Program Overview

Embedded Certificate in Entrepreneurial Thinking

The Embedded Certificate in Entrepreneurial Thinking provides undergraduate students from degree paths across the UCalgary campus with an entrepreneurial thinking toolkit. Entrepreneurial thinking extends far beyond starting a new business. It’s an approach. It’s a way of thinking. It’s a way of creating value for others, inspiring change, finding solutions and achieving goals.

About the Certificate

As defined by the Eyes High Strategy, entrepreneurial thinking is “being creative in finding innovative solutions. It involves taking initiative, exchanging knowledge across disciplines, being resourceful, and learning from experience. Entrepreneurial thinking is essential to enriching lives and advancing society.”

Program Requirements

The embedded certificate in Entrepreneurial Thinking requires 18 units and will appear on the students’ official transcripts and parchments.

Requirements for the Embedded Certificate in Entrepreneurial Thinking

All Programs Except Bachelor of Commerce

• Required Courses (6 units)
  • ENTI 201: Entrepreneurship in Action (3 units)
  • ENTI 529: Applied Capstone Project course in Entrepreneurial Thinking OR a project capstone course in students’ major that is pre-approved by the ECET academic coordinator. No retroactive approvals will be made (3 units)
• Elective Courses (12 units)
  • Minimum 6 units at 400-level or higher
  • Minimum 6 units classified as entrepreneurial thinking focused
  • Total: 18 units (in two or more faculties)
  • Please note: students can only receive a maximum of 12 units (of the total 18 units) from any one Faculty.

Bachelor of Commerce Program

• Required Courses (6 units)
  • ENTI 317: Entrepreneurial Thinking (3 units)
  • ENTI 529: Applied Capstone Project course in Entrepreneurial Thinking (3 units)
• Elective Courses (12 units)
  • Minimum 6 units at 400-level or higher
  • Minimum 6 units classified as entrepreneurial thinking focused
  • Total: 18 units (in two or more faculties)
  • Please note: students can only receive a maximum of 12 units (of the total 18 units) from any one Faculty.

Elective Courses

Below are the approved electives for the embedded certificate in Entrepreneurial Thinking. These electives will help you acquire a broad view of entrepreneurial thinking from a variety of different faculties. Students are invited to explore topics beyond the scope of their current degree program to expand their exposure to a variety of entrepreneurship issues from different disciplinary perspectives.

• Approved Electives
  • Entrepreneurial Focused courses are designed with entrepreneurial thinking concepts at the forefront, and more than 40% of the course content is concentrated on those themes and skills.
    • CPSC 405 - Software Entrepreneurship
    • CPSC 575 - iProgramming for Creative Minds
    • ENTI 333 (formerly ENTI 359.03) - Generative AI & Prompting (credit only for one)
    • ENGG 525 - Engineering Entrepreneurship
    • ENTI 381 - Principles of Entrepreneurship
    • ENTI 401 - Opportunity Identification
    • ENTI 405 - New Venture Start-Up
    • ENTI 407 - Technology for Entrepreneurship (web)
    • ENTI 411 - Technology Commercialization
    • ENTI 413 - Social Enterprise Strategies
    • ENTI 415 - Software Venturing
    • ENTI 531 - Entrepreneurship Law
    • ENTI 541 - Social Enterprise in Practice
    • ENTI 559.x - Selected Topics in Entrepreneurship and Innovation
    • FNCE 469 - UCeed Haskayne Student Fund
    • FNCE 473 - New Venture Finance
    • FNCE 481 - FinTech
    • FNCE 559.09 - Decentralized Finance
    • MGST 597.71 - National Inter-Collegiate Business Competition (ICBC)
  • Entrepreneurial Related courses have entrepreneurial thinking threads or connections; however, those threads or connections are not the primary focus of the course.
    • ANTH 303 - Business In Cultural Context
    • ARCH 402 - Design, Digital Technology and the Built Environment
    • ARCH 406 - Design Thinking in the Built Environment Studio I
    • ARCH 408 - Design Thinking in the Built Environment Studio II
    • ART 309 - Foundations of Art Education
    • ART 342 - Art Education Across the Lifespan I
    • ART 397 - Professional Development (no longer offered)
    • ART 503 - Computer Game Design (limited offering)
    • COMS 363 - Professional and Technical Communication
    • COMS 369 - Rhetorical Communication
    • DRAM 203 - Creativity
    • DRAM 205 - Story
    • ECON 201 - Principles of Microeconomics
    • FNCE 343 - Personal Financial Management
    • FNCE 477 - Personal Financial Management in Canada
    • KNES 503.85 - Innovations in Wearable Technology
    • MDSC 517 - Introduction to Biotechnology Business and Profession
    • PHIL 314 - Information Technology Ethics
    • PHIL 329 - Business Ethics
    • PHIL 330 - Philosophy of Money
    • PSYC 481.02 - Psychology of Working Groups and Teams
    • PSYC 483.01 - Personnel Selection
    • RELS 440 - Religion and Economic Systems
    • SOWK 397 - Practice and Evaluation with Communities
    • SUST 201 - Exploring Sustainability

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the embedded certificate in Entrepreneurial thinking, students will:

• Demonstrate an understanding of entrepreneurial thinking through experiential activities and projects;
• Apply methods or approaches to creatively generate ideas, problems, solutions and opportunities;
• Mobilize resources, build teams and networks to execute on ideas, solutions and opportunities in the Applied Capstone Project course;
• Explain how entrepreneurial thinking can make changes in society;
• Explore the ways entrepreneurial thinking can increase the impact of their ideas, solutions and opportunities by taking a global and interdisciplinary perspectives.