Entrepreneurship education in Italian universities: trend, situation and opportunities

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the present situation and recent evolution of entrepreneurship education in Italian universities and to discuss whether these courses and curricula match the demand for entrepreneurial competences.

The empirical analysis is based on a census of entrepreneurship courses and curricula run by universities. The information collected through the internet refers to the academic years 2003‐2004 and 2009‐2010.

Compared with the situation observed in the USA and in other European countries, entrepreneurship education in Italy is rather “underdeveloped”. Only a few universities have courses or specific curricula dedicated to entrepreneurship. The courses are concentrated within business faculties while very few exist in science and engineering faculties. The slow pace with which Italian universities are keeping up with the global trend in entrepreneurship education at university level seems in vivid contrast with the need for the Italian economy to change its industry structure from the so‐called “traditional” to “high‐tech” sectors. The paper discusses the reasons for this situation.

The paper does not evaluate the impact of entrepreneurship education. A suggestion for future research could be to analyze the role of these courses in encouraging entrepreneurial activity of students.

Entrepreneurship education at university level can play an important role in the Italian economic system, fostering the creation of new business in knowledge‐intensive sectors.

The exploratory analysis of the state of entrepreneurship education in Italy suggests the need to develop these courses and spread the presence, especially in the science and engineering universities.

The paper covers a lack of research on the attitude of higher education institutions towards entrepreneurship education in Italy.