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Guidance supporting Europe’s aspiring entrepreneurs
Policy and practice to harness future potential

CHAPTER 2
Background

The purpose of this background section is sixfold. This chapter aims to provide
information on:
• the EU policy context for entrepreneurship education and guidance in Europe;
• entrepreneurship in Europe, in terms of the number and profile of
entrepreneurs;
• entrepreneurial aspirations and the status of entrepreneurship as a career
option;
• entrepreneurial skills of Europeans, in particular their preparedness to pursue
entrepreneurial activities;
• entrepreneurship learning in Europe, especially within IVET and HE;
• a summary of the key issues and the way in which they are linked to the
guidance context.

2.1. Policy context

As a response to the pressures on economies to compete and innovate, over the
last few years policy agendas at different levels have recognised the need to
develop a strong base of new and innovative entrepreneurs. There has indeed
been growing recognition in the EU policy agenda of the importance of
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education. This is apparent in both
economic and employment policies, as well as from education and training policy
developments. EU level guidance policies are also starting to acknowledge the
importance of guidance for entrepreneurship, although the direct link between
guidance and entrepreneurship remains weak, in some case non-existent, in
most European countries.

2.1.1. EU policy linkages to entrepreneurship learning
The first EU level developments related to entrepreneurship learning date back to
1997 and the BEST Task Force comprising entrepreneurs, public administrators
and academics. It identified education for the creation and promotion of an
entrepreneurial spirit as one of the key recommendations (Rodríguez, 2009).
In 2000, the Lisbon European Council identified entrepreneurship as one of
the five areas of ‘new basic skills’ for the knowledge-based economy (European

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