138 IEEE REVISTA IBEROAMERICANA DE TECNOLOGIAS DEL APRENDIZAJE, VOL. 15, NO.

3, AUGUST 2020

Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset Among

Engineering Students: Encouraging
Entrepreneurship Into Engineering
Education
Isabel Maria João and João Miguel Silva

Abstract— It is unquestionable the role of entrepreneurship as recognized as an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action
a driver of innovation and economic development. The world including creativity, innovation and risk taking, as well as the
is dynamically changing and intensively interconnected carrying ability to plan and manage projects to achieve objectives [2].
new challenges and opportunities to the new generation of engi-
neers working in a world where innovation will continue to evolve The EU, 2020 strategy highlights the need to embed cre-
very quickly. This paper addresses the need to train engineering ativity, innovation and entrepreneurship into education. Entre-
students to be entrepreneurial engineers considering the global preneurship is a skill that can be learnt, and so no one must
challenges and the role that higher education institutions should be born an entrepreneur to be able to know how to combine
play in developing an entrepreneurial mindset among engineering knowledge and resources to achieve valuable effects. Anyone
students. The paper presents and discusses the results of a
survey carried out in a Portuguese engineering school with the can become entrepreneur by developing an entrepreneurial
goal of investigate students’ entrepreneurial mindsets. The main mindset and skills being vital to encourage entrepreneurship
objective is to understand the extent by which entrepreneurship is at the individual level and provide the favourable conditions
addressed in students’ engineering programs as well as students’ and the necessary support.
perceptions of their entrepreneurial related skills and the reasons Entrepreneurial knowledge and skills can be learned, and
that would lead the students to start or not start a business as well
as their perception of the ability to immediately start a business. the students’ entrepreneurial mindsets can be supported by
The results of the study are critically analysed in light of the curricular as well as through extracurricular activities. The
challenges and opportunities facing future engineers. The work, development of entrepreneurial culture and mindset will ben-
although limited to a specific context is a valuable starting point efit individuals and society and at higher education level,
for additional research and for the implementation of faculty the primary purpose of entrepreneurship education should
strategies to improve entrepreneurship education.
be to develop entrepreneurial capacities and mindsets. The
Index Terms— Entrepreneurship, engineering education, entrepreneurial mindset of the students is related to students’
students entrepreneurial mindset. interest and involvement in entrepreneurial education, activi-
ties and courses, the students’ awareness and motivation for
I. I NTRODUCTION entrepreneurial activities, the entrepreneurial ability to identify
and exploit opportunities and the students’ skills for setting up
E NTREPRENEURSHIP is a crucial driver of innovation
and strongly connected with the ability to recognise the
potential of an idea to create value and the identification of
a business and manage its grow.
The higher education institutions must play an impor-
suitable ways of making the most out of it. According to [1] tant role in engaging students for entrepreneurial careers,
entrepreneurship is when someone acts upon opportunities enhancing their skills to entrepreneurship activities. However,
and ideas to transform them into value that can be financial, the main benefits of entrepreneurship education are not limited
social or cultural. As a dynamic process of change, it can be to the creation of new jobs, or startups, but has a broader
role helping students to be more creative and self-confident in
Manuscript received September 10, 2018; revised December 16, 2019; whatever they undertake making engineers very likely to be
accepted April 1, 2020. Date of publication July 9, 2020; date of current
version August 5, 2020. (Portuguese version received April 11, 2020; highly valued in the marketplace.
revised May 15, 2020; accepted May 17, 2020). (Corresponding author: This work emerged to better understand the topic of entre-
Isabel Maria João.) preneurship among engineering students given the lack of
Isabel Maria João is with the Instituto Superior de Engenharia de
Lisboa, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, 1959-007 Lisboa, Portugal, and such kind of studies in the master courses of our engineering
also with CEG-IST, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, department and school. This article results from the work
1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal (e-mail: [email protected]). presented in EDUCON 2018 [3] and extends the original
João Miguel Silva is with the Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa,
Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, 1959-007 Lisboa, Portugal, and also with article by addressing the challenges and opportunities faced
CQE, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, by the new generation of engineers and the need to train
Portugal (e-mail: [email protected]). entrepreneurial engineers for the 21th century. The article
There exists a Portuguese version of this article available at
http://rita.det.uvigo.es/VAEPRITA/V8N3/A3.pdf summarises the results of a survey made in a higher education
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/RITA.2020.3008105 institution of a Portuguese polytechnic institute with students
1932-8540 © 2020 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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JOÃO AND SILVA: DEVELOPING AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET AMONG ENGINEERING STUDENTS 139

from two different engineering master courses. In one of mainly from 2010, like the average for innovation-oriented
the selected courses the curricular unit of entrepreneurship economies.
makes part of the curriculum whereas on the other master In the last years, and somewhat related to the Portuguese
course the students do not have such kind of curricular unit in economic crisis, entrepreneurship became entrenched in the
the curriculum. The study explores students ‘entrepreneurial vocabulary of Portuguese policy makers as a way of solving
mindset by investigating the interest of the students in entre- the issues related to unemployment, promoting innovation and
preneurship, the reasons that may lead them to start or not start driving Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) develop-
a business, the perceptions that the students might have about ment. This is in line with the position taken by the European
their own entrepreneurial related abilities and the perception socioeconomic agents [5] that reached the consensus that
that they have about the extent by which entrepreneurship the development of entrepreneurship was the key to escape
is addressed in their engineering programs. The results of from economic recession. There is a clear positive correlation
the study provide insight about the entrepreneurial mindsets between entrepreneurship and economic growth and evidence
of master engineering students in our department and allow exists to demonstrate that the degree of entrepreneurship has
to capture the ways to encourage entrepreneurship in our a huge impact in the prosperity of a country or region [4], [6].
higher education institution. The study is a starting point In Portugal, we set the year 2003 as the moment of
for the debate about the valuable functions of the nowadays affirmation for the education of entrepreneurship in Higher
entrepreneurial engineers having in mind that what counts Education Institutions (HEIs), leaving a clear mark in the
most in a modern based economy is not solely the technical existing educational offer. In the academic year of 2004/2005,
knowledge but mainly the capacity to create and innovate, to about 27 entrepreneurship courses were in operation. Since
recognize and evaluate opportunities, the capacity to assimilate then, HEIs have continued to develop this training, nowadays
new data and solve real problems along with the determination mainly associated with postgraduate studies [7].
and leadership capacity. In 2016, the Portuguese Ministry of Economy has launched
This article is comprised of six sections. Section II presents a National Strategy for Entrepreneurship, called StartUp Por-
some data that allow a better understanding of the evolution tugal, whose vision was to widen the entire country and all
of entrepreneurship in Portugal in recent years justifying sectors of activity of the entrepreneurial dynamic providing
the need to foster entrepreneurship in engineering education. opportunities for those who intend to launch or invest in new
Section III addresses the challenges and opportunities faced businesses [8]. The government of Portugal has launched some
by the new generation of engineers and the need to train programs in a bid to increase the number of young people
the future entrepreneurial engineers. Section IV reports the that enter self-employment or start their own business. Some
results of a study to capture the entrepreneurial mindsets of programs have been developed as for example the StartUp
master engineering students in a department of a Portuguese Portugal Momentum designed to support recently graduated
engineering school. Section V discusses the results of the and senior students from higher education institutions who
study and performs a critical analysis of the results considering are eligible for public social support and wish to create a
the opportunities and challenges facing future engineers and startup [9].
finally section VI presents the conclusions. Significant efforts were made in Portugal in last years
with several initiatives and entrepreneurship gained expres-
sion in the policy makers discourse to promote innovation,
II. U NDERSTANDING THE E NTREPRENEURIAL
increase the industry development and solve unemployment
P HENOMENON IN P ORTUGAL
problems. However, Portugal needs to continue the effort for
In recent years Portugal has made significant efforts in terms development growth and reduction of unemployment with
of government policies as well as entrepreneurial education, a strategy for sustainable and inclusive growth to improve
research and development (R&D) transfer. The government of competitiveness reason why its is very important to stimulate
Portugal has launched some programs to boost youth entre- the entrepreneurial mindsets of the individuals and encour-
preneurship including some initiatives to support innovation age entrepreneurial activities fostering a culture of entrepre-
such as mentoring, technical support and funding. neurship and encouraging innovative business startups to the
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor growth of SME.
(GEM) in 2016 [4] 13.3% of the Portuguese individuals The level of education with the highest incidence of entre-
(i.e. 18-64 years old) are classified as latent entrepreneurs who preneurship in Portugal corresponds to the level of post-
intend to start a business within three years. The Portuguese graduate training, that is, the masters or doctoral holders are
latent entrepreneurs were in 2016 in the position 42 of the most likely to become entrepreneurs which is again a
a total ranking of 65 countries. Also, approximately 8 in typical trend of innovation-oriented economies. There is a
100 adults were either a nascent entrepreneur or owner correlation between educational attainment and the early stage
manager of a new business with a total early state entrepreneurial activity and it is now recognized the important
entrepreneurial activity rate of 8.2%. This rate occupied role of education in promoting more entrepreneurial attitudes
the 44th position in the GEM2016 universe covering a total and behaviors.
of 65 countries. For measuring the relative strength of the The Portuguese universities and polytechnics have a central
main motivation for starting a new business it was created role in the promotion of science-based entrepreneurship to
the ratio opportunity/necessity and the Portuguese score is, foster the creation of new technology businesses. An example

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140 IEEE REVISTA IBEROAMERICANA DE TECNOLOGIAS DEL APRENDIZAJE, VOL. 15, NO. 3, AUGUST 2020

of such type of promotion is the initiative “Global S&T environment goes beyond simple collaboration and requires
Partnerships Portugal - GoPortugal as described in the higher the integration of data, concepts, perspectives, methodologies,
education research and innovation in Portugal, perspectives for from multiple disciplines to better frame and solve real
2030 [10]. world problems fostering innovation and the generation of
The OECD economic survey of Portugal 2017 reveal that Intellectual Property (IP) for sustainable competitiveness.
some vulnerabilities persist as for example the low rate of One big challenge of the engineers who enter nowadays
start-ups, or the access to financing that is one of the main in the job market is that some of their technical competences
obstacles to investment. It is however recognized that the will become obsolete in the lifetime of their careers. However,
young firms contribute more to productivity growth [11]. the entrepreneurial competences are timeless and will be very
The OECD recommendations points out the need to improve useful to solve complex challenges in a global context. Future
skills, specifically managerial skills as well as increase the entrepreneurial engineers are expected to more effectively
expenditure in R&D. A key issue is also to increase coopera- innovate and apply engineering and technology to global
tion between SME and universities, polytechnics and research issues and challenges such as poverty reduction, sustainable
institutions to increase science-based entrepreneurship and development and climate change – and urgently develop
further strengthening the country’ s performance in terms of greener engineering and lower carbon technology [13]. The
an international perspective and multidisciplinary approach to ethical thinking is another competence to be expected to an
fully achieve European convergence by 2030 and to boost entrepreneurial engineer. With the development of science and
knowledge and innovation, together with skilled job creation engineering, it is a challenge for engineers to promote techni-
and wellbeing. cal applications but also carefully considering their usefulness
to human society [14].
III. T HE E NTREPRENEURIAL E NGINEER . Another challenge is related with the establishment of links
C HALLENGES AND O PPORTUNITIES with researchers and research institutes that are also very
The world is dynamically changing and intensively intercon- important and will create the opportunity for engineering
nected, and innovation will continue to evolve very quickly, students acquire the way of thinking and the inventiveness
reason why those involved with technology will need to be that characterize researchers and develop science-based
multidisciplinary [12]. The entrepreneurial engineer needs to entrepreneurship to foster the creation of new technology
have strong technical competences as well as a broad range businesses. According to [14] all engineers must be open to
of competencies required beyond the strong engineering back- the implementation of research results and need to engage
ground. In the scope of this work we define entrepreneurial themselves creatively in research and development activities.
engineer as: someone who has a strong engineering back- Portuguese universities and polytechnics have been working
ground and personal, interpersonal and organizational skills in the last years in the integration of engineering students in
to be able to act upon opportunities and ideas, transforming research activities through projects including partnerships with
them into financial, cultural or social value to society. The research centres and industry and there is an opportunity for
future engineer should develop entrepreneurial skills and traits Portuguese universities and polytechnic institutes to improve
such as: sense of initiative, the ability to be motivated and international partnerships and strength the internationalization
perseverant when faced with setbacks and obstacles, analytical of the tertiary education and stimulate the integration of
skills, the ability to work in a structured way, risk tolerance national institutions in emerging scientific networks at an inter-
and the ability to make decisions dealing with uncertainties, national level. GoPortugal for example is a great opportunity
as well as the identification of opportunities and the evaluation to change the national economic paradigm by fostering the
and presentation of business ideas, and the ability to plan and creation and growth of science based startups and industry-
manage projects in order to achieve objectives To resume, science partnerships that leverage science and technology in
we can specify the entrepreneurial skills as regarding the skills Portugal.
needed to turn ideas into action. In the last years Portuguese HEIs have been improving
It is also unquestionable the role of engineering as a working and learning methods in entrepreneurship education.
driver of innovation and social and economic development This improvement is reflected in the dissemination of cross-
[13]. Innovation is very often a consequence of openness curricular skills integrated into the curriculum and also on
and multidisciplinarity. Working in a multidisciplinary extracurricular activities. In this sense, higher education insti-
environment is very challenging and involves a coordinated tutions have a key role to play in teaching entrepreneurship to
effort to bring together several disciplines to provide engineers and a variety of different teaching approaches are
complementary contributions to innovation and development. referred in the literature. Some of the instructional approaches
This is a challenge for the future entrepreneur engineer used in engineering education to stimulate active learning
but rather then viewing requirements of the other team and experiential learning are: problem based learning [15],
members as potential constraints it is worthwhile to look at project based learning [16] and product development [17],
the synergies that arise from the multidisciplinar activities. [18]. Learning through experience is a huge opportunity to
Engineers will have the opportunity to work with people use any initiative for value creation as a learning opportunity.
coming from another domain of expertise and work together Learning through experience with others including peers and
and cooperate with others across geographically dispersed mentors encourage the reflection and learning from both
teams and/or time zones. Working in a multidisciplinary success and failure.

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JOÃO AND SILVA: DEVELOPING AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET AMONG ENGINEERING STUDENTS 141

According to [19] entrepreneurship should use active actions school, we decided to investigate in two courses of our
as a starting point and in terms of instructional approaches, department how entrepreneurship education impacts a range of
prior work suggests that frequently used instructional prac- attitudes towards entrepreneurship as well as some outcomes
tices include experiential learning, while offering students of entrepreneurship education for engineering students. To
opportunities to practice entrepreneurial skills [20]. The HEIs perform the study a questionnaire was administered to the
should be successful in creating an entrepreneurial mindset students of the two distinct master courses.
that build engineering students’ life competences so they can
succeed within innovative, product focused and multidiscipli- A. Questionnaire Design
nary teams.
The engineering schools have the challenge to provide The questionnaire was based on the Engineering Entrepre-
students with multiple exposures to what is needed to develop neurship Survey (EES), an assessment instrument designed to
an entrepreneurial mindset and facilitate the development of examine engineering student involvement in entrepreneurship
entrepreneurial competences. Some engineering schools still education and related outcomes [23].
have the challenge to further improve courses and programmes The questionnaire covered six research questions:
and the real challenge is to build multidisciplinary approaches 1. Extent by which entrepreneurship is addressed in stu-
making entrepreneurship education accessible to all students. dents’ engineering programs.
The schools should offer a range of courses and activities 2. The interest of the students in entrepreneurship.
especially in the early stages of promoting entrepreneurship 3. The engineering students’ perceptions of their entrepre-
education to motivate students in entrepreneurial activities. neurial related skills.
A lot of extracurricular activities such as business plans 4. Reasons why students would be or would not be inter-
competitions or bringing the local business community to ested in starting a business.
the educational environment can be very motivational for 5. How students globally evaluate their entrepreneurial
students especially for new undergraduates that may be ability.
seeking greater awareness, motivation and confidence related 6. The students’ perception of their ability to immediately
to entrepreneurship. start a business.
According to [5] most non-business students, including The data were collected primarily to investigate differences
engineering students tend to be product oriented in their between two groups of students: a) Engineering students from
approach to business and think that if the product or process a master course with entrepreneurship, making part of the
is somehow innovative it will be a success and usually do not curriculum (CwithE ), b) engineering students from another
really understand that if the market does not demand it there is master engineering course where entrepreneurship is not com-
no sustainable business. It is not uncommon to see young tech- prised in the curricula (CwithoutE). Differences concerning
nical entrepreneurs making the major mistake of developing some demographic characteristics were also evaluated like
the product first and only then looking for market potential. gender (i.e. male and female) and students with or with-
Engineering students tend to be very good technically and out entrepreneurial family (i.e. students with parents and/or
frequently have strong product idea but still challenging for relatives with entrepreneurial background - students(with EPR) ,
most of the engineering students are business start-up and new students without parents and/or relatives with entrepreneurial
venture creation, as well as the management and the growth background - students(without EPR) ).
of the business. The main goal is therefore to find differences among groups
Whereas entrepreneurial mindset is increasingly being concerning the following categories of items in the survey:
accepted as being vital within engineering education the Program – to investigate programs being offered to engi-
movement still has a long way to go to reach all engineering neering students a total of 8 items of this category were
students [21]. Although more engineering students are being selected (i.e. faculty discuss entrepreneurship; students are
exposed to entrepreneurship education, minimal research has taught entrepreneurial skills; students are encouraged to
examined engineering student attitudes toward it, and its develop entrepreneurial skills; students are encouraged to do
impact on their learning, or professional competence [22]. entrepreneurial activities; students are encouraged to start
There is evidence, however, that educational programs directed their own business; entrepreneurship is presented as a career
at engineers can influence and inspire students to be entrepre- option; students should learn more about entrepreneurship;
neurs and engineers play a critical role by addressing pressing there should be more opportunities to interact with entrepre-
problems and creating new and innovative solutions. Engineers neurs).
must have technical and analytical skills, but also the ability Interest – a total of 5 items in this category to evaluate
to identify opportunities to connect pieces of knowledge to students interest in entrepreneurship (i.e. I have a general
find solutions and create value which are characteristics of an interest in the subject of entrepreneurship; I would like to
entrepreneurial mindset [21]. become an entrepreneur; I have an idea for a product business
and/or technology; I would like to know if I have what it takes
IV. E XPLORING S TUDENTS ’ E NTREPRENEURIAL M INDSET to become an entrepreneur; entrepreneurship can broaden my
IN M ASTER E NGINEERING C OURSES career prospects).
To capture the entrepreneurial mindsets of master engi- Skills – a total of 6 items in this category to evaluate
neering students in a department of a Portuguese engineering what students think about their skills (i.e. communication

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142 IEEE REVISTA IBEROAMERICANA DE TECNOLOGIAS DEL APRENDIZAJE, VOL. 15, NO. 3, AUGUST 2020

skills, presentation skills, analytical skills, ability to evaluate TABLE I

business ideas, level of risk tolerance; ability to deal with C HARACTERIZATION OF E NGINEERING S TUDENTS
I NCLUDED IN THE S URVEY
uncertainties)
Start business – to evaluate the reasons why students
think they would start a business a total of 12 items were
used (i.e. focus on a technology that interest me; satisfy a
market need; solve a social problem; create something of my
own; have more flexibility and independence; have more free
time; make more money; be at the head of an organization;
manage people; create jobs; follow a family tradition; gain
social status). Not start business – to evaluate the reasons
why students think they would not start a business a total
of 10 items were used (i.e. lack of ideas regarding what busi-
ness to start; lack of assistance available to access business
viability; excessively risky; lack of initial capital to start-up;
lack of legal assistance or counselling; lack of experience in
management and finance; lack of support from people around
me like family and friends; doubts about personal abilities; With the reduced sample size of the survey we can-
having to work too many hours; fear of failure). not assume that the data is normally distributed. The main
Ability – global evaluation question to students evaluate their response scales used in the questionnaire are Likert scales
entrepreneurship ability with a five-point ordinal scale from where respondents were asked to indicate their level of agree-
poor to excellent. ment with a given statement by way of an ordinal scale. As the
ISB Ability – global evaluation question to students evaluate data surveyed do not meet the requirements for parametric
their entrepreneurship ability to immediately start a business tests the Kruskal-Wallis H test, a rank-based nonparametric
(ISB) with a five-point ordinal scale from poor to excellent. test, was used to determine if there were statistically significant
The questionnaire comprised 5-point Likert scales with end- differences between the two groups of an independent variable
points either strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5) or poor (i.e. some different independent variables were selected) on an
(1) to excellent (5). Some attention was devoted to the length ordinal dependent variable.
of the questionnaire and it was estimated that it would take To determine whether the differences between the medians
about 10 minutes to complete. We decided to shorten the are statistically significant, we compared the p-value to the
questionnaire in relation to the EES that served as guide to significance level of 0.05 meaning a 5% risk of concluding
the survey so that it would be short enough, so students would that a difference exists when there is no actual difference.
complete it but mainly with the purpose of specifically cover The first objective focused primarily on identifying the differ-
the research questions required to examine in this study. ences between the groups of students from master course 1,
the course with entrepreneurship making part of the curricu-
lum, (CwithE ) and master course 2 (CwithoutE) regarding the
B. Data Analysis research questions described in section IV-A.
To the first research question relating to “The extent by
The survey covered a total of 51 items (i.e. enclosing the which entrepreneurship is addressed in students’ engineering
categories described, as well as demographic questions) and programs” the Kruskal-Wallis H test (p<0.05) was completed
was administered to the enrolled master students of the two for all of the eight items that make up the category “Program”.
engineering master courses. The survey was distributed to the Fig.1 presents the students’ answers responses regarding the
students by the faculty members involved in the study. The five items where significant differences were found between
sample was well distributed across the students of the two groups. There are significant differences between the
master courses involved in the study and the response rates perceptions of the students of the two independent groups
obtained were 93% of CwithE and 76% of CwithoutE in relation concerning item 1 (p = 0.004). Students with entrepreneurship
to the enrolled students of both courses. The Table I presents in their curricula more strongly agreed that faculty discusses
the descriptive statistics concerning the data of engineering entrepreneurship topics. Concerning item 2 there are also
students that participated in the survey. Looking at the table significant differences regarding students’ perceptions con-
it is possible to see the similar sample size of students cerning if students are taught entrepreneurial skills (p = 0.001)
representing the two master courses surveyed. Less than half where students with entrepreneurship in their curricula more
of the surveyed students, in both courses have parents and/or strongly agree that students are taught those types of skills.
relatives entrepreneurs (i.e. globally about 42%, with 39% in Regarding item 3 there are significant differences (p = 0.03)
CwithE and 45% in CwithoutE). Few were the students (i.e. 14% between the two-independent group of students. Students
of the students) who had entrepreneurship courses in their with entrepreneurship in their curricula more strongly agreed
college career outside higher engineering education school. that they are encouraged to develop entrepreneurial skills.
The proportion of male and female is quite different in the Item 6 is related to the statement of entrepreneurship, being
two courses. presented as a career option. As shown in the bar graphs and

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JOÃO AND SILVA: DEVELOPING AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET AMONG ENGINEERING STUDENTS 143

TABLE II
S TUDENTS ’ I NTEREST IN E NTREPRENEURSHIP

TABLE III
S TUDENTS ’ P ERCEPTIONS OF T HEIR E NTREPRENEURIAL R ELATED S KILLS

Concerning the item 8 “there should be more opportuni-

ties to interact with entrepreneurs” no significant differences
were found between the groups and globally (i.e. CwithE and
CwithoutE) around 95% of the students agree or strongly agree
with the statement about the importance of the interactions
with entrepreneurs.
To the second research question relating to “The interest
of the students in entrepreneurship” no statistical differences
were found between the students of the two master courses
for the five items in this category. Table II presents the
percentage of students that agree or strongly agree with the
statements concerning the items in this category. Overall more
than two thirds of the students are interested in the subject of
entrepreneurship and think that entrepreneurship can broaden
their career prospects, and this is independent of whether
students have attended or not attended the curricular unit of
entrepreneurship in the course. Globally the percentage of
Fig. 1. Respondents perceptions for the five items where statistically
differences were observed between the master course 1 (CwithE )  and master students who have agreed or strongly agreed to have an idea
course 2 (CwithoutE ). for a product/business and/or is very low and around 19% and
this is also independent of the group (i.e. CwithE . or CwithoutE).
Also, more than half of the students participating in the survey
statistically tested, there are significant differences between agreed or strongly agreed that they would like to know if they
the groups (p = 0.01) and students with entrepreneurship in have what it takes to become an entrepreneur.
their curricula more strongly agreed that entrepreneurship is To the third research question “The engineering students’
presented as a career option. In relation to item 7 there are perceptions of their entrepreneurial related skills” no statistical
significant differences (p = 0.03) between the perceptions of differences were found between the students of the two master
the students and students without entrepreneurship in their courses for the six items of this category. Table III presents
curricula more strongly agreed that students should learn the percentage of students that evaluate their entrepreneurial
more about entrepreneurship. related skills as being above average concerning the six items.

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144 IEEE REVISTA IBEROAMERICANA DE TECNOLOGIAS DEL APRENDIZAJE, VOL. 15, NO. 3, AUGUST 2020

Fig. 3. Global ranking of the reasons to not start a busines.

Fig. 2. Global ranking of the reasons to start a business. TABLE IV

S TUDENTS ’ E VALUATION OF T HEIR E NTREPRENEURIAL A BILITY

Students felt that their entrepreneurial skills concerning the

six items are weak, and this is independent of whether they
attended the entrepreneurship curricular unit or not. The worse
evaluation made by the students’ concerns to their ability
to evaluate business ideas where globally only 18% of the
students think to have an above average ability to evaluate
business ideas. A reduced number of students (26%) think
to have an above average level of risk tolerance. Also, only that rate their entrepreneurial ability as average or above
about one third of the students thinks to have an above average. Looking at the results of Table IV we can see that
average ability to deal with uncertainties. The perception of the globally less of 50% of the students evaluate their ability
students concerning their analytical skills is a little better with to immediately start a business as being average or above
a higher number of student thinking to have above average average. Almost than 50% of the students feel to have weak
analytical skills. entrepreneurial abilities.
To the fourth research question concerning “Reasons why Two other demographic categorical independent groups
students would be or would not be interested in starting a were also tested, namely the gender (i.e. male and female);
business” no statistical differences were found between the as well as another categorical variable the parents and/or
groups. The global ranking of the reasons to start a business relatives’ entrepreneurial activity to study the six research
are presented in Fig 2 and the global ranking of the reasons questions of the survey according to the questionnaire design
to not start a business presented in Fig. 3. Altogether the top described in section IV-A.
three reasons why students would start a business are related To the first research question concerning “The extent by
to the satisfaction of market needs, the creation of jobs and the which entrepreneurship is addressed in students’ engineering
resolution of social problems. Last positions in the rankings programs” some differences in gender (i.e. male and female)
are reasons related with following a family tradition, gain a were identified in three of the eight items of this category.
social status or have more free time (Fig. 2). The top reason Fig. 4 presents the male/female perceptions about the extent
pointed out by the students to not start a business is related by which entrepreneurship is addressed in students engineering
to lack of assistance available to assess business viability and programs, where significant differences were observed. There
the second most relevant reason is related with risk where are significant differences (p = 0.02) between the perceptions
students think that start up a business is too risky. The third of the male/female students concerning item 2. Females more
position in the ranking is related to the lack of ideas regarding strongly agreed that students are taught entrepreneurial skills.
what business to start, the lack of initial capital and the lack There are also significant differences (p = 0.03) between the
of legal assistance or counselling (Fig 3). perceptions of the male/female students concerning item 3.
To the fifth research question concerning how students Females more strongly agreed that students are encouraged
globally evaluate their entrepreneurial ability and to the to develop entrepreneurial skills. Concerning item 4 also
six-research question relative to the students’ perception of significant differences were found (p = 0.01) between the
their ability to immediately start a business no statistical perceptions of the male/female students concerning item 4.
differences were found between the two groups of students Females more strongly agreed that students are encouraged to
(i.e. CwithE and CwithoutE). Table IV presents the % of students develop entrepreneurial activities. Concerning the remaining

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JOÃO AND SILVA: DEVELOPING AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET AMONG ENGINEERING STUDENTS 145

Fig. 6. Respondents perceptions for the item 13 between students with

entrepreneurs parents and/or relatives  and students without .

differences (p = 0.03) between the perceptions of the two

groups of students concerning item 7. Students with parents
and/or relatives’ entrepreneurs more strongly agreed that stu-
dents should learn more about entrepreneurship.
In relation to the research question concerning “The interest
of the students in entrepreneurship” differences between the
two groups (p = 0.01) were found concerning item 13 as
depicted in Fig. 6. Students with entrepreneurial parents
and/or relatives more strongly agreed that entrepreneurship can
broaden their career prospects.
Concerning the engineering students’ perceptions of their
entrepreneurial related skills and the reasons why students
would not be interested in starting a business, no significant
Fig. 4. Respondents perceptions for the three items where statistically differences were found between the two groups. Significant
differences were observed between the male  and female . differences (p = 0.004) were found for the reasons why
students would be interested in starting a business concerning
the statement “I would start a business to be at the head of
an organization” where the median is higher for the students
without entrepreneur’s parents and/or relatives
V. D ISCUSSION OF THE R ESULTS IN L IGHT OF
C HALLENGES AND O PPORTUNITIES
This study summarizes the data analysis concerning engi-
neering master students of two master courses of the same
engineering school with different approaches regarding entre-
preneurship. Despite the small sample size of the study,
looking at the characterization table a fact that draws attention
is the small number of students who have had some training in
entrepreneurship before entering higher education. This reveal
Fig. 5. Respondents perceptions for the item 7 between students with
entrepreneurs parents and/or relatives  and students without . the need to improve the entrepreneurial challenges placed on
students since childhood so that they get entrenched in the
five items of the first research question no other statistical daily grind of entrepreneurship.
differences were found between males and females. The statistical differences within and across the group of
Another demographic group studied was the students with students of the two engineering master courses, the course with
entrepreneurial parents and/or relatives (i.e. students(withEPR)) entrepreneurship making part of the curricula and the course
and students without entrepreneurial parents and/or relatives without curricular entrepreneurship (i.e. CwithE and CwithoutE)
i.e. students(withoutEPR)). Some statistical differences among were also identified. Students with an entrepreneurship course
the groups were found related to the first research ques- in the curricula more strongly agreed that students are taught
tion (concerning “The extent by which entrepreneurship is entrepreneurial skills, are encouraged to develop entrepre-
addressed in students engineering programs”. Fig. 5 presents neurial skills and think that entrepreneurship is presented as
the students’ perceptions about the extent by which entre- a career option but despite having such type of curricular
preneurship is addressed in engineering programs, where unit they felt however that they should learn more about
significant differences were observed. There are significant entrepreneurship.

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146 IEEE REVISTA IBEROAMERICANA DE TECNOLOGIAS DEL APRENDIZAJE, VOL. 15, NO. 3, AUGUST 2020

This is a challenge that our engineering school must address Among such examples are the mentoring offered by teachers
and provide more opportunities for students to develop entre- and by entrepreneurs, activities of team building, and network-
preneurial skills in curricular activities as well as in extracur- ing to assist students in the creation of a new business. Also,
ricular activities. Related to extracurricular activities all types the existence of infrastructures to start-up support is central
of entrepreneurial projects and entrepreneurship contests is to entrepreneurship boost within universities. To help students
welcomed. Also, the utilization of business simulators/games, to create their own business the universities would benefit of
the existence of facilities and infrastructures for entrepre- having facilities for business incubation and offer students’
neurship, the participation in research projects to increase assistance to gain access to external facilities and also to other
science-based entrepreneurship, conferences/workshops with entrepreneurship support organizations.
entrepreneurs, will help students to develop their entrepreneur- The second most relevant reason to not start a business is
ial mindset. In fact, most students independently of the master related to risk where students think that start up a business
course agreed that the faculty should provide more opportu- is too risky. Despite Portugal has achieved much over the
nities to interact with entrepreneurs showing the perception past fifteen years in entrepreneurship education there are still
of almost all students about the importance of that type of problems that should be addressed mainly that the culture
interaction. in Portugal remains somewhat risk averse [7]. As already
Overall more than two thirds of the students have a general mentioned in section III providing the engineering students the
interest in entrepreneurship and think that entrepreneurship main business techniques and how to make good planning and
can broaden their career prospects. This is in accordance with scrupulous financial management will help the future entrepre-
the European Commission [24] that refers the importance of neur engineer to determine which risks are sound and which
education for entrepreneurship and the implication of raising are not. These allow engineers to take informed decisions
the awareness of students about self-employment and entrepre- and considered all possible alternatives before taking risks.
neurship as possible career options. The positive effect that The demographic variables gender (i.e. male and female)
entrepreneurship education has on students’ entrepreneurial and students(with EPR) and students(without EPR) were stud-
intentions was confirmed by [25]. ied as well as the differences within and across the group of
Students felt that their entrepreneurial skills concerning the students of the two engineering master courses (i.e. CwithE and
six items are weak, and this is independent of whether they CwithoutE). Some differences were found between women and
attended the entrepreneurship curricular unit or not. Only a men in relation to the higher women perception of the extent
very low percentage of students think to have an above average by which entrepreneurship is addressed in students’ engineer-
ability to evaluate business ideas, or an above average of ing programs, but if we look at the total European population
risk tolerance, or even an above average ability to deal with where women constitute 52% we notice that only 34.4% of
uncertainties. As referred in section III the engineering schools the EU self-employed and 30% of start-up entrepreneurs are
must provide students with multiple exposures to what is women [27]. Research into women’ s entrepreneurship has
needed to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and facilitate gained major importance mainly since the last two decades
the development of entrepreneurial skills needed for the future (e.g. [28]–[30]). Female creativity and entrepreneurial poten-
entrepreneurial engineer. Through the appropriate curricular tial are an under-exploited source of economic growth and so
as well as extra-curricular activities the students will acquire work still must be done to embed creativity, innovation and
the required skills that will make them more less dependent, entrepreneurship into engineering education.
less risk averse, able to live with uncertainty and capable of We also found that students with entrepreneurial parents
recognizing opportunities. In our institution we have a lack and/or relatives more strongly agreed that entrepreneurship can
of curricular tailored entrepreneurship programs and the few broaden their career prospects. For the ones who see entrepre-
existing examples should be disseminated to get more students neurship as a career option, the higher education institution
enthusiastic for this type of courses. should be able to support students in different ways [26].
The top three reasons why students would start a business Political decision-makers have been doing a very prominent
are related to the satisfaction of market needs, the creation job about entrepreneurship to support and help institutions
of jobs and the resolution of social problems. The main to develop and expand their entrepreneurship mission and
reasons that the students mentioned are aligned with the chal- activities. Also, the rising number of networks and programs
lenge for future entrepreneurial engineers to promote technical which have been put into practice for sharing information,
applications without disregarding the human society and the practices and teaching material, at a national level and between
environment. the member states are very useful to support students and
The top reason pointed out by the students to not start a graduates in several ways [5].
business is related to lack of assistance available to assess
business viability. This is in accordance with the challenges VI. C ONCLUSION
and opportunities identified in section III where it was pointed
out the need to provide engineering students with a strong The overall results of this study provide insight into the
understanding of the main techniques used in analysing the topic in our higher engineering school and the results are
viability of new business venture, business start-up or the promising to do more comprehensive studies, but the work
implementation of new projects. Some examples of good is not without limitations mainly due to the small sample size
practice initiatives help to understand the role of higher educa- consisting of data coming from two master courses of our
tion institutions to support the business creation process [26]. engineering school.

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JOÃO AND SILVA: DEVELOPING AN ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET AMONG ENGINEERING STUDENTS 147

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2018. [Online]. Available: http://www.anje.pt Isabel Maria João received the degree in chemi-
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download-ficheiros/ficheiro.aspx?v=17e0f09d-db49-4755-a2d4- FCT/UNL, and the Ph.D. degree in engineering and
4dd0bccfd50c industrial management from IST/UTL. She has been
[11] (Feb. 2017). OECD Economic Surveys Portugal 2017—Overview, a Professor with the Chemical Engineering Depart-
Economic and Development Review Committee (EDRC) of the ment, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa
OECD. [Online]. Available: http://www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Portugal- (ISEL), Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa (IPL), since
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[12] The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century. Wash- leading the research and development and quality
ington, DC, USA: The National Academies Press. Design Education. control laboratory in a plastics processing indus-
2004 try. She is currently a Researcher at CEG-IST, Instituto Superior Técnico,
[13] UNESCO Report. (2010). Engineering: Issues Challenges and Oppor- Universidade de Lisboa. Her research interests include product and process
tunities for Development. United Nations Educational, Scientific innovation, quality management, decision analysis, and engineering education.
and Cultural Organization. [Online]. Available: http://unesdoc.unesco. She is a member of the International Society on Multiple Criteria Decision
org/images/0018/001897/189753e.pdf Making (MCDM), member of the Portuguese Society for Engineering Educa-
[14] F. Côme, X. Fouger, K. Hawwash, and W. Van Petegem, tion (SPEE), and Honorary Secretary of the General Assembly from 2018 to
“SEFI@40 driving engineering education to meet future challenges,” 2020. She is a Senior Member of the Portuguese Engineers Order and a
in Société Européenne Pour la Formation des Ingénieurs. member of the Jurisdictional Council from 2019 to 2022.
Brussels, Belgium: SEFI, Jun. 2017. [Online]. Available:
http://sefibenvwh.cluster023.hosting.ovh.net/wp-ontent/uploads/
2017/06/[email protected] João Miguel Silva received the degree and the Ph.D.
[15] A. J. Swart, “Using problem-based learning to stimulate entrepreneurial degree in chemical engineering from IST/UTL.
awareness among senior african undergraduate students,” EURASIA J. He has been a Coordinating Professor with the
Math., Sci. Technol. Edu., vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 125–134, Dec. 2014. Chemical Engineering Department, Instituto
[16] G. E. Okudan and S. E. Rzasa, “A project-based approach to entrepre- Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Instituto
neurial leadership education,” Technovation, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 195–210, Politécnico de Lisboa, and the President of
Feb. 2006. the Department since 2010. He is currently a
[17] E. Dekoninck, “Uusing product design approaches to enhance inno- Researcher with the Centro de Química Estrutural
vation and entrepreneurship in engineering,” in Proc. Eng. Product (CQE), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de
Design Educ. Conf., Salzburg, Austria: Salzburg Univ. Applied Sciences, Lisboa. He has coauthored more than 60 articles
Sep. 2006, pp. 7–8 . published in peer-reviewed journals and more than
[18] W. Birmingham, B. Allison, and J. Dupree, “Entrepreneurship via 80 conference communications having participated in several research projects
multidisciplinary product development,” in Proc. Annu. Conf. Expo., with national and international funding. His research interests include product
Honolulu, HI, USA, Jun. 2007, pp. 12.681.1–12.681.12. [Online]. Avail- and process innovation, process simulation, heterogeneous catalysis, and
able: https://peer.asee.org/2385 engineering education. He is a member of the Portuguese Engineers Order.

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