UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN AN ONLINE TRAINING COURSE UNDER THE ECOVIP INTERNATIONAL PROJECT: A CASE AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

Thai Cong Dan, Nguyen Thi Be Ba, Nguyen Thi Huynh Phuong, Do Van Tien

Abstract


This study explored university students’ perceptions of entrepreneurship following their participation in an online training course conducted under the ECOViP international project. A total of 108 students from Can Tho University, Vietnam, engaged in nine virtual sessions totaling 30 hours, in collaboration with two partner universities. The course content was structured into three key parts: foundational knowledge of entrepreneurship, business idea development models, and practical entrepreneurial execution skills. Topics included entrepreneurial mindset, opportunity recognition, innovative and sustainable business models, business planning, pitching techniques, and accessing support resources. Teaching was delivered by lecturers from all three institutions, supported by guest speakers who were industry professionals from the tourism, hospitality, and business sectors across Vietnam. Data were collected through pre- and post-tests with 48 multiple-choice questions across seven thematic categories, as well as open-ended questions and in-depth interviews. Quantitative analysis revealed significant gains in students’ entrepreneurial knowledge and awareness. Qualitative insights indicated mindset transformation, increased motivation, and a stronger grasp of start-up processes. Participants praised the use of real-life case studies and expert interaction, while suggesting more localized content. The findings support experiential learning and prior research on digital entrepreneurship education. Recommendations are offered for educators to enrich content and methods, and for students to pursue ventures post-graduation. This study contributes to the growing literature on online entrepreneurial education in developing contexts.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


entrepreneurship education, online learning, university students, start-up mindset, ECOViP project

Full Text:

PDF

References


Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall. Retrieved from https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1985-98423-000

Bui, H. T. (2020). Entrepreneurship Education and Youth Innovation: Case Studies from Vietnam. Hanoi: National Political Publishing House.

European Commission. (2020). EntreComp: The Entrepreneurship Competence Framework. Publications Office of the European Union.

Gartner, W. B. (1985). A conceptual framework for describing the phenomenon of new venture creation. Academy of Management Review, 10(4), 696-706. https://doi.org/10.2307/258039

Gibb, A. A. (2002). In pursuit of a new 'enterprise' and 'entrepreneurship' paradigm for learning: Creative destruction, new values, new ways of doing things and new combinations of knowledge. International Journal of Management Reviews, 4(3), 233–269. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2370.00086

Holcombe, R. G. (2003). Entrepreneurship and economic progress. The Independent Institute. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/94830411/Randall_G_Holcombe_Entrepreneurship_and_economic_progress

Hoang, V. T., & Nguyen, H. T. (2022). Developing entrepreneurial capacity for Vietnamese university students through digital platforms. Vietnam Journal of Education, 501(1), 20–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2025.2477376

Mason, C., & Brown, R. (2013). Entrepreneurship education and training: A critical review. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 25(1-2), 82-95.

Nguyen, T. M. H. (2021). Digital transformation in higher education: Opportunities and challenges for entrepreneurship training. Ho Chi Minh City: Education Publishing House.

Pham, Q. H., & Le, T. A. (2020). Online learning in Vietnamese universities during COVID-19 and its implications for entrepreneurship education. Vietnam Journal of Educational Technology, 15(3), 45–52.

Shane, S. (2003). A general theory of entrepreneurship: The individual-opportunity nexus. Edward Elgar Publishing. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291798010_A_general_theory_of_entrepreneurship_The_individual-opportunity_nexus

Vu, T. H., & Tran, M. L. (2023). Assessing the impact of international collaboration on student entrepreneurship awareness. Journal of Global Education, 12(2), 73–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.7238/rusc.v12i3.2146




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v11i1.1930

Copyright (c) 2025 Thai Cong Dan, Nguyen Thi Be Ba, Nguyen Thi Huynh Phuong, Do Van Tien

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.

Copyright © 2016 - 2026. European Journal Of Social Sciences Studies (ISSN 2501-8590) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and  Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.