The Role of University-Level Entrepreneurship Education in Creating New Enterprises

Abstract

A well-developed economy based on a well-developed business and prosperous society is of interest to every country. The Estonian Entrepreneurship Growth Strategy 2014–2020 (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications in Estonian entrepreneurship growth strategy 2014–2020, 2013) is focusing, among other priorities, on stimulating entrepreneurship and the creation of new jobs. Entrepreneurship is a vast concept and can be defined from different perspectives. Wiklund et al. (Entrepr Theory Pract 1–3, 2011) suggest defining entrepreneurship through an Entrepreneurial Process (EP) that allows for a holistic approach to the phenomenon. Entrepreneurship Education (EE) is a much broader concept than entrepreneurship as a practice of trade; it includes the entrepreneurship key competence that refers to an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action (Bird in Int J Entrepr Educ 1:203−227, 2002). EE in European Higher Education Institutions (HEI) is experiencing growth. In this chapter, we focus on how experiential learning in EE, EP and its components and EE in HEI influence the creation of new enterprises. The empirical analysis in this chapter is based on the qualitative case study strategy of four Estonian enterprises. The data collection methods used included interviews with owners, enterprise home pages, and reports. The results were presented, discussed, and conclusions drawn.