Abstract

Regarding the important role of universities in entrepreneurship education (as the economic development engine) and their changing role, in this study the capabilities of both public and private universities for entrepreneurial education across the city of Tehran are compared by a survey study. A questionnaire designed for measuring the entrepreneurship potential (EP) (defined as the extent of knowledge, attitudes and behaviors) of alumni’ and data has been gathered from 248 alumni’s of selected universities across Tehran by nonparametric tests then hypotheses are tested. Results show that the universities capabilities to deliver proper people to society are significantly different from public to private universities. A comprehensive model of involvement to entrepreneurship for universities is proposed in the last section of this paper.

Key words: Entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship, university, entrepreneurship potential.