One of Scotland’s leading educators in entrepreneurship has developed a special affinity for New Scotland.

Colin Mason, a professor at the Adam Smith School of Business at the University of Glasgow, has already been in Halifax and Sydney this year, one of many visits over the years. He returns next month on a trip that includes the Atlantic Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Conference at Saint Mary’s University on Sept. 17 and 18.

As an academic who teaches entrepreneurship, Mason carries a messianic enthusiasm for his subject. Entrepreneurship professors believe it is essential for 21st-century students to understand how they can start their own businesses.

For Mason, the necessity of learning entrepreneurship comes from the realities of the global market.

The reality is harsh. Most industries are not offering long-term, full-time positions. Even if they do, the evolution of technology could jeopardize the position in a decade or two. The modern worker has to constantly bid for project work, or start a business that revolutionizes a task.

 “You’ve got to be entrepreneurial to work in an environment where you’re constantly selling yourself to a project manager,” Mason said over lunch in a Halifax restaurant last month.

All industry is changing, in the same way the movie industry evolved a few generations ago, Mason said. Actors, directors, cinematographers and everyone else in the business was under contract with a single studio. Then in the 1960s, all the players began to work on a project-by-project basis. No star or director is identified exclusively with a studio now.

The world of business overall is moving that way, especially so in creative industries. More work is being done on a contract basis, with companies bringing in specialists for specific projects. To thrive in such a market, young people need an entrepreneurial mindset so they can adjust to the demands of each contract.

While some decry entrepreneurship as a risky way to make a living, Mason makes the point that there are huge risks in planning a conventional career with a single employer. Large businesses are constantly restructuring and changing their workforces. The successful worker of the future will be one who can adjust, meaning he or she will have to think like an entrepreneur.

Mason is a firm believer in experiential learning and is impressed with the recent surge in courses at universities in Atlantic Canada that encourage students to start their own businesses.

His experience working with students shows that many had entrepreneurial talents they didn’t know they possessed. They realize they could lead a team or sell a product, and that it’s really not that hard to start a business.

Mason said students are better prepared for the modern economy if they learn entrepreneurship.

“I’d like to think a CV that included running your own business would allow the student to stand out.”