What is a Mindset Behaviour Analysis tool?

A Mindset Behaviour Analysis (MBA) is a FREE online tool designed to support higher education students, from any academic discipline.  MBA tools introduce the concept of the entrepreneurial mindset to students and are designed to stimulate reflective practice that will strengthen entrepreneurial behaviours. Students can apply these behaviours within their studies and in support of their career plans for employment or entrepreneurship.

Why do graduates need to have an entrepreneurial mindset?

There is increasing international interest amongst educators about helping students, of any academic discipline not just business studies, to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. This mindset is seen as highly relevant not just to graduates who aspire to become entrepreneurs but also graduates who aim to have a career as an employee in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

What are the benefits of the Mindset Behaviour Analysis tool?

An MBA tool engages students in an active and personalised learning experience, that generates practical actions to help students to improve their entrepreneurial behaviours. The MBA tool helps educators to achieve high levels of student engagement and satisfaction. Educators have the option to use data analyses to support deeper learning by students and to obtain invaluable evidence of student attainment and progression.

Why is the entrepreneurial mindset important? 

The entrepreneurial mindset is the reason why entrepreneurs are successful. The important thing is that you don't have to be running your own business to gain the benefits of the entrepreneurial mindset. In truth, the mindset offers significant and valuable benefits to employees in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. It creates real value for individuals, organisations and cultures. In a world that is increasingly complex and uncertain, if you want to have more control over your life and career, the entrepreneurial mindset is definitely a 'must have'.

What Mindset Behaviour Analysis tools are available?

Students can use the MBA tool with the support of academics and in their own private study. Students can access the MBA tool on any IT device or smartphone. On completion of the MBA tool, the results are immediately sent by email to the student so that they can continue to apply this personalised learning to the development of their entrepreneurial behaviours. The links to the tools are:

MBA for students

MBA for PhD students

How can a student use an MBA tool?

Each student is invited to answer a series of short questions that are designed to help them to understand the concept of the entrepreneurial mindset, to appreciate why the mindset is relevant to their studies and career plans, and also to decide what they can do to strengthen their entrepreneurial behaviours. 

An infographic introducing the MBA tools to students is available for download.

How can an educator use an MBA tool with students?

Educators can use the MBA tool with students in tutorials, seminars, workshops and hackathons. It is recommended that educators first invite each student to complete their own MBA tool. Educators can then support deeper learning by facilitating small group discussions of the individual MBA results. The MBA tool can help students to plan & deliver project work, research, assignments, pitches and presentations.

Download a factsheet for educators which explains how to use the MBA tool with students.

What additional support is available to educators?

Educators have the option to purchase teaching support from the Entrepreneurial Mindset Network. It can deliver interactive workshops, online or in person, using the MBA tool for students. All paid content is tailored to the specific learning needs of students, based on their level of study and academic discipline. The Network also offers consultancy support to help educators to embed the entrepreneurial mindset into curricula, to use active learning strategies and innovative assessment.

What insights can be generated from an analysis of MBA data?

Educators have the option to purchase data analysis which provides performance data for a group of students. Individual students can then benchmark their performance against their peers. Data analysis, at the beginning and again at the end of a project or module, provides evidence of the change in behaviour of the students over time. This is useful information to support learning, assessment, quality assurance and marketing. An infographic introducing the MBA tools to educators is available for download.

How can MBA tools help educators and education leaders?

If students are going to develop an entrepreneurial mindset then educators themselves must also have this same mindset. An MBA tool for educators helps them to appreciate how entrepreneurial behaviours can be used in teaching, research and societal engagement. If educators are to become more entrepreneurial they need the right support from their managers and leaders. An MBA tool for education leaders helps them to understand how to apply an entrepreneurial approach to leadership and change management in education. 

How were the Mindset Behaviour Analysis tools developed?

The MBA tool was developed by  SHINE (Scaling higher education innovation using the entrepreneurial mindset), a  research collaboration involving 40 HE professionals in 28 countries. The project has utilised published research on the entrepreneurial mindset and entrepreneurship pedagogy by e.g. Commarmond (2017), Daspit et al. (2021), Lackéus et al. (2020), Mawson et al. (2023) and McLuskie et al. (2024).

What are the initial findings from the data collected?

Data collected by the MBA tools is anonymised, in accordance with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. An analysis of the quantitative data has revealed new insights into the current levels of entrepreneurial behaviours by students. A content analysis of the qualitative data, including by AI, has generated actions to enhance student learning and their entrepreneurial skills.

What are the future research ambitions?

The next objectives are to substantially increase the amount of data collected, to refine the use of AI tools in the content analysis of the qualitative data, to generate recommendations about pedagogy and to ensure that quantitative data provides useful evidence of student progression and achievement.

Who is using the Mindset Behaviour Analysis tools?

People from 30 countries in Asia, Australasia, Europe and South America have used one of the MBA tools. 

Sufficient numbers of students have used the MBA tools to allow an initial comparison of results between Albania, Ireland and Portugal.

What is the feedback from students and educators?

Feedback from students is overwhelmingly positive. They are often surprised to find how relevant the mindset is and how quickly they can put it into practice. The level of student satisfaction with the MBA tool is above 90%. Educators have commented on the high level of engagement by students when using the MBA tools.

What are the suggestions for improving the MBA tools?

Students are asked to suggest how the MBA tools could be improved.  In the main students are very positive about the MBA tool. Some students suggest adding in more information within the tool itself or links to additional information. However, it is essential to maintain the usefulness of the MBA tool without it becoming overly burdensome to complete.