University Students and Entrepreneurship
Where Are We and Where Are We Going?
Abstract
The proportion of university students considering starting their businesses or are already active entrepreneurs is increasing. In addition to their traditional educational role, higher education institutions are becoming increasingly active in promoting entrepreneurship by providing programs and resources and trying to understand the mechanisms behind students' decisions and what changes in direction would allow trends to shift in a positive direction. This is the aim of the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey (GUESSS), an international research collaboration that brings together 50 countries to research student entrepreneurship issues.
Our study aims to provide an overview of the situation in Hungary using the results of the 2021 survey. In 2021, the questionnaire was sent to all Hungarian higher education institutions with more than 1000 students, and 10,104 valid responses were received from 20 institutions.
The survey results show that most students (74.4%) would like to work as employees after graduation, but that five years later, the propensity to become an entrepreneur increases significantly. Students in economics and business courses are the most open to starting their own business. In contrast, those in social sciences courses are the least attracted to a career as an entrepreneur. Although the family background is a powerful influence because of the social support (resources, knowledge, experience), it provides, entrepreneurship education and the entrepreneurial environment of universities in general also stimulate students' ideas.
Covid-19 hasn’t left entrepreneurial ideas untouched. 6.7 percent of students working on starting a business and 12.9 percent of students who already had a business said that Covid-19 had played a significant role in helping them start their business.
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