University entrepreneurship education experiences: Enhancing the entrepreneurial ecosystems in a UK city-region

The recognition of a strong association between education and economic prosperity has enthused higher education institutions (HEIs) to amplify their initiatives to stimulate entrepreneurship within their local economies and beyond. However, the actual processes and impacts made through entrepreneurship education, and the extent to which and the conditions with which different types of programmes are effective, are not understood well. This article fills part of this gap by adopting the concept of university-based entrepreneurship ecosystems at the two universities located within one city-region in the UK. The paper contributes to the understanding of different impacts of entrepreneurship education and its implications in the city-region development. The student-level data is provided at two HEIs within one city-region in England, which includes demographic backgrounds, university experiences and motivations and propensities to start-up businesses. Our analysis suggest that students who believe that their university education has helped them develop competencies to address challenges of becoming an entrepreneur were 78 percent more likely to have experienced an increase in their stated preference to setting up a business, suggesting universities can make students more entrepreneurial. The paper concludes by arguing that HEIs should be more aware and communicate better of the important roles that they have in influencing student entrepreneurial behaviour and develop the university-based entrepreneurial ecosystems which may lead to city-region economic development