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International entrepreneurship education: Barriers versus support mechanisms to STEM students

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Abstract

Previous research on entrepreneurship education (EE), specifically directed to students from the science and technology fields, has been very sparse. This research aims to analyse how Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) develop EE programmes, as well as discussing how the barriers to EE are perceived by STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students. The paper is based on an international training project, SCIENT, aiming to foster young scientists’ entrepreneurial spirit having its focus on the lean start-up approach. The data were collected by questionnaires directed to STEM students in some European countries. The results show that HEIs carry out several types of activities and in different ways to stimulate entrepreneurial spirit among STEM graduates and students. As barriers to business creation, the difficulty in obtaining financial support associated with high patent costs was highlighted. Government and private investors should develop financial support instruments to help these potential entrepreneurs.

Resumen

La investigación previa sobre educación en emprendimiento (EE), dirigida específicamente a estudiantes de las áreas de la ciencia y la tecnología, ha sido muy escasa. Esta investigación tiene como objetivo analizar cómo las Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES) desarrollan programas de EE, así como analizar cómo los estudiantes de CTIM (Ciencia, Tecnología, Ingeniería y Matemática) perciben las barreras a la EE. El documento se basa en un proyecto de capacitación internacional, SCIENT, con el objetivo de fomentar el espíritu emprendedor de los jóvenes científicos, que se centra en el enfoque de lean start-up. Los datos fueron recopilados mediante cuestionarios dirigidos a estudiantes de CTIM en algunos países europeos. Los resultados muestran que las IES llevan a cabo varios tipos de actividades y usan diferentes formas para estimular el espíritu emprendedor entre los graduados y estudiantes de estas áreas. Como barreras para la creación de empresas, se destacó la dificultad para obtener el apoyo financiero asociado con los altos costos de patentes. Los inversores gubernamentales y privados deberían desarrollar instrumentos de apoyo financiero para ayudar a estos potenciales empresarios.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank to Erasmus + and project SCIENT and to NECE – Research Unit in Business Sciences funded by the Multiannual Funding Programme of R&D Centres of FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia) under the project «UID/GES/04630/2013».

Funding

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit in Business Sciences, University of Beira Interior & NECE, Covilhã, Portugal

    João Ferreira, Arminda Paço & Mário Raposo

  2. GrantXpert Consulting Ltd., Nicosia, Cyprus

    Celia Hadjichristodoulou

  3. European University, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Despina Marouchou

Authors
  1. João Ferreira
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  2. Arminda Paço
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  3. Mário Raposo
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  4. Celia Hadjichristodoulou
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  5. Despina Marouchou
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Correspondence to João Ferreira.

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Ferreira, J., Paço, A., Raposo, M. et al. International entrepreneurship education: Barriers versus support mechanisms to STEM students. J Int Entrep 19, 130–147 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-020-00274-4

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