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Despite extensive research into entrepreneurship education (e.g., Collins et al., 2004; Pittaway and Cope, 2007; Solomon, 2007; Blenker et al., 2014), many studies focus upon pedagogical 'good practice', rather than establishing its effectiveness. As well as achieving the social goals of any curriculum in terms of enabling students to fulfil their potential and ultimately to obtain gainful employment, entrepreneurship can also potentially be evaluated to establish whether it meets its desired objectives or learning outcomes. Our aim, therefore, is to conduct a critical appraisal of how experiential approaches can enhance the achievement of learning outcomes in entrepreneurship education. A partial least square path modelling (PLS-PM) was used to test the relationships involved in the research model.

The goal of this work is to contribute to studies that aim to boost entrepreneurship education through the analysis and implementation of the virtual platform ExperimentaLab as a tool to support the activity of universities favouring entrepreneurship. There is a significant and substantial consensus that entrepreneurship is a skill that can be developed through education. Education should provide an innovative learning environment, thus helping students develop entrepreneurial competencies. In this vein, we designed and realised the ExperimentaLab. To test it and evaluate its educational impact, we ran simulations by role play. Data were analysed through structural equation model PLS-path modelling approach, showing that the designed structure of the ExperimentaLab fosters the acquisition of entrepreneurial competencies by would-be entrepreneurs.