The Effect of Higher Education on Entrepreneurial Activities and Starting Up Successful Businesses

The paper deals with the potential relationship between higher education and entrepreneurial activities. Universities and other higher education institutions could be seen as boosting entrepreneurship in the region. University graduates could be more often involved in starting up a new business and the university itself could commercialize their innovations by creating academic spin-off companies. The paper aims to examine the potential effect of higher education on the probability of starting a business as well as its further success. Based on the data for 40 EU and non-EU countries, retrieved from a Eurobarometer survey, we conducted probit and IV probit regressions. These have tested the assumed relationship between higher education and entrepreneurial activities. Our results strongly suggest that higher education can often be very beneficial for starting up a new business and this seems to be one of the factors determining the success of new businesses. Furthermore, those respondents who attended courses related to entrepreneurship appear to be more active in starting-up a business and this seems to be also positively correlated with the company's future success. Interestingly, university graduates from Brazil, Portugal and India in particular, tend to appreciate the role that their universities have played in acquiring the skills to enable them to run a business.本论文探讨高等教育与创业活动之间的潜在关联。大学及其他高等教育机构可被视作推动区域创业发展的核心力量。大学毕业生往往更频繁地参与新创企业的创办，而高校自身也可通过设立学术衍生公司，实现创新成果的商业化转化。本研究旨在检验高等教育对创业启动概率及其后续成功的潜在影响。本研究依托欧洲晴雨表（Eurobarometer）调查获取的40个欧盟（EU）与非欧盟国家的相关数据，采用概率单位回归（probit）与工具变量概率单位回归（IV probit）模型，对前述假设的高等教育与创业活动间的关联开展实证检验。研究结果有力表明，高等教育通常对新创企业的启动具有显著的促进作用，且该因素亦是新创企业成功的关键决定因素之一。此外，修读过创业相关课程的受访者在创业启动方面表现更为积极，且该因素同样与企业未来的经营业绩呈正相关关系。值得注意的是，来自巴西、葡萄牙与印度的大学毕业生尤为认可其就读高校在帮助他们掌握创业所需技能方面所发挥的重要作用。