This Costa Rican University Teaches Entrepreneurship as a Survival Skill

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-18

What if the most important thing a university could teach you wasn't a subject, but a way of thinking? That's the question Allan Matarrita-Chinchilla keeps coming back to at ULACIT, a private university in San José, Costa Rica. He doesn't see entrepreneurship as a buzzword or a path reserved for the next big startup founder. He sees it as a survival skill. Something you lean on when your job changes, your industry shifts, or your whole career plan gets rewritten overnight. ### Why Entrepreneurship Belongs in Every Classroom Here's the thing. Most students won't launch a company. And that's fine. But almost all of them will face moments where they need to spot an opportunity, pitch an idea, or figure out how to make something work with very little. That's the real point of teaching entrepreneurship. It's not about churning out CEOs. It's about building people who can adapt. ULACIT weaves this mindset into programs across disciplines, not just business school. Students in design, healthcare, and tech all get exposed to the same core idea: you can create your own path. ### What This Looks Like in Practice Matarrita-Chinchilla describes an approach that's more workshop than lecture. Students work on real problems, often with local businesses or community groups. They test ideas fast, fail often, and learn to pivot without losing momentum. The focus isn't on writing the perfect business plan. It's on: - Identifying a real problem worth solving - Talking to actual people instead of guessing - Building something small and testing it quickly - Learning from feedback without taking it personally - Knowing when to walk away and try something else That last one matters more than most people admit. Persistence is great, but knowing when to stop is a skill too. > "Entrepreneurship is not just about starting a business. It's about learning how to navigate uncertainty with confidence," Matarrita-Chinchilla explains. ### Preparing Students for a World That Won't Sit Still The old deal was simple. Get a degree, get a job, stay there for thirty years. That deal is gone. Industries rise and fall faster than ever, and the skills that got you hired today might be obsolete in five years. Teaching entrepreneurship as a survival skill flips the script. Instead of preparing students for one job, it prepares them for a lifetime of change. And that's not just good for graduates. It's good for the economy around them. When students learn to spot opportunities and act on them, they create value wherever they land. Costa Rica has been quietly building a reputation as a hub for innovation in Central America. Universities like ULACIT are part of that story. They're not waiting for the future to arrive. They're teaching students how to shape it. ### The Takeaway Maybe the most useful thing a university can do is stop pretending careers are predictable. Instead, give students the tools to handle whatever comes next. That's what Matarrita-Chinchilla and his team are doing. Not turning everyone into an entrepreneur. Just making sure no one is caught off guard when the ground shifts. And honestly? That sounds like a lesson worth learning, no matter where you live or what you study.