The Impact of International Student Mobility Programs on Brazilian Students’ Perceptions of Entrepreneurialism

Abstract

This article assesses whether or not students with international exchange experience return to their home countries with qualitatively different perspectives on the way universities can play a role in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems. It includes survey data collected from 516 Brazilian undergraduates asked to rank characteristics of an entrepreneurial university on a scale from 1 to 5. The findings of this study suggest that those with international experience tended to emphasize connections between university and nonacademic partners, compared with nontraveling counterparts, who emphasized the importance of infrastructure in the university. Therefore, use of such programs may have an impact upon the structure of ST&I (Science Technology and Innovation) systems.