In a nutshell
Entrepreneurship education has long measured success by counting new ventures or business plans. This study shows how assessment can instead reveal how students actually develop the skills and mindsets that make entrepreneurship possible in the first place.
In higher education, entrepreneurship educators often track impact in outcomes: how many businesses were started, how many ideas reached a prototype, how many students said they intend to launch a venture. These are tidy numbers, easy to report and compare. But they only tell part of the story. The harder question – and arguably the more important one – is what happens before that: how students build the confidence, persistence, and awareness to act entrepreneurially in the first place.
That’s the question Zeinab Hmama set out to explore. Working with master’s students at ESCA École de Management in Morocco, her study offers a small but insightful step toward reimagining how we assess entrepreneurial learning in higher education. Instead of treating assessment as a final checkpoint, Hmama frames it as an integral part of the learning process – a feedback loop that helps students see their own development unfold.
Her “multi-assessment” model combines three perspectives that together create a more complete picture of change. The first is psychometric: students complete the Entrepreneurial Mindset Profile, a test that measures traits like persistence, confidence, and openness to risk. The second is reflective: students write short, structured journals throughout their projects, capturing moments of challenge, uncertainty, or growth as they happen. The third is observational: educators use the European EntreComp framework to record behavioural shifts in areas such as teamwork, initiative, and opportunity recognition.
Publication Date: October 2025
Authors: Zeinab Hmama
Institution: ESCA École de Management, Casablanca, Morocco
Study Type: Exploratory case study
Sample Size: 11 master’s students
Research Focus: Using multi-assessment methods to evaluate and develop entrepreneurial competences in higher education
Research Methodology: Combined psychometric testing (EMP), reflective journaling (DAS), and educator observation (EntreComp framework) to track mindset and behavioural change
Main Findings: Entrepreneurial self-confidence, initiative, and persistence increased, while optimism and emotional reactivity decreased, indicating a shift toward more grounded, realistic self-awareness. Multi-assessment encouraged metacognitive reflection and continuous skill development.
Citation: Hmama, Z. (2025). Assessment as Pedagogy: Empowering Entrepreneurial Skill Development through a Multi-Assessment Model. Entrepreneurship Education, 8(1). Link
When these layers come together, assessment stops being about judgement and starts being about visibility – about actually seeing how learning takes shape. The study found steady growth in students’ confidence, initiative, and persistence, but the most interesting change was that their optimism dipped a little. That might sound like a bad thing, but really it just showed that students were learning to see the world more clearly and to recognise the complexity of entrepreneurial work without losing their drive. They were figuring out how to keep going even when things didn’t fit the plan, to stay motivated but realistic at the same time. Their confidence became steadier, their goals more grounded, and their ambitions shifted from chasing big ideals to exploring what was genuinely possible.
Put simply, Hmama’s study redefines what assessment can be for. Rather than asking “What did they produce?”, this approach asks “How did they grow?” It recognises that the journey toward entrepreneurial capability is rarely linear – it loops, stalls, recalibrates, and accelerates through reflection and feedback. By weaving assessment into that process, educators can help students see progress that might otherwise go unnoticed.
This study adds to a consistently growing conversation in the field, about moving away from counting outcomes and toward understanding development. It suggests that perhaps the real work of entrepreneurship education isn’t just preparing students to launch ventures, but helping them notice who they’re becoming in the process. Measuring what matters, in that sense, isn’t about tallying success – it’s about learning to see it.
Related Research
When does Entrepreneurship Education Actually Work? – examines what makes entrepreneurship education effective beyond course counts.
How Educators Apply Design Thinking to Entrepreneurship Education – explores reflective, process-based approaches that align with assessment as learning.
