Entrepreneurship and Higher Education: An Overviewof the Iowa State University Alumni Survey

Entrepreneurship is a hot topic both in academic and policy circles.1 There is a growingrecognition that entrepreneurship is a driving force in economic growth and development in bothestablished and emerging economies. There is also an increasing body of evidence suggestingentrepreneurship that stems from a high level of human capital and creativity is the most likely toproduce the goods, services and ultimately the jobs that fuel economic growth, development andcompetitiveness. If human capital and innovation are important for growth entrepreneurship,then higher education should have a significant role to play in fostering entrepreneurship.In this report we present a descriptive overview of the entrepreneurial activities of graduatesfrom Iowa State University – a medium-sized public university in the United States. The datawere obtained from a random sample of 25,000 Iowa State University bachelor’s degreerecipients between 1982 and 2006. The survey requested information on graduates’ employmenthistory, further education, income, entrepreneurial activity and community involvement. Theon-line survey was conducted in 2008 and produced 5,416 usable responses – a response rate of21.6 percent. Survey details are presented in Appendix I.[...]