Haarlem Campus: why gaining entrepreneurial skills will make you a successful student

Have you ever had to face a problem suddenly and it took you some time but you ultimately found a solution and fixed it? If yes, then you had right then experienced an entrepreneurial skill. Having entrepreneurial skills, or broadly speaking an entrepreneurial mindset, can be very rewarding as a student and also after your studies. Without further introduction, here are the benefits of having entrepreneurial skills.

PS. When speaking about entrepreneurial skills or mindset, we are not talking about entrepreneurs – we are talking about everyone and anyone. These are labelled entrepreneurial because that word means self-starting, not because it means a business person who owns a business.

When you hit a wall, you build a ladder to cross it

Whenever a student finds a problem, they do one of two things: 1) they ask in the class group if anyone has a solution for it or 2) they tackle the problem themselves. Which one is more beneficial to you overtime? Number one is definitely less time consuming and easier, you barely have to do anything. But number 2 is what will help you all your life. Knowing how to solve problems is a key entrepreneurial skill to possess, it will help you get through any problem whenever you face them. It is not only necessary to solve math problems, but also choice making, so which route to take to reach home. Problem solving is essential and most people know how to do it. Haarlem Campus approaches this with giving you real life cases to solve, to put your mind to the test and improve problem solving.

You hit 3 strikes, can you do 5 next time?

You hit 3 strikes in your game of bowling – great job. Now can you do 5 next time? This type of question is what people who have an entrepreneurial mindset ask themselves whenever doing something successfully. It is about getting better and better and better. The success that you have now might not be enough to succeed next time around. So it is important to improve, to strive for better. Let’s bring an example from school to make it super clear. Let’s say you got a 60% on your test, you passed. Instead of striving to get a 60 again next time, you put in the effort to improve and you try and get a 70, 80……heck why not a 100. That is what determination looks like, always striving for better.

You failed your exam. Was it question 13?

People like to do things, they like to execute. But seldom reflect what was good and what went bad, and the latter is what is the most important step to take. People like you who have an entrepreneurial mindset always analyse what went wrong to know not to make a mistake twice. Imagine this: you fail an exam, it just wasn’t your day and your favourite subject. Are you going to take a re-do without looking at what went wrong in your failed test? The answer is no most of the time. But here is the main difference in this situation between non and entrepreneurially skilled people: the latter still check their mistakes even if they scored really high, because there was still something wrong that can’t be wrong next time. Do you see yourself doing the same? Haarlem Campus offers constant feedback so you know what you did well and what you did not so well. We do it through lecturers and learning coaches.

They see a picture of you holding a trophy, you see a memory.

You have met those classmates who prepare 12 hours in advance before a test and after handing it in they lose all memory of the subject they learned. A person with an entrepreneurial mindset doesn’t just study the questions that will be asked in the test, they will study all aspects of the subject – to know the in’s and outs of it so whenever anything involving the subject comes up, they will remember studying it. It is because they broke the subject down to small pieces and understood the learnings from the smallest drop to the whole ocean. This entrepreneurial skill is important to own if you truly want to understand the subject you are studying and to excel at it, it can mean using those learning in your future job.

Sharpen your skills and grow an entrepreneurial mindset at Haarlem Campus.

Lastly, the most important piece of advice. If you take anything away from this blog post, let it be this: Skills and mindset can be learned. It is not something you are born with or that your father puts on you as a spell, it is a competence you can learn and improve over time.

Competency learning is what Haarlem Campus is all about. Our flexible, interactive, hands-on and personalized teaching style forms a unique educational environment that invites you to open your mind and find your own, personal strengths. Moreover, we are committed to designing learning experiences that challenge you to become an individual, able to observe, think critically and act to transform.

Our CORE© (Competence Oriented Research and Education) learning concept includes real-life assessments in small teams, continuous feedback and feedforward on your performance, and all-round support from our experienced team of professors, learning coaches and practitioners. 18 different exam formats ensure that you can demonstrate your skills in the way that best fits the competencies relevant to the subject at hand.

You may have noticed that YOU are the measure of all things! Our constructive alignment approach ensures that you not only fit into the future, but are able to create it.