Assessing the Entrepreneurial Mindset within Engineering Programs

Abstract

Abstract Assessing the Entrepreneurial Mindset Within Engineering ProgramsIn the last sixty years, engineering education has emphasized the theory deemed necessary to bea valuable and successful engineer. This shift, in the very dense engineering degree plans, hasprecluded, in many instances, the opportunity for creativity and hands-on innovation in theclassroom. One of the stated goals of the Summit Series on the Grand Challenges of theNational Academy of Engineering is to “enhance student interest in engineering, science, andtechnology entrepreneurship.” Of particular interest to engineering programs trying to integratethe entrepreneurial mindset – a combination of technical skills, business savvy, team buildingand team management, and high-integrity leadership – is how to assess the methods by which wemeasure our success in these programs. There is a great deal of literature describing the variousmethods used and their levels of success. In a network of twenty schools across the nation, acombination of three well-known and vetted assessments is being conducted in the hopes ofbeing able to determine the effectiveness of the assessment in measuring our abilities to teachand integrate the entrepreneurial mindset into our degree plans. This paper will document theselection of the assessment instrument, its deployment, and an initial analysis of the results inhow they impact retention, professional development, and the entrepreneurial mindset of thestudents at these institutions.