Abstract:

This manuscript summarizes the results of a training needs assessment (TNA) survey conducted in the field of entrepreneurship, markets and economics of ecosystems and biodiversity. It targets university students-undergraduates and graduates, including Ph.D. students- within European countries. The survey was conducted through an online questionnaire aiming to gain a better understanding of the level of entrepreneurship and innovation education within forestry and environmental university courses in Europe, in order to highlight existing skill gaps and emphasizing areas for future potential improvements.

The main results have shown that about 80% of respondents are interested in entrepreneurship as a subject/topic for academic education. Awareness of entrepreneurship-related training offered by hosting universities (and even more by different ones), however, is low, and in most cases, limited to courses describing the state of the art for enterprises in the primary sector (e.g. trade in forest products or primary processing), rather than teaching students how to start and manage business activities.

In general terms, satisfaction with the commitment of hosting universities in relation to entrepreneurship education is quite limited and it results even lower when scaling-down to training opportunities offered by hosting faculties/schools.

Acknowledgement:
This work has been funded by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), through the project number 562358-EPP-1-2015-1-IT-EPPKA2-KA (ECOSTAR).

Keywords:

Training, higher education, environment, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Erasmus.