Keywords
Entrepreneurial outcomes
Teaching
Professional studies
Higher education
Sustainability
Problem-based learning
How to Cite
Abstract
This case insight examines how entrepreneurial learning can be meaningfully integrated into healthcare education to equip students with the competencies needed to address complex global sustainability challenges. While entrepreneurship education (EE) is increasingly promoted as a strategic response to crises such as climate change, public health emergencies, and social inequality, its implementation within professional healthcare programs in higher education remains contested and underexplored, particularly regarding student engagement and the perceived relevance of these learning formats. Drawing on a single-case study at a Danish university of applied sciences, the study examines how EE combined with problem-based learning (PBL) influences female healthcare students’ entrepreneurial agency and engagement when engaged in topics such as sustainable societal change.
Using a qualitative case-study approach, the analysis explores factors that both enable and hinder students’ participation in EE, with specific attention to tensions between discipline-oriented learning goals and the entrepreneurial competencies such as initiative-taking, innovation, and action orientation. The findings indicate that while EE and PBL can strengthen women’s entrepreneurial agency and capacity to address sustainability challenges, misalignment between EE pedagogies and students’ professional identity formation can generate resistance towards the learning formats. Key barriers include the lack of clear relevance to future healthcare roles and the limited institutional integration of EE into discipline-specific curricula.
The study contributes to EE and healthcare pedagogy by identifying critical conditions for embedding EE in applied professional programs. It highlights the importance of aligning EE with students’ professional self-understanding and demonstrates how gender-sensitive, context-specific EE design can enhance engagement and societal impact. These insights offer practical guidance for HEIs seeking to position EE as a transformative educational strategy within healthcare education.
References
Bager, T., & Nielsen, S. (2008). Entrepreneurship in Theory and Practice - Paradoxes in Play. Edward Elgar Publishing Textbook.
Bianchi, G., Pisiotis, U., Cabrera, M., Punie, Y. & Bacigalupo, M. (Eds.) (2022). GreenComp The European sustainability competence framework. Joint Research Centre, EU. https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC128040
Blenker, P., Frederiksen, S. H., Korsgaard, S., Müller, S., Neergaard, H., & Thrane, C. (2012). Entrepreneurship as everyday practice: towards a personalized pedagogy of enterprise education. Industry and Higher Education, 26(6), 417–430. https://doi.org/10.5367/ihe.2012.0126
Blenker, P., Trolle Elmholdt, S., Hedeboe Frederiksen, S., Korsgaard, S., & Wagner, K. (2014). Methods in entrepreneurship education research: a review and integrative framework. Education+ Training, 56(8/9), 697–715. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-06-2014-0066
Dalland, O. & Dalland, C. P. (2024). Metode og opgaveskrivning . [Method and Assignment Writing]. Gyldendal.
Donnellon, A., Ollila, S., & Middleton, K. W. (2014). Constructing entrepreneurial identity in entrepreneurship education. The International Journal of Management Education, 12(3), 490–499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2014.05.004
Elliott, C., Mantler, J., & Huggins, J. (2021). Exploring the gendered entrepreneurial identity gap: implications for entrepreneurship education. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 13(1), 50–74. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-04-2020-0048
Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How It Can Succeed Again. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511810503
Flyvbjerg, B. (2012). Five misunderstandings about case study research, corrected. Qualitative Research: The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice, London and New York: Routledge, 165–166. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2368782
Gümüsay, A. A., & Reinecke, J. (2021). Researching for desirable futures: From real utopias to imagining alternatives. Journal of Management Studies, 59(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12709
Harrits, G. S. (2016). Being professional and being human. Professional’s sensemaking in the context of close and frequent interactions with citizens. Professions and Professionalism, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.7577/pp.1522
Heggen, K., & Terum, L.I. (2013). Coherence in professional education: does it foster dedication and identification?, Teaching in Higher Education, 18(6), 656–669. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2013.774352
Hytti, U., & Heinonen, J. (2013). Heroic and humane entrepreneurs: identity work in entrepreneurship education. Education + Training, 55(8/9), 886–898. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-06-2013-0086
Ibarra, H. (1999). Provisional selves: Experimenting with image and identity in professional adaptation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(4), 764–791. https://doi.org/10.2307/2667055
Ibarra, H. (2023). Working identity, updated edition, with a new preface: Unconventional strategies for reinventing your career. Harvard Business Press.
Ibarra, H., Wittman, S., & Smith, K. (2026). Career Transition and Professional Identity: Dynamic Processes, Multiple Selves, and Nonlinear Trajectories. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 13. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-020924-071546
Larsen, I. B. (2022). Fostering an entrepreneurial mindset: A typology for aligning instructional strategies with three dominant entrepreneurial mindset conceptualizations. Industry and Higher Education, 36(3), 236–251. https://doi.org/10.1177/09504222211038212
Lysgaard, J., A. Laugesen, M., & Bengtsson, S. (2019). Dark Pedagogy. Palgrave Macmillian. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19933-3
Læssøe, J., & Hansen, R. V. (2024). Handlekompetence – om at styrke elevers handlekompetence i en krisetid [Competent Action: On Strengthening Students’ Action Competence in a Time of Crisis]. Edited by Flemming B. Olsen, 1st edition, Frydenlund.
Malterud, K. (2012). Fokusgrupper som forskningsmetode for medisin og helsefag [Focus groups as a research method for medicine and health sciences] Universitetsforlaget.
Malterud, K. (2017). Kvalitative metoder forskningsmetoder for medisin og helsefag [Qualitative Methods: Research Methods for Medicine and Health Sciences]. Universitetsforlaget.
Ministry for Higher Education and Science (2023). Ministerial Order on the Bachelor’s Degree Programme of Physiotherapy, accessed March 24.
Moberg, K. (no date). How to increase the number of female entrepreneurs Research-informed policy recommendations from The Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship, accessed March 24
Neergaard, H., Robinson, S., & Jones, S. (2021). Transformative learning in the entrepreneurship education process: the role of pedagogical nudging and reflection. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 27(1), 251–277. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-04-2020-0235
Nielsen, B. W. (2024). Kan drømme transformeres til handlinger og skabe entreprenørielle studerende? In M. B. Ramsgaard, J. Garsdal, R. Brahe-Orlandi, & A. K. Larsen Nørgaard (Eds.), Transformationer - i social innovation og entreprenørskabsdidaktik (pp. 194-211). VIA University College. https://www.ucviden.dk/en/publications/kan-dr%C3%B8mme-transformeres-til-handlinger-og-skabe-entrepren%C3%B8rielle/
Ramsgaard, M. B., & Blenker, P. (2022). Reinterpreting a signature pedagogy for entrepreneurship education. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 29(2), 182–202. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-03-2021-0115
Ramsgaard, M. B., & Austin, R. D. (2022). Understanding cases as narratives in entrepreneurship education: a conceptual framework. In Reframing the Case Method in Entrepreneurship Education (pp. 20–30). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800881150.00010
Rhode, L., & Boelsmand, J. Innovative Studerende. [Innovative Students]. 1st ed., vol. 1, Akademisk Forlag, 2016.
Strand, A., Thorsted, A., Østergaard, A., Bak-Jensen, B., Lund, B., Gertsen, F., Aaen, I., Christensen, J., Vistisen, P. (2019). PBL og Entreprenørskab - sammenkobling og udvikling af begreber og praksis. Der fremmer entreprenante kompetencer på tværs af AAU [PBL and Entrepreneurship - Linking and Developing Concepts and Practices that Promote Entrepreneurial Competencies Across AAU]. Aalborg Universitet.
Thrane, C., Blenker, P., Korsgaard, S., & Neergaard, H. (2016). The promise of entrepreneurship education: Reconceptualizing the individual–opportunity nexus as a conceptual framework for entrepreneurship education. International Small Business Journal, 34(7), 905–924. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242616638422
Williams Middleton, K., & Donnellon, A. (2014). Personalizing entrepreneurial learning: A pedagogy for facilitating the know why. Entrepreneurship Research Journal, 4(2), 167–204. https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2013-0040
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2026 Birgitte Woge Nielsen, Mie Priess-Sørensen, Michael Breum Ramsgaard