Curricular improvements for entrepreneurial education

Our paper aims at investigating the most adequate methods for developing effective educational tools in entrepreneurial education. Entrepreneurship education should take place during the entire life of an entrepreneur, but the basic knowledge and skills related to this field are acquired starting from the elementary school, and improved during all the educational levels. Through entrepreneurship education, policymakers aim to prepare young people for succeeding on the entrepreneurial path. However, there are few scientific papers that aimed at discussing the available educational tools in Romania which play a role in forming entrepreneurs. Starting from the identified educational needs of young Romanian people under 35, including entrepreneurs and students, which were surveyed based on a questionnaire, we advance several key improvement areas for Romanian business curricula, and suggest critical paths to obtain desired results. The recommendations that we deliver through this paper are based on respondents’ opinions regarding their preference for certain aspects related to educational tools used in entrepreneurial education: learning materials used in universities in order to create an entrepreneurial mindset, the use of learning materials outside of the university curricula, and entrepreneurial skills that should be developed during school. A comparative perspective, examining curricular specificities in most entrepreneurial cultures of Europe, based on information obtained from Entrepreneurship Eurobarometer and Doing Business Indicators, is also included in our study. The main limitations, which arise from the subjective perspective of young entrepreneurs, as well as from the reduced sample volume, are thus corrected. The conclusions of our analysis provide a valuable starting point for educational policies promoting entrepreneurial skills enhancement in the Romanian business students’ population.