Strategies of Entrepreneurship Development in Agricultural Scientific- Applied Higher Education Institutes in North West of Iran

The main objective of this survey research was to analysis strategies of entrepreneurship development in agricultural scientific – applied higher education institutes in North West of Iran. The statistical population of the study consisted of N= 2850 students out of which 200 students were randomly selected using Cochran Formula and proportionate stratified sampling technique; each institute was considered as a stratum. Data were collected using a questionnaire developed for the study. Data were analyzed by applying SPSSwin16 and LISREL. Validity of the questionnaire was approved by a panel of experts. In order to measure the reliability of questionnaire, Cronbach Alpha coefficient was calculated (α= 0.92). Prioritizing strategies of entrepreneurship development showed that the most important strategies were; providemore applied education to prepare studentsto enterjob market and; supportentrepreneurialinitiativesandideasof studentsandteachers.Also, for identification of the components of these strategies in agriculturalscientific – applied higher education institutes, discovery factor analysis has been used. In addition, in order to investigate the index surpasses model, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations modeling were applied. Results showed that strategies of entrepreneurship development in agricultural scientific – appliedhigher education institutes were to be formed in five distinctive factors including: educational, supportive, policy, information – communicational and infrastructural factors.