Entrepreneurial Strengthening Mindset Through Entrepreneurship Seminar, Innovation, and Community Empowerment in Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Spirit of Prospective Teachers at Universiti Tun Hussein on Malaysia

The rapid transformation of twenty-first-century education requires prospective teachers to develop not only pedagogical competence but also an entrepreneurial mindset that fosters creativity, innovation, leadership, and problem-solving skills. However, entrepreneurship education in teacher preparation programs remains predominantly business-oriented, limiting its integration into educational practice. This community service program aimed to strengthen the entrepreneurial mindset of prospective teachers through an international seminar entitled Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Community Empowerment at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). The seminar was conducted through a collaboration between Universitas Negeri Jakarta (UNJ), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), and the Indonesian Multidisciplinary Lecturer Community (KDMI). The program adopted a Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) approach integrated with Experiential Learning, incorporating interactive lectures, case-based discussions, group reflections, and collaborative learning activities. Thirty-two undergraduate students enrolled in the Teacher Education Program participated in the seminar. Program effectiveness was evaluated using a pre-test and post-test questionnaire consisting of ten Likert-scale items. The findings revealed improvements across all evaluated dimensions of entrepreneurial mindset. The overall mean score increased from 3.18 ± 0.52 in the pre-test to 4.13 ± 0.37 in the post-test, representing a 29.9% improvement. The greatest improvement was observed in participants' readiness to integrate entrepreneurial values into teaching practices (42.4%). Participants also demonstrated enhanced awareness of innovation, educational leadership, and community engagement through school-based empowerment initiatives. Furthermore, the program supports the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDGs 4, 8, 11, and 17. These findings indicate that participatory international seminars provide an effective strategy for strengthening entrepreneurial competencies among prospective teachers while promoting educational innovation, community empowerment, and sustainable international academic collaboration.

entrepreneurial mindset; entrepreneurship education; prospective teachers; community empowerment; participatory learning; teacher education; Sustainable Development Goals

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