“We are truly at a turning point in the role of the university”

We hear it all the time nowadays: academics need to adopt an ‘entrepreneurial mindset’, but what exactly does that mean?
Thomas Crispeels: “To be clear, that does not mean that all graduates or researchers necessarily have to start their own company. It is important to distinguish between entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial competences. Starting a company is actually only the final step. Before that, you need knowledge: how does a company work, what are the legal and regulatory aspects, how do you draw up a financial plan? We already offer much of that at the university today.”

“But something else comes before that: the competences you need to act entrepreneurially. That means recognising opportunities, devising creative solutions, finding and deploying resources, and taking initiative. And those competences are much more broadly applicable than simply to starting a company. You also need them in government or as an employee in an existing organisation. We need to ensure that the entire chain is in place: developing entrepreneurial competences, providing knowledge about entrepreneurship and then giving students who want to do so the opportunity to actually launch a start-up.”

What new skills does an academic need today?
Saskia: “You need technological knowledge, but you also need the right behaviour. I prefer to talk about human skills rather than soft skills, because there is nothing ‘soft’ about them. You need to be able to communicate, for example, work in multidisciplinary teams and have the courage to take initiative. And you also need experience.”

Thomas: “Within the broader group of ‘entrepreneurial competences’, there are three main areas: ideas and opportunities, resources, and taking action. These include competences such as creativity, critical thinking, dealing with ambiguity, uncertainty and risk, collaborating, taking initiative and mobilising others. Much of that is actually already in the DNA of VUB and our researchers. Critical thinking, for example, is covered in many degree programmes. But today we are not always certain that we systematically teach all those competences. Creativity or recognising opportunities are probably less explicitly present.”

From what I hear, the necessary changes need to happen very quickly, without first studying and discussing all the possibilities, as we are used to doing. Doesn’t that approach involve enormous risks?
Saskia: “Absolutely, there is certainly a chance that we will get things wrong here and there. But if we do not act quickly enough, the consequences will be much worse. We no longer have time to prepare for the future. The future has already begun. What we do need to do when things do not go as planned is communicate about it transparently. And learn from the mistakes we make, of course.”

What specific measures do you have in mind, for example?
Thomas: “Gaining practical experience should come earlier in degree programmes. Bachelor’s students nowadays ask, for example, to be allowed to do an internship in order to improve their chances on the labour market. Traditionally, as a university, we say: first you need to acquire the basic knowledge and competences, and only at master’s level do you add practical experience. Only in a few degree programmes do students have access to an internship earlier. But in the meantime, students see peers at other institutions who are already working in companies or organisations and gaining very valuable experience there.”

Saskia: “In an ideal world, dual learning, for example, would start much earlier. Companies also still look too often at junior, mid-level and senior profiles. But that model is changing too. Someone who is very good at programming with AI today may immediately have a competence that a company needs, while someone else has years of practical experience that is equally essential. You need to bring those different competences together.”

"We need boomers just as much as we need Gen X, millennials and Gen Z"

Does that also change the idea of a career?
Saskia: “Absolutely. The traditional model was: I am born, I study, I get a degree, start as a junior, become mid-level and then senior, and eventually retire. That is no longer how it works. We need to move much more from functions to roles. That also means that different generations need each other. We need boomers just as much as generations X, Y and Z. The question is how you deploy all those people and their different competences within the current system.”

Thomas: “And that is why we should not limit ourselves to the competences students need when they leave university. Perhaps they will return just two years later to retrain and acquire new competences because the labour market has already changed again. We really are at a turning point in the role of the university. How do we remain relevant to people who are graduating, but also to people who need to continue learning throughout their careers?”

What can students who are graduating now do themselves?
Saskia: “There are many opportunities today to gain experience. You can take part in projects, volunteer or get involved in initiatives outside your degree programme. This also allows you to demonstrate to an employer that you have taken initiative and gained experience. My message would be: jump on the train and take initiative.”

Thomas: “I don’t think there have ever been so many opportunities to continue learning, including outside the university. Anyone with an idea for a start-up today will find an enormous range of support measures and incubators. You can also gain experience through volunteering and societal projects. A university degree has long ceased to be an end point. Just as we as professors are responsible for remaining relevant, graduates are responsible for that too. You need to keep learning and continue developing your knowledge and competences.”

Saskia: “In Belgium, we still do not have enough of that learning culture. Lifelong learning sounds to many people as though they not only have to work all their lives, but now have to keep learning all their lives as well. We need to look at it differently: long live lifelong learning! It is an opportunity to remain professionally relevant, but also to keep pace as a person with the evolution of society.”