The level of necessity and mental readiness by fashion department students in supporting fashion business incubator

Abstract

UNNES is an institution of higher education that intends to become an independent legal institution for higher education. The development of entrepreneurship in higher education should have support, according to the aim of Higher Education in Act Number 12 the Year 2012. The Act mentions that higher education should produce faithful and obedient humans with nobility, healthy lives, skilful traits, creativity, independence, competence, and cultural sensitivity for the sake of national development. Entrepreneurship and innovation are excellent programs of UNNES, particularly the Faculty of Engineering, for preparing graduates who can produce creative and innovative products. Entrepreneur education is a compulsory subject in UNNES. The Family Welfare Education Department of Faculty of Engineering is the only department that targets the incubation of business and the escalation of entrepreneur numbers in UNNES. The program itself has already initiated a fashion production unit called Sekar Ayu to support students' entrepreneurship. Many researchers and writers consider that the success of an entrepreneur heavily depends on the mentality of the entrepreneur. There are some principles of an energetic entrepreneur, which are: confidence, initiative, achievement-oriented, leadership, risk-taking, commitment, originality, and mastery in management. This study describes the need and mental readiness for students from the fashion department to start an entrepreneurship career by supporting the department's fashion business incubators. The research employed a quantitative approach that surveyed 112 students. The researchers gathered data by interviewing and distributing questionnaires, as well as documenting the data by percentage. The results show that the students have a high mentality of entrepreneurship, with a score of 74.46%. The 2017-batch students have better mentality compared to the 2016, 2015, and 2014 ones, considering their capability in taking and initiating business opportunities. The level of incubator development is also high. In conclusion, there is a high interest and strong mentality of Fashion department students in supporting the Fashion business incubator. Further, there should be a development of the incubator that is supported by all parties in the university.