A crystallized exposition on promoting an entrepreneurial mindset in Kazakhstan higher education institutions

The study aims to promote the entrepreneurial mindset among students in higher education institutions in Kazakhstan. The research also seeks to examine the skills required with the perceptions of students and faculty to develop an entrepreneurial attitude. The McDonald’s Omega and Bartlett tests were employed to test the reliability and validity of the 2 comprehensive and self-administered questionnaires to collect the data from 603 students and 177 faculty. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling to gain a detailed understanding of the influence among variables. The significant findings are that the age of Kazakhstan students never influenced the selection of skills required to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, whereas the study discipline influences it. The students are incredibly interested in learning soft skills and business management skills. The Kazakhstan faculty has recognized the substantial interest among students in developing an entrepreneurial mindset and strongly opined that all types of soft skills, including general management, finance, marketing, human resources, and operations, are noticeably required. The faculty of Kazakhstan emphasized that their students have competent knowledge and significantly improved all kinds of entrepreneurial skills during their coursework by effectively utilizing the excellent infrastructure provided by higher education institutions to promote an entrepreneurial mindset. The exploratory study proffers various benefits to stakeholders like students, faculty, parents, governments, the corporate sector, and the country’s higher education institutions. It is the first extensive survey to identify the skills required from the perceptions of students and faculty to promote an entrepreneurial mindset among students.