Costa Rica's University Betting on Entrepreneurship as a Survival Skill

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-18

What if the most valuable thing you learned in college wasn't a fact you could memorize, but a skill you could use for the rest of your life? That's the question Allan Matarrita-Chinchilla has been answering at ULACIT in Costa Rica. And his answer might surprise you. ULACIT, a private university in San José, has been quietly reshaping how students think about their careers. Instead of treating entrepreneurship as an elective for business majors, they've made it a core part of the curriculum for everyone. Because in a world where industries can shift overnight, the ability to adapt isn't just nice—it's necessary. ### Why Entrepreneurship Is More Than Just Business "Entrepreneurship is a survival skill," Matarrita-Chinchilla says. And he's not exaggerating. When you learn to spot opportunities, solve problems, and pivot when things don't work, you're not just preparing to start a company. You're preparing for a lifetime of change. Think about it. The average person today will hold a dozen jobs across multiple industries. The idea of picking one career at 22 and sticking with it for 40 years is basically gone. So what does that mean for education? It means we need to teach people how to think, not just what to think. At ULACIT, students from engineering to design to health sciences are learning how to: - Identify real problems worth solving - Test ideas quickly and cheaply - Learn from failure without being crushed by it - Build networks that open doors These aren't just startup skills. They're life skills. ### The Classroom That Feels Like a Startup Walk into a ULACIT entrepreneurship class and you might not see rows of desks and a lecturing professor. Instead, you'll find students huddled in groups, sketching prototypes on whiteboards, arguing about customer feedback, and yes—sometimes failing spectacularly. > "We don't teach entrepreneurship as a theory," Matarrita-Chinchilla explains. "We teach it as a practice. You have to do it to learn it." That hands-on approach means students launch real projects, sometimes with real money on the line. They pitch to local business owners. They run small experiments. And they learn that the best ideas often come from the messiest attempts. ### Preparing for a Future That Doesn't Exist Yet Here's the thing about the future: nobody knows exactly what it looks like. But we do know it'll require flexibility, creativity, and resilience. Those are the exact qualities that entrepreneurship education builds. Matarrita-Chinchilla points out that even students who never start a company benefit. They become better employees because they understand how businesses work. They become better collaborators because they've learned to listen to customers. And they become better humans because they've practiced picking themselves up after a setback. So while the rest of the world debates whether college is worth it, ULACIT is busy proving that it can be—if you're teaching the right things. ### What This Means for the Rest of Us You don't have to be in Costa Rica to take a page from this playbook. Whether you're a student, a professional, or someone just trying to figure out what's next, the lesson is simple: treat your career like a startup. Stay curious. Test things. Learn fast. And don't be afraid to pivot. Because in the end, survival isn't about having all the answers. It's about knowing how to find them.