Assisting the establishment of new firms is a key objective of university entrepreneurship
support, but not its only one. The co-existence of tangible outputs (e.g. the number of assisted new
ventures) and intangible outcomes, such as the spread of entrepreneurial culture and the creation of
entrepreneurial mindsets, renders assessing the impact of university entrepreneurship support a
challenge that requires tailored approaches and systematic, long-term evaluation efforts.
Entrepreneurship education can play at least three legitimate roles in the development of an
entrepreneurial society. First, it can present entrepreneurship to students as a possible career choice aswell as acting as a general advocate for the mindset and type of creativity employed in entrepreneurial
endeavours. Second, it can assist students in developing the technical and business skill-set essential to
having a successful entrepreneurial career. Third, professional educators can assume the responsibility
of advancing the body of knowledge associated with the entrepreneurial phenomenon. Their findings
should not only be disseminated to students but also to policy-makers and the public at large (Redford,
2006).4