Article
The Role of Education Policy and Institutional Support in Shaping Entrepreneurial Intention among University Students in Coimbatore
Entrepreneurship among university students is becoming a sign of importance in higher education as students are increasingly required to possess entrepreneurial capabilities, have opportunities for innovation and self-employment. Besides entrepreneurship education, the policy framework and institutional support of educational institutions might also affect students’ entrepreneurial intention. The present study is an analysis of the perceived education policy and regulatory support and institutional support amongst the University students and entrepreneurial intention in Coimbatore. This study used a quantitative research design, involving the use of a structured questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale, and the data obtained are primary data. The results from the descriptive analysis show medium level of perceived support from education policies and regulations and entrepreneurial intention. The results of the reliability measures indicate a good internal consistency for the three constructs The Pearson correlation analysis results are significant positive correlation between PEPRS and institutional support (r = 0.512, p < .001), PEPRS and entrepreneurial intention (r = 0.422, p < .001) and institutional support and entrepreneurial intention (r = 0.485, p < .001). The multiple regression analysis results show that the two factors PEPRS and institutional support account for 27.6% of the variance in entrepreneurial intention and both PEPRS (β = 0.235, p < .001) and institutional support (β = 0.364, p < .001) are significant positive predictors. The results reveal that building of the institutional mechanism and policy awareness is critical in order to encourage entrepreneurial intention among the university students in Coimbatore.