A Model for Entrepreneurship Centers in Medical Universities

Entrepreneurship is often described as the ability to create new ventures from new or existing concepts, ideas and visions. In order to increase the entrepreneurial capacity of students, it is necessary to initialize entrepreneurship centers in medical sciences universities. These centers are responsible to design and implement the various programs such as educational, research and outreach in university. This comparative and cross-sectional study was carried out to develop the model of entrepreneurship centers establishment in Medical Sciences Universities. The study population included 12 university entrepreneurship centers affiliated to Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in Iran. Interview and observation methods were used to collect data, and the study tool was a questionnaire. The study identified mission statement, goals, organizational structure, duties, communication, strengths and weaknesses of selected entrepreneurship centers and at last, considering design Variables, a model was developed to initialize an entrepreneurship center in medical sciences universities. The study demonstrated poor condition of entrepreneurship activities in Iranian universities. Based on these facts an ideal model for health and medical education system in Iran was developed, which was validated by a number of selected Iranian experts using the Delphi technique.