Everyone can and should be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship in this context does not necessarily equate to owning a business or startup, but ownership of one’s academic, professional and personal development in this ever changing world. With this belief, HKUST put together one of the first undergraduate level entrepreneurship courses in Asia - ENTR 1001: Building Your Own Future.
As a common core class, this course welcomes all students from different levels and majors. This course is also a required course for those minoring in Entrepreneurship. Teaching is hard. Teaching entrepreneurship may even be harder. Therefore, an innovative student-centered course design is developed to meet this unique challenge. A learning environment is strategically curated to enable students to experience and learn through experiences. To instill entrepreneurial mindset and skill sets, weekly workshops and speaker series are an integral part of this course. Similar to real life entrepreneurs, students are the drivers of their own learning journey. They are required to start and run an online shop for the semester, and close deals with real customers and real money. They are guided to reflect purposefully when a milestone is reached. Reflective journaling is critical in encouraging students make sense of their learning experience through looking retrospectively and inwardly. As a result, students are reported to find this class practical and enjoyable. Most importantly, they “get a taste of the real entrepreneurship.”