Economic development dynamics present a number of challenges to the system of higher education. Among these tasks, an important one is to train specialists who would meet the needs of the labor market. One of the components of this market is entrepreneurship, which, according to some scientists, can become a real driver of the national economic system and serve as the basis for increasing the welfare of citizens. The desire to engage in entrepreneurial activity should be conscious, and the activity itself should be prepared in advance. Education system in cooperation with business, non-governmental organizations and other partners is able to form such a desire and provide the necessary basic knowledge for the implementation of the plans of young entrepreneurs. Constructive building of partnership relations defines strategic development prospects for many educational institutions and within the “youth-entrepreneurial” context as well. The goal of our research is to determine the emotional readiness of university students to acquire entrepreneurial skills with participation of university partners. We suggest that partners, including business, public and municipal administration, scientific and non-governmental organizations, are able to intensify the development of entrepreneurial initiatives among university students, thereby promoting the development of entrepreneurship in general, and addressing the problems of employment of the younger generation. Emphasis on the participation of university partners in the development of entrepreneurial skills of students distinguishes our study from similar ones, thereby complementing similar works of other authors. The survey we carried out allowed us to study the opinion of 630 university students from three Russian cities. The results of the study demonstrate the emotional readiness of almost half of the respondents to engage in their own business. However, the existing restrictions and risks reduce the number of those who consider the option of organizing their own business as the main career path. Respondents consider it important to involve partners in the process of initiation and development of entrepreneurs; university partners, in turn, are able to complement the educational process
Keywords
youth entrepreneurship, partnerships, university partners