THE ROLE OF ENTREPRENURSHIP EDUCATION IN FOSTERING ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS

: Nowadays, in the context of economic crises, the challenges of globalization processes and dynamic changes with existing knowledge societies, more emphasis is placed on the entrepreneurship as a driver for economic growth and innovation. The EU has also recognized the importance of entre -preneurship, as a factor influencing its progress. In addition, the European Commission states that en trepreneurship is a skill that can be learned. Therefore, one of the key goals of the EU and the Member States has been the promotion of entrepreneurial education for many years. The reason for its introduction and fostering lies in its importance, which manifests itself in developing young people’s potential, initiating their own ideas, developing the skills, knowledge and attitudes that are necessary to create entrepreneurial culture, which ultimately can lead to job creation. In this paper, the perceived capa bilities and perceived opportunities related to the entrepreneurial intentions (percentage of population aged 18-64 who intend to start a business within three years) are considered. Perceived capabilities refer to the percentage of people aged 18-64 who believe that they have the required skills and knowl edge to start a business, and perceived opportunities also apply to the same age of the population, who see good opportunities to start a firm in the area where they live. The research was conducted among the EU countries based on Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data, the world’s largest entrepre neurship research. The results of the paper indicate that the perceived capabilities to start a firm are the greatest in Slovakia, Croatia, and Slovenia, and regarding the perceived opportunities to start a firm, Slovakia and Croatia are below the European average level, where Sweden, Poland, and the Nether lands are leading. That brings the question of why that is so and how the education system can influence the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills, knowledge, and attitudes to recognize business opportunities. According to the GEM, entrepreneurial education is one of twelve key elements of an entrepreneurial environment that contribute to the acquisition of knowledge, developing attitudes and skills of individu als and leading to the increase of entrepreneurial activity and self-employment in a particular country. Consequently, a comparison between the EU countries on the approaches to entrepreneurial education at the primary and secondary levels of education was made. It shows how particular countries of the EU (with the highest marks for entrepreneurial education by GEM experts) integrate entrepreneurial education into their education system. According to the current state of education for entrepreneurship in the EU, the European Commission documents and examples of good practice, it is evident how entrepreneurship education differs between countries and that a unified entrepreneurship education approach has not yet been established. The above refers to the need for EU members to recognize the importance of entrepreneurship education and to make greater efforts to implement it in the school curriculum and greater support of the European Commission in caring out this process.