Students’ Competences and Entrepreneurs’ Expectations: The First Stage of the SYNERGY Project Evaluation

The article presents the results of a research on students’ competencies self-esteem. Competencies were defined as a synthesis of three components: knowledge, skills and attitudes. The study was performed in the areas identified by the representatives of the business, as competitiveness key factors in the job market. The research was conducted in the years 2009 - 2012, on a sample of 1,831 students, under the “SYNERGY – MCSU Faculty of Economics students’ competences development by gaining practical knowledge” project. The SYNERGY project was co-financed by the European Union from European Social Fund and realized by the Department of Economics Maria Curie- Sklodowska University (MCSU). The purpose of this article is the to show which areas of knowledge, skills, and attitudes are considered to be essential for business owners and business representatives, as well as what is the level of self-esteem of this competencies among the students of economics. The article consists of two parts. In the first part authors present the characteristics of the SYNERGY project: basic information, project objectives and activities realized in the framework of the project, for students, enterprises and business organizations. The second part presents the results of the research on students' of economics self-assessment in the area of presented knowledge, skills and attitudes. Authors present areas of knowledge that were characterized by high and low level of self-esteem. The paper also shows the skills that are desirable from the business point of view, but in the opinion of students require special attention and development. In the last part of the article authors present, whether and how the competencies self-esteem level depends on respondents’ gender, age, place of residence, year and course of study? The paper presents also the key findings of the study, as well as examples of activities that are necessary to raise the level of knowledge, skills and to shape the attitudes of business students.