Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey (GUESSS)

The presented GUESSS-Russia national report is a multifaceted inquiry into entrepreneurial potential of Russian university students. It pays special attention to the coverage of their career preferences, attitudes towards entrepreneurship, assessment of university and national environment, influence of family on the development of entrepreneurial intentions, characteristics of active entrepreneurship.
Based on a survey of more than 5,400 students from universities across Russia, the following trends were identified:

● Right after graduation, 49% of students see the start of their career paths as employees, while almost 23% of students see it as entrepreneurs;
● About 42% of students want to become entrepreneurs five years after the graduation, which is almost 10% more than in the international sample;
● In Russia, the share of potential entrepreneurs (i.e. those who are already trying to start their own business) among students is 42%, which is significantly higher than the share in the international sample - 28%. The share of active entrepreneurs (i.e. those who are already running their own business) reaches 12%, which is slightly higher than in the international sample;
● 54 of students had no entrepreneurship courses at all, which is comparable to the international sample;
● There are gender differences: the percentage of those who want to become entrepreneurs right after the graduation is higher among men (26% vs. 21% women), but 5 years after the graduation this gap is narrowed with the prevailing proportion of women (42% men vs. 43% women);
● About 27% of students come from entrepreneurial families, and the proportion of student entrepreneurs with at least one parent running their own business is 51% compared to 39% of students from non-entrepreneurial families;
● At 4.4 points out of 7 do Russian students rate the attractiveness of a career of an entrepreneur in terms of the balance of advantages and disadvantages, opportunities and the sense of satisfaction they bring;
● In Russia, a career of an entrepreneur is evaluated more positively by students and their environment compared to the international sample. Russian Report 2021 contains important results on various aspects of student entrepreneurship development and provides a comparison with the international sample, which will be of interest to a wide range of readers.

Read the full report here: Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey

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