Factors Affecting the Development of Student's Entrepreneurial Skills at Agricultural Colleges in Iran

Entrepreneurship is one of the major building blocks of sustainable development. Accordingly، this study sought to model the influencing factors affecting the development of entrepreneurial skills among students at Two-year agricultural colleges in Iran. This research is a cause-correlational and the statistical population comprised of 9،907 agricultural students at 13 agriculture Colleges mation unites. Sample size was determined using Cochran formula (n=228). The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire the content validity of which was approved by agricultural extension experts and its reliability was estimated to be θ= 0. 94 using ordinal theta. Data analysis was done by applying SPSSWin21 and LISREL (8/5). Results showed that، approximately 37. 1% of respondents ranked their entrepreneurial skills at an intermediate level and 29. 7% considered it at high level. Applying Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) indicated that the most important factor influencing the development of entrepreneurial skills among students in agricultural colleges in Iran is the entrepreneurial spirit with the path coefficient of 0. 56. Personal factors with path coefficient of 0. 42 had an impact on the development of entrepreneurial skills. Environmental factors and educational factors with 0. 19 and 0. 42 were effective on the development of entrepreneurial skills، respectively. The educational factors، with path coefficient of 0. 42، had an impact on the entrepreneurial skills development; also، it has an impact on the environmental factors with path coefficient of 1. 07. In establishing the latent variable of the entrepreneurial skills، planning and setting the goals were the most effective.