University Entrepreneurship Programmes as Catalysts for Student Venture Creation

University entrepreneurship programmes are widely promoted as engines of both economic development and student learning, yet evidence on how such programmes actually convert curricular and co-curricular activity into student-led ventures remains thin outside a small set of elite technology institutes. This case study examines an entrepreneurship cell based in a private university in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, tracing how a bundle of interventions — ideation workshops, mentor matching, seed micro-grants, and industry-linked incubation support — shaped venture formation among undergraduate business students between January and April 2026. Drawing on programme records, semi-structured interviews, and a pre–post entrepreneurial self-efficacy survey, the study documents measurable gains in entrepreneurial intention and venture-stage progression alongside persistent barriers around funding, faculty bandwidth, and gender participation. The findings are read against the theory of planned behaviour and the university-incubation literature, and the case argues that its most distinctive contribution lies in showing how these dynamics unfold in a general undergraduate business programme rather than a specialised technology school. Implications for university administrators and policymakers designing similar interventions in emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems are discussed.

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