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

What is it about?

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 whether university graduates are better placed for establishing a successful business compared to less educated people. We 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 business. 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.

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Why is it important?

Results are important especially for understanding the importance of higher education for entrepreneurship. This effect is often underestimated, but our results have shown that higher education plays an important positive role for both starting a business and its further maintenance. Taking courses dealing with entrepreneurial activities has also a certain positive effect. This could be important for education policy settings as well as for entrepreneurs and their decision making.