The relationship between education and business creation has been studied in the international literature from different perspectives and approaches (Clark, Davis, and Harnish 1984; Lafuente and Salas 1989; Robinson and Sexton 1994; Upton, Sexton, and Moore 1995; Kolvereid and Moen 1997; Delmar and Davidsson 2000; Charney and Libecap 2000; Cowling and Taylor 2001; Levie, Brown, and Steele 2001; Lüthje and Franke 2002). Likewise, many authors mention the extraordinary increase in the quantity and quality of entrepreneurship programs in the past twenty-five years, as well as the foundation of research centers, conferences, and publications in this area responding to university initiatives and the increasing demand for these types of courses (Fayolle 1998; Kolvereid and Moen 1997; Vesper and Gartner 1997).

There is a growing consensus that in the “information society” education is one of the key factors for the emergence of new firms and their development prospects. In this context, new ventures set up by graduates are expected to play a critical role especially for the emergence of knowledge and technology-based firms. The main aim of the paper is to analyze the influence of different contexts developed and developing countries on: a) the image that students have about entrepreneurs; b) the influence of social background on the motivation to become an entrepreneur; c) the perception about what positive or negative factors affect the creation of new ventures. The countries analyzed are Argentina (San Andrés University) and Italy (Università Politecnica delle Marche). Overall there are more similarities than differences between Argentinian and Italian students in their perception of entrepreneurship and in their attitude to setting up their own firm. However the social background of the students plays a major role. Although this can be considered a preliminary study, it offers interesting indications for the design of entrepreneurship programs for university students.

In countries such as Argentina, fostering an entrepreneurial culture at the educational level could have, in the long term, a positive impact on improving the image that society has about entrepreneurs, the diffusion of role models, and teaching the necessary tools to create knowledge-based businesses. Altogether, these positives will decrease the perceived opportunity cost of being an entrepreneur.

In the context of the knowledge society new ventures founded by graduates are called to play a critical role as agents of change. This potential role is especially crucial in emergent countries such as Argentina where existing firms do not play an important role as “organizational incubators” for new entrepreneurs. By the other hand, recent research in Latin American countries has found that half of the most dynamic entrepreneurs have an university degree. These evidences have led us to formulate some questions about the process of emergence of these university-based entrepreneurs: Which are the distinctive characteristics of it to be considered by those who promote entrepreneurship in universities? What is the contribution of universities to the emergence of entrepreneurs? The results contribute to enlarge the knowledge about the entrepreneurial process in Latin America with especial focus in the more distinctive aspects differentiating the emergence of university degree founded new ventures.