Author(s): Ncube, Thandukwazi Richman, Mthalane Peggy Pinky
The paper investigates the critical role of entrepreneurship education in cultivating and enhancing the entrepreneurial mindset among undergraduate students in South African universities. Globally, there is a shift and increasing recognition of entrepreneurial skills in preparing the students for the world of work. The study examined various pedagogical approaches, curriculum designs, and experiential learning methods employed in entrepreneurship education programmes. It further assessed their impact on shaping the entrepreneurial mindset of undergraduate students. In pursuit to achieving the study’s goal, twenty participants who met the specified criteria (Entrepreneurship and Business-related module Lecturers) were sampled within the Faculty of Management Sciences, at the Durban University of Technology, across two campuses of Riverside and ML Sultan. Additionally, seventeen lecturing staff members, were purposefully selected to participate in the study, based on their experience. Qualitative analysis was conducted, aided by the software analysis NVIVO 10. was conducted to obtain rich, detailed, and complex accounts of the participants' experiences regarding entrepreneurial education and its practice, to further uncover trends, identify words with similar meanings, and displaying them through word clouds and tree maps. Thematic analysis involved organizing data into categories based on themes, concepts, or similar features. The findings of the study underscored the role of Entrepreneurial Education in preparing students for entrepreneurial journey, promotion of pathways to business start-ups, skills knowledge development to further encourage students to pursue entrepreneurial endeavours, enhancement and promotion of business plan development, the emphasis on self-job creation, as well as campus entrepreneurship whereby students are encouraged to sell items on campus, to indoctrinate the entrepreneurial culture.