Abstract:

Competences are instruments to handle inconsistency and dynamic, fast changing personal and professional context people live in which is mainly caused by globalization. In the European Higher Education Area, competences are described as the skills, knowledge, and attitudes acquired in one situation or field that can be used in other situations, areas, or types of occupations and include communication skills, self-control skills, and problem-solving skills. One of the competences which has been highlighted due to the labour market demands is entrepreneurship competence, it involves shift from big corporations to smaller companies where intrapreneurial employees are expected. Entrepreneurial skills are recognised as the key to the development and fulfilment of the individual, active citizenship, social inclusion, and employability in the knowledge society they support individuals’ abilities to manage their strength and opportunities, take a risk, attract resources, to create added value for personal or professional growth as well as work in a team, effectively communicate, think critically, and make a decision based on a long-term strategic vision.

Both within and outside the European community, policies on education and life-long learning emphasize the importance of stimulating entrepreneurial behaviour, the report on the European Higher Education Area in 2012 (hereinafter EHEA) emphasizes that in order to meet the demands of society and the labour market, graduates need generic skills combined with modern, thematic knowledge. Entrepreneurship competence is one of the competences that a graduate need to be able to fit in and compete in the changing labour market, as well as to maintain lifelong employment.
The aim of the study is to research students’ self – assessment of entrepreneurship competence in the study process from diverse Latvian universities, disciplines, and levels of degree. The research would be a foundation for a discussion according to competence-based learning approach in the higher education field.

The specific research questions of this article are:
1. To explore scientific literature, existing research on student’s entrepreneurship competence.
2. Analyse results of Latvian students’ self-assessment of entrepreneurship competence and to determine whether it is developed in universities studies and find out other factors that might influence students entrepreneurship competence development

Methodology:
Data for the study was gathered by using the online survey platform QuestionPro. The questionnaire consisted of 47 statements that allowed students to self-assess their entrepreneurship competences (7-point Likert scale) and was filled in by 646 students, of whom 442 - bachelor students, 161 masters and 43 doctoral students.

The study presents a comparison of entrepreneurship competences self-assessments of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students. Results indicates that master’s students have self-evaluated their entrepreneurship competence higher than bachelor’s students. However, doctoral students’ self-assessment values are very similar with master’s students. Comparing the results between students who don't work to students who are working it can be concluded that mean value of students’ entrepreneurship competence self-assessments are higher for students that do work. It indicates that entrepreneurship can be developed in workplace.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurship competence, entrepreneurial skills, students, competence.