Abstract:

In any country, the students’ entrepreneurial spirit is of great economic and social importance. Students will be the entrepreneurs of the future and it is their plans and entrepreneurship which would deeply influence the society of tomorrow and its economic wellbeing. This paper intends to offer an input on the understanding of entrepreneurial spirit among students (of the European University of Tirana), to analyse such a spirit and goals, as well as factor affecting them: entrepreneurship education in the university, personal entrepreneurial motivation, impact of parents and family, and social and economic context. The analysis goes even further, looking at the impact of gender, area of study in university, and at how entrepreneurship is taught: whether through lectures only or it is also closely interlaced with practice at industry level. The paper is based on secondary literature, GUESSS report, and on an on-line distributed questionnaire, which was addressed to and answered by students of all the three higher education levels: BA, MA, and Ph.D. The results this research obtained are important for the university we work at, in order to improve and diversify the ways entrepreneurship education is taught, but they could also be applied at a wider scope.  

Keywords: