Student entrepreneurship clusters : A new way for entrepreneurship education ?

Widespread demand has recently arisen for measures to be taken to provide students in higher education with the opportunity to acquire entrepreneurial skills. Echoes of this demand are to be found in recent work produced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and in the desire expressed in 2010 by the French government to set up 'Student Entrepreneurship Clusters' in the country's universities. In this paper a description of the objectives defined for these clusters is followed by an examination of the feasibility of a new offer targeting, in a given region, students in different academic years studying for different qualifications. The manner in which entrepreneurial skills are acquired is analysed with a view to developing a systematic picture of the process. Finally, the issue of assessing students' acquisition of entrepreneurial skills is also addressed.