This paper aims to raise awareness for the need to approach university based entrepreneurship research from a system perspective. Different aspects on university based entrepreneurship have been in the focus of many studies, yet, we don’t know how these perspectives work together to promote collective entrepreneurial culture and action at all university dimensions. The paper argues that applying systems thinking to university based entrepreneurship allows achieving a better understanding of universities as entrepreneurial ecosystems. The paper contributes to conceptual developments of the dynamics of entrepreneurship within and around universities.