepreneurship Education Framework emphasizes Mindshift rather than the Mindset. It stresses that the most important journey we can help students travel is that of experiencing entrepreneurial mindshifts – a movement away from how they are currently thinking and acting to a more entrepreneurial way that allows them to develop their own capacity to find and create opportunities, with the courage to act on them, especially under conditions of uncertainty and resource scarcity.
The Program lasted from May 1-May 10 and was an engaging, collaborative, quality learning experience for all. The six modules covered sessions on Entrepreneurial Thoughts and Action, Uncovering Entrepreneurial Mindsets, the role of Entrepreneurship Identity on Mindsets, Neuroscience and Transformational Learning, Global Mindset before Entrepreneurial mindset, and Entrepreneurship Teaching Practice: each revolving around Babson Framework of Entrepreneurship Education. This course was something the department had been exploring to put its staff on, and it was a blessing that it worked out this time. This has greatly helped the team bring best practices and innovative approaches to our Entrepreneurship Course and teaching Practice.