Teaching youth entrepreneurship into a european framework of analysis: evidence from higher education in Greece

Abstract

The authors present and discuss significant aspects of the youth entrepreneurship in the European Union (EU). In particular higher education (HE) in Greece is taken as fieldwork of empirical analysis. Paper’s structure arranges as follows: Firstly, it introduces a complete conceptual basis for entrepreneurship as defined in the EU and looks at entrepreneurship in the context of actions taken by the European Council and especially by the European Commission. The significance of entrepreneurship (embedded in substantial economic factors such as growth, development, employment, education and training, etc.) and its objectives are then discussed, particularly in relation to students in higher education. Secondly, the study assesses the status of youth entrepreneurship and its influences on students in the Greek higher education system, applying an empirical methodology. In order to explore the behaviour and attitudes of HE students towards entrepreneurship, the authors analyse data collected by means of a special questionnaire, firstly introduced in 2005 by Karanassios et al. The selected sample comprised male and female undergraduate students studying in various disciplines at the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Serres. The results are evaluated and their implications for educational programmes at universities, TEIs, business schools, other educational units, etc, are considered.