A University Training Programme for Acquiring Entrepreneurial and Transversal Employability Skills, a Students’ Assessment

• Main Authors: Pilar Laguna-Sánchez, Pilar Abad, Concepción de la Fuente-Cabrero, Rocío Calero
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-01-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: sustainable development agenda; higher education; employability competencies; entrepreneurial skills training
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/796

The objective of this paper is to analyze university graduate students’ assessments of the attainment of skills acquired in a Training Programme (TP) to develop entrepreneurial skills and transversal employability competencies. Both are vital for the success of today’s societies and play an important role in the sustainable development agenda. The TP was a 12-week programme with six modules combining entrepreneurship training and traditional teaching methods. There were nine editions and 148 students worked in teams preparing business plans to present to consultants and potential investors. First, the nominal group technique was used to identify which competencies can be acquired through TP. Second, a survey was designed to identify the level to which the competences were attained. The results suggest that the students attained two types of skills, acquiring a higher level of proficiency in entrepreneurial skills and those transversal competencies. Additionally, different levels of attainment of entrepreneurial skills were found in different groups of students. We provide new evidence that TPs, as compulsory subjects in the core curriculum of degree programmes, will help accomplish both objectives: the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills and generic university educational competencies. The overall outcome of this research highlights the value added by the TPs.