Abstract:

Summary: During recent years, the entrepreneurial culture has been one of the most important issues both in academia and in the workplace, whenever this represents a channel for the creation of jobs and thus provide the population greater potential for integration into the labor market. Therefore, higher education institutions have a key role as channels for forming competent individuals to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive labor market, which will have to make use of financial tools and entrepreneurial skills. In this process, academic tutors can contribute favorably, since they accompany students in their educational process, providing guidance not only linked to educational level but also in the labor market. However, there is little evidence that reflects whether academic tutors are trained to promote entrepreneurship and, if so, how they develop this work. In order to inquire about this issue, a survey was applied to twenty academic tutors from a public university in order to identify practices associated with the promotion of entrepreneurship. The evidence shows that tutors have a clear notion of entrepreneurial culture and even encourage students to start projects, but not in a systematic way. Thus, it is suggested the creation of a model to regulate this type of actions in favor of entrepreneurship, benefiting both mentors and mentees.

Keywords:

Tutoring, public education, entrepreneurship.