Are entrepreneurs made on campus? The impact of entrepreneurial universities and graduates’ human capital on graduates’ occupational choice

Many universities are becoming more entrepreneurial by supporting spin-off activities of students and staff, installing entrepreneurship programs and creating networks with local entrepreneurs. But how do these activities affect university graduates’ employment choices? By utilizing different data sources, this question is addressed in the present study. Information collected through a large-scale graduate survey, implemented by the International Centre for Higher Education Research-Kassel, is combined with a ranking system of entrepreneurial orientation among German universities and data on the workforce within the university region. Empirical analysis suggests that the likelihood of entering self-employment is significantly positively related to the entrepreneurial orientation of the university. On the individual level, work experience prior to studying increases the likelihood of graduates entering self-employment while no robust influence of human capital indicators is detected.     

How entrepreneurial intentions influence entrepreneurial career choices: The moderating influence of social context

In this paper, we build on social cognitive career theory to examine the relation between entrepreneurial intention and new venture creation (i.e., the entrepreneurial career choice). We model how contextual influences at different levels may favor or inhibit the translation of entrepreneurial intention into new venture creation. Using unique longitudinal data from almost the entire population of Italian university graduates, we are able to assess how the immediate (i.e., the influence of relevant others) and larger context (i.e., organizational and environmental influences) affect new venture creation. Our research contributes to the emerging literature of the intention–behavior link in entrepreneurship.     

高校大学生自主创业教育现状及对策研究

随着我国教育体制改革的不断发展,高等教育模式由精英化教育向大众化教育逐步过渡,随之而来的大学生的就业形势日益严峻。基．于分析我国高校目前开展大学生自主创业教育的现状,对比国外创业教育环境和背景提出适应于我国高校的创业教育对策,旨为大学生的自主创业做出有效的理论导向和提高创业成功率,从而使更多的大学生勇于尝试自主创业,为高校毕业生就业工作拓展新局面。     

Latin American Universities and Technology Commercialization

A small but significant percentage of the discoveries made by university researchers have commercial value, especially in fields such as the biomedical sciences, material science, and information technology. Early stage technologies emerging from university labs represent an important source of innovation for technology firms in the United States (US), especially those located in close proximity to elite universities in regions characterized by high levels of entrepreneurial dynamism. Based in part on the U.S. demonstration effect, policymakers in the developing world increasingly view universities as institutions capable of accelerating technology-based economic development. In this article we examine the efforts of elite universities in Chile, Mexico, and Brazil to transfer faculty inventions to the marketplace. On average these institutions have upgraded commercialization infrastructure since the mid-2000s and a select few are beginning to generate significant licensing revenue and viable spinoffs. We conclude with policy recommendations and suggestions for future research.     

University spillovers and new business location in high-technology sectors: Spanish evidence

This paper examines the relationship between knowledge spillovers from universities and new business location in high-technology sectors. We focus on the contribution to new business formation through spillovers stemming from three main university outputs: knowledge-based graduates, research activities, and technological knowledge. We construct a new dataset with information on 604 companies and 63 universities in Spain and group the data across 36 geographical areas from 2001 to 2004 (144 observations). After controlling for several traditional cost factors and agglomeration characteristics, we find that university spillovers are relevant in explaining the location of new businesses in high-technology sectors in Spain. Further, our analysis draws attention to the relevance of graduates as the main source of spillovers, while research activities and university technology do not have significant effects.     

Internationalising Professional Skill Development

ABSTRACT

Internationalisation of education, and more specifically tertiary education, all over the world has contributed to a significant overhaul in student composition. Parallel to this runs the need for graduates to leave university with a range of professional skills. In response to this, universities actively encourage the development of such skills in their programs by integrating the teaching and assessing of professional skills into academic programs. This paper reports on the efficacy of a professional skills program and its support structures as used in the Bachelor of Commerce degree program of a university. The paper outlines how the skills were taught and assessed in the International Management 375 unit and presents data on the changes in students' perceptions of their skill levels. The interpretation of the data is further differentiated on the base of gender, language and country of origin.     

Regional competitiveness, university spillovers, and entrepreneurial activity

This study examines the impact of regional competitiveness on the innovative activity of entrepreneurial firms. Based on a unique and hand-collected dataset of publicly listed high-technology start-ups and university regions, this paper tests how regional competitiveness and university spillovers affect the innovation behavior of entrepreneurial firms. The results provide strong evidence that regional competitiveness and university spillovers are strong complements in fostering innovation activity of entrepreneurial firms. However, the results also raise the question whether incentives for universities and their actors might lead to crowding out effects.     

The impact of local and external university knowledge on the creation of knowledge-intensive firms: evidence from the Italian case

This paper investigates how far in space university knowledge goes to breed the creation of knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs), depending on the nature (either codified or tacit) and quality of this knowledge. We consider the impact of knowledge codified in academic patents and scientific publications and tacit knowledge embodied in university graduates on KIF creation in Italian provinces in 2010, while distinguishing between local university knowledge created by universities located in the same province and external university knowledge created by universities located outside the province. Our econometric estimates indicate that the positive effects of scientific publications and university graduates are confined within the boundaries of the province in which universities are located. Conversely, the creation of new KIFs in a focal province is positively affected by both local and external university knowledge codified in academic patents, even though the positive effect of this external knowledge rapidly diminishes with geographic distance. Furthermore, the above effects are confined to high-quality universities; low-quality universities have little effect on KIF creation.     

Entrepreneurial intention and startup preparation: A study among business students in Malaysia

Intention, as the starting point of pursuing self-employment and creating new ventures, is crucial before actually establishing a business enterprise. Entrepreneurship is understood to be an essential ingredient for enhancing a country's economic competitiveness, growth, and sustainability while confronting the escalating challenges of globalization, such as increasing unemployment. This study provides empirical evidence on the factors influencing entrepreneurial intention and startup preparations among university students in Malaysia. The findings provide scholars and academic policymakers with insights into the effectiveness of Malaysia's entrepreneurial education as designed and practiced by public universities. The Malaysian government should apply these findings to fortify existing policies and programs and formulate new ones to support graduate entrepreneurs, while universities and other higher education institutions should provide high-quality entrepreneurial courses and programs to young Malaysians to foster an inclination toward entrepreneurship.     

区域共享视角下的高校人力资源配置机制研究

高等教育大众化时期,优化高校人力资源配置是推进高等教育事业发展的必然选择,高校的竞争力与活力也取决于人力资源配置的优化程度。基于资源共享的视角,对高校人力资源配置机制问题进行了深入研究,探讨了高校人力资源区域共享配置的价值意义、设计思路及其运行机制,力求立足于应用,并从可操作性角度促进高校人力资源配置效率的提高。     

The role of the entrepreneurial university in building an entrepreneurial ecosystem in a post conflict economy: An exploratory study of Rwanda

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the entrepreneurial university in supporting the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in a post conflict, transitional economy. We developed a cross case analysis to identify common themes and patterns in the data. Our findings demonstrate that in a post conflict, transitional economy entrepreneurial universities entrepreneurial ecosystem development is constrained by a number of institutional factors including, structures, systems, leadership, strategies, and culture. We further identify that, when an entrepreneurial ecosystem system has been destroyed during conflict, these constraints present significant challenges to the evolution of the entrepreneurial ecosystem post conflict. Second, in a departure from other studies, our findings also outline the role of the entrepreneurial university in the unique evolution of the post conflict entrepreneurial ecosystem in Rwanda. We identify that the entrepreneurial ecosystem evolves through a number of stages including, embryonic, destruction, formation, and capacity building stages.     

Opportunities to Improve Entrepreneurship Education: Contributions Considering Brazilian Challenges

This paper identifies challenges and opportunities for enhancing higher education in entrepreneurship considering student perceptions concerning both their demand for entrepreneurship education and their entrepreneurial intention as well as previous studies that present the points of view of experts. The main focus is Brazilian higher education, but the results address challenges that cross borders, such as the need for a practical approach. The study analyzed the data from the Brazilian version of the 2011 Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey (GUESSS) obtained with an online questionnaire answered by 25,751 Brazilian students from 37 colleges and universities. To give a reference for a better understanding of Brazilian statistics, data were compared to those of the 2011 international GUESSS involving also 25 other countries and 64,079 responses from them. Three hypotheses were tested. The results show that entrepreneurship education has a significant negative effect on student entrepreneurial intention and also on self‐efficacy. The same occurs between entrepreneurial intention and students' demand for entrepreneurship education. Brazilian students present higher levels of entrepreneurial intention and are significantly more motivated to take courses and activities in entrepreneurship than those students in the international sample. Approximately 50 percent of Brazilian students are potential entrepreneurs. One of the opportunities identified is to take advantage of students' positive attitudes and their high demand. The opportunities could play an important role in overcoming the challenges recognized, among which are the need for a more practical approach and the need for larger and diversified educational offerings beyond business planning. The challenges make Neck and Greene's recommendations, presented in a 2011 issue of JSBM, particularly important for Brazil. The last three sections propose different explanations, suggestions for more research, and practical recommendations.     

Exploring factors motivating entrepreneurial intentions: the case of Italian university students

This study aims to identify the factors motivating the intentions of university students to become entrepreneurs. Leveraging data from a survey of 941 Italian students and adopting Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour, this paper employs the structural equation model to identify factors explaining students’ entrepreneurial intentions. The findings show that attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control positively shape Italian students’ intentions. Moreover, the findings signal that the skills acquired during the university pathway play a crucial role in encouraging students to consider entrepreneurial choices. The paper extends and complements the academic and policy debate in the field of entrepreneurship offering a comprehensive investigation of the factors affecting entrepreneurial intentions. It also allows us to contend that higher education may have an important role to play in fostering the entrepreneurial intentions of young people. This is especially significant given current global economic conditions and the renewed importance of self‐employment strategies.     

Academics’ start-up intentions and knowledge filters: an individual perspective of the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship

Previous studies suggest that entrepreneurial activity tends to be greater in contexts where investment in new knowledge is relatively high (e.g., entrepreneurial universities). However, in this specific knowledge context, only a few academics recognize opportunities and act on them through entrepreneurial activities (e.g., spin-offs). A plausible explanation could be the existence of several filters that limit the total conversion of knowledge into economically useful knowledge. The vehicle to knowledge transfer is entrepreneurship. Therefore, the main actor is the academic entrepreneur, but no empirical study has highlighted the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship at the individual level. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of academics’ start-up intentions and knowledge filters on the knowledge transfer process within entrepreneurial university. Adopting the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship and the planned behavior theory, a proposed model was tested with a sample of 207 academics enrolled in entrepreneurial universities in Spain using structural equation modeling. Our findings could provide insights for policy-makers to design policies that bring further benefits to society and educational organizations as well as significant contributions to the literature.     

基于连锁加盟形式的大学生创业模式选择——基于温州的调查分析

随着高校毕业生就业形势的日趋严峻,加上国家、社会和高校对大学生创业支持力度的加大,越来越多的大学生开始了自主创业,而连锁加盟凭借其在中国的蓬勃发展和自身独特的经营优势,成为大学生创业首选的一种新模式。通过问卷调查实证分析了温州地区连锁加盟店铺的经营特点,该创业模式对缺少资金、技术和管理经验的大学毕业生具有很强的吸引力,由此推断大学生采取连锁加盟方式创业的具有可行性。     

How institutions and gender differences in education shape entrepreneurial activity: a cross-national perspective

Previous studies offer evidence that human capital obtained through education is a crucial explanation for cross-national differences in entrepreneurial activity. Recently, scholar attention has focused on the importance of education in subjects such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for the promotion of entrepreneurial activity. To our knowledge, empirical evidence for this link is scarce, despite the emphasis made in the literature and by policy makers on the choice of study at the tertiary level. Given that differences in STEM education are particularly large between men and women, we utilize data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for 19 European countries and the USA. We study the role of these differences in STEM education at the national level for three stages of the entrepreneurial process: entrepreneurial awareness, the choice of sector for entrepreneurial activity, and entrepreneurial growth aspirations. We also test whether the effects of gender differences in education is moderated by the nature of the institutional environment in which entrepreneurs operate. Our findings show that individual-level explanations including education account for the gender differences during all three stages of early-stage entrepreneurial activity. Moreover, countries with greater gender equality in science education are characterized by higher entrepreneurial activity in knowledge-intensive sectors and high-growth aspirations. Thus, next to individual-level education, closing the gender gap in science at the national level can benefit a country as a whole by stimulating innovative entrepreneurial activity.     

University choice: which attributes matter when you are paying the full price?

This article presents the results from a longitudinal study of students' choice of university in England. Students were surveyed initially when applying for university (Wave One) and then again when they were about to embark on their chosen course (Wave Two). The results from Wave Two demonstrated a high degree of consistency with the Wave One findings: course and university reputation are far more important and fees are relatively unimportant. However, a key result across both waves was that patterns of utility for students with no parental experience of university were significantly different from students whose parents had attended university. The utility associated with different levels of entry qualifications, of fees and of university and course reputation, differed between social groups. The study suggests that the benefits of going to a highly rated university may be undervalued in families that have no direct experience of higher education. In addition, whilst females are more significantly put off by universities with low entry requirements, the qualitative attitudinal statements included in the follow‐up study seem to indicate that so‐called ‘softer’ factors may also influence their choice.     

Utility of university curricula in contemporary times: Perspectives of employers in the Cape Coast Metropolis

The majority of studies and reports on university education in Africa have focused mainly on issues related to access, quality, teaching and learning environment, and so on. Although these issues are undoubtedly critical, even more germane to the discourse is the desired utility of university education to society. The authors present the perspective of employers on their expectations from university graduates. The authors employed the qualitative research approach. Four financial institutions from the Cape Coast Metropolis were purposively sampled. An in-depth interview guide was employed for data collection, which was analyzed using thematic content analysis. The authors found that graduates are strong in theory but deficient in application of knowledge.     

Shaping the Entrepreneurial Mindset: Entrepreneurial Intentions of Business Students in Croatia

Business students from a public university in Croatia participated in an international study on entrepreneurial self‐efficacy, identity, and education. The results of this preliminary empirical research indicate that the main predictors of the entrepreneurial intentions in Croatia are strength of entrepreneurial identity aspiration and entrepreneurial self‐efficacy. These two main constructs mediate the number of personal, situational, or contextual factors, including education. Empirical analysis supports the majority of Social Cognitive Career Theory hypothesized interaction between control variables and main constructs such as self‐efficacy, positive outcome expectations, and entrepreneurial identity. These findings thus fill the gap in the empirical evidence of the theoretical framework validity derived from different contexts.     

高等学校毕业生就业市场营销研究

近年来,高等学校毕业生的就业问题引起了社会各界的广泛关注。解决毕业生的就业问题需要政府、高等学校、用人单位、毕业生等多方的努力。我们认为在高等学校毕业生就业中需要遵循市场竞争的规律,需要运用市场营销理论来指导毕业生就业。本文首先简单介绍了高校毕业生就业市场营销的内涵,接着对高校毕业生就业市场营销战略和市场营销策略进行了论述,最后指出高校毕业生就业市场营销中需要做好的一些工作。