The Effect of Higher Education on Entrepreneurial Activities and Starting Up Successful Businesses

Abstract

The paper deals with the potential relationship between higher education and entrepreneurial activities. Universities and other higher education institutions could be seen as boosting entrepreneurship in the region. University graduates could be more often involved in starting up a new business and the university itself could commercialize their innovations by creating academic spin-off companies. The paper aims to examine the potential effect of higher education on the probability of starting a business as well as its further success. Based on the data for 40 EU and non-EU countries, retrieved from a Eurobarometer survey, we conducted probit and IV probit regressions. These have tested the assumed relationship between higher education and entrepreneurial activities. Our results strongly suggest that higher education can often be very beneficial for starting up a new business and this seems to be one of the factors determining the success of new businesses. Furthermore, those respondents who attended courses related to entrepreneurship appear to be more active in starting-up a business and this seems to be also positively correlated with the company's future success. Interestingly, university graduates from Brazil, Portugal and India in particular, tend to appreciate the role that their universities have played in acquiring the skills to enable them to run a business.

The impact of political factors‘ perception on suitability of international business environment: The case of startups

“…The quality of education does not determine the quality of the business environment for starting a business in Slovakia. This conclusion corresponds with the opinion of e. g. Hunady et al (2018) on an ambiguous role of business education for starting a business.…”

“…Besides the political factors, including the legislative framework, the social factors also significantly determine the quality of the business environment (societal perception of the entrepreneurs, the quality of the educational system in the context of business activities, cultural aspects, the relationship of family members and close friends with the entrepreneurs) Bilan et al, 2017;Mishchuk et al, 2018;Termosа, 2017). Hunady et al (2018) consider the effect of university education on the entrepreneurship to be less obvious than the effect the university degree may have on the chances of getting a job. The researches stated that most of the entrepreneurial activities do not require a university degree, and the utilization of knowledge related to the entrepreneurship and gained during the university studies may be doubtful.…”

Business models of start-ups and their impact on the sustainability of nascent business

“…A significant majority of founders (86.7%) have a university education of the second degree and several years as a rule employment practice (56.7%) before establishing the start-up, but they lack the authentic business experience. The positive impact of education on business starting is also confirmed by a study of Hunady et al (2018). In start-up there are working 5 employees who are 30 years old and are mostly university educated (83.3%).…”

Factors Influencing the Performance of Technology Transfer Offices: the Case of the European Consortium of Innovative Universities

“…Modern universities are facing new challenges while meeting the social and economic requirements of current societies. The traditional way of thinking about universities as the sources of science and technology is changing (Hunady et al, 2018). In recent years, academic institutions have gone from being an arena for knowledge and technology creation to a platform for transferring them to industrial and economic spheres (Ustundag et al, 2011).…”