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4.2.2. Entrepreneurship Education 
Hansemark (1998) states that traditional education is 
simply marked as conversion of knowledge and skills, and 
entrepreneurship education, by contrast, is a model for 
changing behavior and motivation. Entrepreneurship and 
entrepreneurship education, besides the obvious advantages, 
such as promoting the business creation, also has a wider 
dynamic market (Hess, 2006). Two of the most important 
conditions for success when starting a new business is the 
desire or incorporation capacity. Entrepreneurial mindset not 
only required during a classic entrepreneurial career, but is 
clearly in high demand regardless of labor relations. 
Entrepreneurship education seeks to teach people, especially 
young people, responsibility and courage. Enterprising 
individuals who become entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial 
thinkers contribute to economic development and creating 
sustainable communities (Hess, 2006). As Ahmad and 
Hofmann (2012) note that the activities of entrepreneurship 
education need: 
“dedicated entrepreneurship centers, 
internships, teacher and advisor education, and research are 
necessary for success. Policy initiatives should ensure the 

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43 
Evangelia Fragouli and Nikolaos Giannakovitis: Entrepreneurship and Financial Crisis: A Critical Investigation of
Entrepreneurship Prospects and Opportunities That Lie Behind the Financial Crisis 
supply and quality of entrepreneurship education” (Ahmad 
and Hoffmann, 2012, p. 27). 
According to the European Commission on fostering 
entrepreneurial mindsets through education and learning, 
entrepreneurship education can be defined as follows: 
Entrepreneurship refers to an individual's ability to turn ideas 
into action. It includes creativity, innovation and risk-taking, 
and the ability to plan and manage projects in order to 
achieve objectives. This supports the society as a whole and 
pushes employees to know the context of their work in order 
to be better able to seize opportunities. It also provides a 
foundation for entrepreneurs establishing a social or 
commercial activity (Szabo & Herman, 2012). The 
consortium for entrepreneurship education (2008) states that 
entrepreneurship education not only involves teaching to 
running a business but also to encourage creative thinking 
and promote a strong sense of self-worth and empowerment. 
Through entrepreneurship education, students learn not only 
how to create businesses, but also much more. The core of 
the knowledge generated through entrepreneurship education 
includes (Hess, 2006): 1) Ability to recognize the 
opportunities presented, 2) Ability to pursue opportunities by 
creating 
new 
ideas 
and 
acquire 
new 
resources, 
3)Recommendation capability and a new business, 4) 
Creative and critical thinking ability. 
According to Hoffmann et al. (2012), entrepreneurship 
education is a continuum, which involves the education 
regarding 
the 
business 
planning, 
the 
operational 
management, the knowledge about the capital formation and 
the sources of financing, etc. Given the proliferation of 
entrepreneurship education, it is necessary to set up a 
framework in this regard. Jameson (1984) proposed a 
framework of three categories, recognizing the roles that 
represent the various types of education. The first category 
deals primarily with creating awareness, and aims to inform 
students on issues related to the creation and operation of a 
business (from a theoretical perspective). The business units 
within enterprises and other subjects at the undergraduate or 
graduate level can also be included in this category (Hess, 
2006). 
The second category is more concerned with the training 
of candidate entrepreneurs in self-employment, to encourage 
the participants to establish and manage their own business. 
People are taught the practical skills needed for business 
management. The courses are often directed to prepare a 
business plan. Examples of this type of training in 
entrepreneurship is starting a business (Hess, 2006). The 
third category includes management training for established 
entrepreneurs and focuses on ensuring the expansion and 
development of business (Hess, 2006). Examples of these 
programs may be the business management and training in 
product development and marketing courses. This training 
provides the skills, knowledge and methodology to 
entrepreneurs in order to innovate and solve the problems 
which might occur. Garavan and O'Cinneide (1994) have 
adopted a broader view on the categorization of education 
and training in entrepreneurship, distinguishing between 
business education and education and training for small 
business owners. The first is described as a business 
education that aims to empower learning conditions which 
favor the creation of new businesses, and the various theories 
concerning the nature of the characteristics required for 
successful entrepreneurship. 
However, Garavan and O'Cinneide (1994) focused more 
on education and training for small business owners and have 
split this type of education into three categories, which 
appear to be associated with the personal development stage: 
(i) training in business awareness commonly found in 
secondary education, (ii) education and training in the area 
where they operate small business owners and (iii) the more 
specialized training designed to enable people to further 
develop their skills (Hess, 2006). 
According to Moberg and Vestergaard (2012), a holistic 
model of entrepreneurship education begins with the 
inspiration and information, as well as the continuous 
training of the trainers, since entrepreneurship is a dynamic 
process and not a static activity. The main objectives of 
entrepreneurship education are the development of 
entrepreneurship encouraging an attitude of autonomy using 
appropriate learning processes. Education and training 
programs in entrepreneurship directly aimed at promoting 
entrepreneurship itself (mostly targeted at entrepreneurs, 
whose objective is the search development opportunities in 
business). Research on entrepreneurship education focus 
mainly on the university level (Thorp & Goldstein, 2010; 
Morris, Kuratko, & Cornwall, 2013), or secondary level 
(Zhao, 2012). It is imperative to understand that 
entrepreneurship and business education at a young age, is 
not only for existing and new businesses. With more 
education and encouragement, young people should be able 
to realize their business aspirations. This effect will increase 
the economic development of communities and open new 
employment and career opportunities, regardless of economic 
circumstances (Drucker, 1985). Despite the fact that not all of 
people will be entrepreneurs, students and society benefit 
when people have a solid education, which gives them the 
business knowledge and skills during their life. So, according 
to Hofmann et al. (2012), an holistic framework for 
measuring 
entrepreneurship 
education 
includes 
the 
identification of inputs in the national level (human 
resources, capital, natural resources), the activity (business 
sectors, level of the companies), and the outcome (level of 
economic activity, level of value-added activities), regarding 
the effects on two levels: the user-oriented effect –the effects 
of entrepreneurship education to the entrepreneur himself- 
and the effects of the entrepreneurship education in society.