| Abstract [eng] |
It is generally admitted in the scientific environment that employment and entrepreneurship are the most important factors that precondition the changes in the national economy. However, the results of the research in the sphere of self-employment in Lithuania suggest that Lithuanians, unlike other European citizens, emphasize the shortage of their entrepreneurial abilities and skills. This shows that developing entrepreneurship is one of the most important processes, and the assurance of its quality while educating a young person is considered to be an aspiration that can enrich not only young people themselves, but also the society. The subject of the research is developing entrepreneurship of the academic youth. The object of the thesis is the model of developing entrepreneurship of the academic youth. The aim is to analyze the opportunities of the development of the entrepreneurship of the academic youth in theoretical and practical contexts, and design a model of developing entrepreneurship of the academic youth. In order to achieve this aim, the following objectives have been set: to study conceptual assumptions of entrepreneurship; analyze theoretical aspects of developing the entrepreneurship of the academic youth; investigate the opportunities of developing the entrepreneurship of the academic youth in Lithuanian institutions of higher education; and design a model of developing the entrepreneurship of the academic youth. The methodology of the thesis, which has helped carry out the objectives mentioned above, includes the study of scientific references, the statistical analysis of the research data, the qualitative content analysis of documents, and a questionnaire survey. The study of scientific references revealed that the concept of entrepreneurship, its meaning and significance in today's globalized world is being investigated not only by scientists, but also by new economic theories, and various documents of the European Union. Entrepreneurship is defined as an ability; innate and acquired features; searching for opportunities/making full use of them and generating business ideas/implementing them. Entrepreneurship is also perceived as a process; identifying an opportunity / opportunities as well as searching for and creating new areas of activities. The portfolio of entrepreneurial competences includes managerial, personal, social and professional competences. The essential individual determinants that predetermine entrepreneurship may be external (social and economic) and internal (personal features, self-expression and self-realization, financial rewards, business initiatives and operational factors, dissatisfaction with the job available, pursue of independence and recognition). In the theoretical context, the development of entrepreneurship is defined as the acquisition of the abilities to set up and develop one's own business; the system of developing entrepreneurship and the techniques of training an entrepreneur. The most significant methods of developing the entrepreneurship of the academic youth are learning through experience, case studies, cooperative learning, learning by problem solving and simulation of business enterprises. The qualitative study of the legislation related to the development of entrepreneurship and the national and EU documents that regulate youth policy revealed that the students of higher education institutions are offered the following significant instruments to develop entrepreneurship: projects, business incubators, non-formal entrepreneurship programmes, Erasmus for young entrepreneurs and the mentoring programmes. The study of the entrepreneurial experience of the academic youth as well as the development of entrepreneurship in Lithuanian institutions of higher education revealed that the majority of students of higher education institutions in Lithuania are not currently involved in the labour market, but they feel the need to take their own business because they strive to create jobs for themselves and others, and engage in their favourite occupation. According to academic young people, the most significant features of a businessperson are creativity and the ability to notice opportunities, while the main driving factors of their entrepreneurship are external, economic, and internal, financial gain. The most developed among academic young people is the social competence, and the entrepreneurship of Lithuanian students of higher education institutions is fostered through cooperative learning method and using the instrument of participation in various projects of developing entrepreneurship. Taking into account the study of scientific references, qualitative and quantitative results of the research, an original model of developing the entrepreneurship of the academic youth has been designed, which is significant not only in theoretical but also in practical sense, since it offers a possibility to practically choose formal methods for developing entrepreneurship and non-formal entrepreneurship training instruments, in order to develop adequate constituents of the entrepreneurial competence of the academic youth. |
