Entrepreneurship and Higher Education: Review of the Concept, Elements and Measures

In the Society of Knowledge, higher education has become a relevant factor for a successful inclusion in the labour market. The relationship between the educational context and the workplace is the basis of the construction of the Europe of Knowledge (EK) for the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) (COM, 2003, 58, February the 5th; LCEur 2003\1791). In fact, the Lisbon European Council declared that education and training are the tools to achieve the EK and both elements should be adapted to the needs of the labour market (Resolution of May the 24th 2005, LCEur 2005\1178; Sorbonne Declaration, 1998). This new requirement is key to promote the entrepreneurship and employability. So, entrepreneurship is a major goal of EHEA in the EK. The public policy and EU Commission White Papers contain proposals for the action in this new enterprise formation, self-employment, and this is essential for the adaptation of structures to the neoliberalist labour market and to fight unemployment. In addition, many studies and social discourses have been carried out on entrepreneurship as which competencies for learning university' students would require for transition to the labour market and their social inclusion. However, due to a lack of systematization, currently there is not agreement about this concept, its dimensions and evaluation in entrepreneurship education. The goal of this study is to analyse and classify the dimensions of entrepreneurship in order to improve the conceptualization and assessment. The concept and dimensions are relevant for the initial assessment of students, the design of education and their final evaluation because they allow investigating the alignment of education and the labour market. For that purpose, firstly, we have reviewed an extensive literature of about entrepreneurship. Secondly, we have done a content analysis and descriptive analysis. The paper provides a critical synthesis of different theoretical orientations about entrepreneurship and the indicators proposed. In addition, we reviewed the instruments to measure entrepreneurship and presented a new integrated tool. Finally, the results suggest that neoliberalism has strongly influenced on current views of entrepreneurship by focusing on the responsibility of individuals to getting a job. This line of thinking is crucial in order to make an entrepreneurship education and promote social inclusion. To close, we emphasize the importance of these issues in the educational planning.