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How to Build Entrepreneurial Thinking into EIAP is not a strict step-by-step process—students often go back and make changes
An Academic Program as they learn more. What matters is that each time they try, they understand the
problem better and improve their idea.

How This Looks in Practice
Entrepreneurship is not a subject, as we understand in
the traditional sense. It is a mindset; it brings multiple Problem-Based Learning (PBL): One illustrative case involved students in a rural college
skills that teach students to approach real-life problems, who noticed farmers selling groundnuts and jaggery at weak margins. They built a
make sense of ambiguity, and take small actions to WhatsApp catalogue, took weekly orders from Rajkot households, and sent parcels on
create value. No matter which subject is being taught, existing bus routes. Marketing, pricing, packaging, delivery, and basic compliance all
the classroom can be a space for application-oriented turned into teachable moments within a core retail or marketing course.
learning, infused with strategies and techniques that
impart winning qualities, or should I say, entrepreneurial Design Thinking: As a method rooted in user empathy, Design Thinking was introduced
qualities & approach, to the students. Any course can be Dr. Etinder Pal Singh through its five stages—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test. In one instance, a
made more engaging and relevant by embedding Professor, EDII master's class in environmental studies documented household water wastage in three
entrepreneurial thinking into it, thus allowing scope for villages, framed the challenge (“How might rural families know when their tank is full?”),
aligning theory with practice and developing pertinent leadership, management, problem- prototyped a float-based colour strip and tested it with ten homes. The project was based
on a mandatory field-work credit, yet delivered deeper engagement than many lab
solving competencies and skills, alongside domain knowledge. To enable this, the
pedagogy must be intentionally designed to include experimentation, reflection, design experiments because it began with empathy and ended with community feedback.
thinking, and simulation-based learning. This article outlines simple, practical ideas that Effectuation Thinking: Instead of 'Write a five-year plan,' the class was given the brief –
faculty can draw upon when planning sessions and structuring their courses. 'What can you build with Rs. 500 and your current network?' Students start by taking stock
of themselves—what they're good at, what they enjoy, and who they can reach out to.
Why Such an Approach Becomes Relevant for Under Graduate and Post Graduate Then they test out a simple idea- a note-summary service for juniors, weekend snack
Classrooms deliveries in the hostel or designing quick posters for college clubs. Their reflections on
what worked and what didn't often reveal more than any textbook.
Students will always face shifting technologies, policies and customer needs. They need a
mindset and approach that helps them initiate tasks with incomplete information, only to
perfect these simultaneously, act on time, test ideas promptly and learn from feedback.
Entrepreneurship education develops precisely these habits. The discipline is more about
spotting opportunities, seeing possibilities, mobilising available resources, and improving
an idea through short cycles of trial and reflection. Setting up an enterprise is a by-product.

A Simple Framework: EIAP

When time is tight, structure helps. The EIAP framework (Experience, Ideation, Action and
Pitch) works inside a single session or across a short module.

1. Experience: Ask students to observe, interview or measure something real. A BBA
section maps pain points in the canteen queue. A master's cohort scans a hospital
ward's patient discharge process for delays. The aim is to feel the problem, not
download it from a casebook.
2. Ideation: Run brief idea bursts. Use brainwriting, SCAMPER, or 'How might we'
prompts. Push for volume first, judgment later. Three people, twelve ideas in ten How This Looks in Practice
minutes, then cluster.
3. Action: Build a rough prototype or run a tiny test—Role-played services, WhatsApp Problem-Based Learning (PBL): One illustrative case involved students in a rural college
order flows, a role-played service counter and a cardboard mock-up. The aim is to test who noticed farmers selling groundnuts and jaggery at weak margins. They built a
one assumption weekly, not produce a polished business plan. WhatsApp catalogue, took weekly orders from Rajkot households, and sent parcels on
4. Pitch: Share what was tried, what was learned and what will change next. Two existing bus routes. Marketing, pricing, packaging, delivery, and basic compliance all
minutes, three slides or a poster. Reward clarity and evidence. Evaluation can be turned into teachable moments within a core retail or marketing course.
based on clarity, feasibility and relevance.

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