The EntreComp Framework in Practice: A Case Study Linking Employability, Entrepreneurship, and Regional Development

Abstract

The objective of this study is to explore the interconnections among three pertinent topics in contemporary public policy, particularly within the European context: employability, entrepreneurship, and regional development. Initially, we conduct a bibliometric analysis to identify the primary trends in this field. Subsequently, we present and analyze a case study, namely the Innovation and Talent Retour Program (PIRT 2022), which is a public initiative aimed at attracting university graduates with prior international experience. This program is part of the Entrepreneurial Culture Programs offered by the Autonomous Community of Extremadura, located in Spain. By employing a questionnaire based on the EntreComp framework and involving a sample of university graduates’ beneficiaries of the program, we validate the measurement scale and investigate whether this project contributes to the development of entrepreneurial competencies among the participants. The insights gained from the obtained results inform future programs within the region, as well as other regions undergoing similar processes. This study delves into the theoretical and practical aspects of the role played by universities as key agents in fostering the sustainability of their respective territories. It is concluded that higher education must even assume a more proactive role in the future concerning the employability of its graduates and the overall development of the surrounding region in which it is located.

1. Introduction

In the European context, employability assumes great significance as it directly impacts the overall competitiveness of the workforce and the economic growth of the European Union (EU) [1]. Likewise, entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in job creation and fostering economic growth [2,3]. Specifically at the local level, within the European context, entrepreneurship becomes vital in enhancing competitiveness, stimulating job creation, and cultivating a dynamic and resilient economy [4]. Regional development is focused on improving the economic, social, and environmental conditions within a specific geographical area, and it is closely linked to employability and entrepreneurship [5]. The primary objective of sustainable regional development is to enhance the overall well-being of the region’s population by creating sustainable employment opportunities, improving infrastructure, and promoting local industries [6]. The implementation of sustainable regional development strategies across various parts of Europe is of utmost importance in reducing regional disparities, fostering economic growth, and ensuring a balanced and inclusive development [7].

From a regional policy perspective, fostering employability has become a strategic tool for EU Cohesion Policy in the EU [7,8]. Employability refers to an individual’s ability to obtain and maintain suitable employment. It encompasses a combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and personal attributes that make a person employable in the labour market. For young people, employability is the ability to find the first job. In regions such as Extremadura, located in the southwest of Spain, where the youth unemployment rate exceeds forty per cent [9], active policies for young people to find their first job are very necessary, especially to avoid depopulation [10].

Higher education institutions often collaborate with regional governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and local communities to address sustainability challenges. Universities have a multi-faceted role in sustainable development, encompassing education, research, community engagement, and policy advocacy [11,12]. By fulfilling these roles, they contribute to building a more sustainable future by equipping individuals with knowledge, fostering innovation, and promoting responsible practices at various levels of society [13].

In this context, the purpose of this article is twofold. Firstly, the study theoretically and practically investigates the role of universities as key agents to contribute to the sustainability of their territories. Secondly, through a case study, the article serves to test whether regional policies focused on employability, entrepreneurship and responsible development are reaching their goals. The case study of the region of Extremadura will give insights for their own future programs and for other regions in similar processes.

After this introduction, we present the theoretical background based on a systematic bibliometric analysis to discover previous works on the field, and the general state of the art. Later, we present the method and analyze the selected case study of the region of Extremadura. Discussion and conclusions serve for reflecting on the results obtained, and to present new opportunities for the region.

2. Theoretical Background

The social role of universities and their contribution to sustainability is a hot topic today [14,15,16]. Their role as organizations is important, as well as being sustainable themselves, but it is even more important how universities impact society through research and teaching [17]. In the Theory of Sustainable Development (TSD) [18], universities are invited to use their resources to contribute to the environmental preservation and the social transformation of the community in which they operate [19]. The TSD has evolved since its origin in the 1980s, from a vague and general approach to a more concrete and global action. Currently, there is a more practical vision where improving governance capacity is considered an important factor to promote sustainable development [20].

Transforming lives and creating impact through education is the ultimate goal of purpose-driven universities according to Haski-Leventhal [21], who offers in her book a compilation of chapters from different authors, showing good examples of what universities should be. This author affirms that “purpose is our reason for being, which rarely changes over time, although it may inspire and enable change” (p. 4). Higher education institutions have the responsibility, and the power, to educate by sustainable competencies the future staff of companies, big corporations but also small and medium enterprises. Future policymakers are also educated in universities, as well as managers in non-lucrative organizations. Consequently, sustainable purpose-driven universities will have the possibility to transform people’s future, and the future of territories, and this future must be sustainable.

To identify academic trends pertaining to the topic, we utilized the Web of Science (WOS) as a database. Later, we used the VOSviewer’s text mining functionality (https://www.vosviewer.com/ (accessed on 13 July 2023)) for the selection of papers on the topic, considering the titles and abstracts of publications. The software selects all word sequences that consist of nouns and adjectives, and that end with a noun. To create a co-occurrence network, we have eliminated all noun phrases very general such as “method” or “interesting result”. Relevant noun phrases in the network have a high relevance score because their co-occurrences are mainly with a limited set of other noun phrases [22]. This has facilitated the clarification of the current state of research gaps in the field.

Independently of whether a person has professional experience or not, is working or is actively looking for a job, the term employability refers to the skills to find a job, stabilize in the current position, or improve the working life through promotions, assumption of new responsibilities, or more significant functions. In short, we say that a person is more employable or has high levels of employability if he/she has more possibilities to grow professionally. However, Suarez [23] pointed out that employability also refers to self-employment and, therefore, to entrepreneurship [24,25,26].

The term employability generates high expectations in the current research landscape. To know the importance of the term in the academic field we developed bibliometric research on the Web of Science (WOS). By using the term employability as a Boolean operator, or search vector, in the subject of work in all fields, it has been found that there was a total of 8837 scientific documents published. When we restricted the category to only considering papers, there were a total of 6299 articles published in journals with different impact indices. The division of these articles by areas of knowledge shows how Education occupies the first place, with 2252 papers, followed by the Management area with 608. When we delve into these studies and narrow the search to works published in the form of papers that consider employability and regional development together (vector “employability” AND “regional development”), the number is drastically reduced to 63 contributions. Here the predominant areas are close, also leading Education with 17 papers, but followed closely by Economics, Management or Business, with the field of Regional Studies appearing strongly.

Figure 1 shows a bar graph with the temporal evolution of the selected publications. We can also see the importance of the publications, calculated by the number of citations represented by the blue line. This line clearly shows a growing trend, evidencing the relevance of this topic.

To analyze the research topics, we developed a bibliometric analysis with the VOSviewer software version 1.6.19. It is a tool to create visual networks based on a specific research topic. The mechanic is simple, the software works by collecting information from the journals that publish these works, the research teams, or individual publications. It creates networks based on the citations received by paper, and the link between different documents, such as cross-citations or co-authorship relationships.

The circles of the maps, called nodes, describe the keywords or themes and represent the presence of the characteristic that we select, which can be keywords, authors, journals, institutions, etc. In a bibliometric analysis, the location and size of nodes on a map are important. The nodes with a larger size than the other nodes inform us of a greater presence of the characteristic or attribute that we are considering. In Figure 2, the network shows the keywords and informs of the topics investigated. It is remarkable that concepts such as policies, expectations, or higher education, have been found higher in size than others. Those larger nodes are concepts more studied than those in small nodes. Regarding the position of each node on the map, it shows the relationship (intense or less intense) that it has with the other nodes. A central node on the map means that this theme is closely related to the other nodes. Thus, Figure 2 shows how the expectations of young people are a central theme, common to all the works reviewed. It is also remarkable that expectations, in yellow, constitute a recent topic, more studied than others in the last years. Under this umbrella, studies about educational processes, internships in companies, and their quality, constitute a central axis of studies on employability. On the contrary, a remote subject means that it bears little relation to the rest of the analyzed topics. That is the case with higher education, which appears located in the upper-right part of the network. This indicates that higher education, while important in this field, still does not occupy the central position that it should as a driver of regional development and employability of its graduates.

Figure 3 shows the clusters found, which are sums of nodes. They are large-grouped themes that are studied simultaneously. Each one represents a specific topic of research. Just as we interpret the nodes, the greater the presence of nodes in the cluster, the stronger and trendier it is. In turn, related to their position, the most central in the bibliometric map are the clusters most linked to the rest of the topics. In Figure 3 we can see how aspects such as public policies appear to be well related to fundamental aspects such as innovation and internship processes, but unfortunately, they are still far removed from higher education. For this reason, it can be interpreted that the role of the university in employability processes, and its necessary link with active employment policies, and with other labour market agents, is an emerging trend in this field of research.

The four major clusters identified in the analysis are the following, from most to least important:

First Cluster (green colour)—Economic Focus. In this field of research, work is being conducted on how the promotion of employability is a factor that boosts the economy in the different countries of the European Union. Economic growth requires the design of plans that efficiently and effectively incorporate young people into the labour market.

Second Cluster (red colour)—Public Policies. We identify here an interest in analyzing public policies that promote employability, the processes and implementation of plans and programs, the link with the productive sector (companies), and everything from an innovative perspective.

Third Cluster (blue colour)—Business Approach. We see that there is a line of research in employability from a purely business approach. There are works that focus the attention on the job position and analyze the challenge of employability of human capital as a factor that provides competitiveness to the company.

Fourth Cluster (yellow colour)—University Approach. The last thematic block is that of those works that address the role of the university in promoting employability by measuring experiences and impacts.

Once the large fields of research have been identified, we refined the search, looking for the study of entrepreneurship. As a result, we found only 19 publications. As can be seen in Figure 4, the Education area is no longer present, and the areas of Economics, Regional Studies, Business, Geography, Finance, Development, Sustainability, and Ethics are the ones that have dealt with our field of study up to now.

Within this last selection of works, there are interesting aspects that deserve to be pointed out and that they went on to comment on. To begin with, it is a fact that the integration of youth into the labour market has been a challenge for the European Union for some time. In this line, works are being published around the role of the Triple Helix of innovation [27].

Leydesdorff ([27] (p. 1)) defined the Triple Helix as a “spiral model of innovation, which is able to capture multiple reciprocal linkages at different stages of the capitalization of the knowledge”. It refers to the set of interactions between academia/university, industry/company, and governments, also regional or local, to promote the economic and social development of the territory. The objective of the Triple Helix is to promote cooperation between the three agents to contribute to the productivity of knowledge-based societies, where the role of innovations is crucial to boost and maintain the economy.

In the selection of articles linking employability, regional development, and entrepreneurship, the publication by Buligina et al. [28] looks at how the Triple Helix can, and should, be at the service of Vocational Training. The Triple Helix approach has been used to explain how to shorten the transition of graduates from the educational phase to the work phase. In this line, Krizanovic et al. [29] highlight the importance of the Triple Helix concept in the transformation process towards a knowledge-based society, with the aim of increasing competitiveness, productivity, and employment, along with this, ensuring stable and sustainable economic growth. The need arises for universities to assume a new and more active role in society in the face of global economic problems (changes, growing risks, and challenges of an insecure and complex environment). Instead of the traditional role of teaching, it is now emphasized that universities are socially responsible subjects, and active in the social and economic development of each territory, adapting to the needs of the market. Concretely, Krizanovic et al. [29] describe a project from a Croatian university whose motto is “Activity and Creativity through Ideas and Companies, will be equal to Employment.” The project was initiated by the Osijek College of Economics in cooperation with a Center for Entrepreneurship, various institutions, and associations, as well as four secondary schools. It aims to improve the prerequisites for employability and self-employment of young people, especially from university, but also high school graduates, as well as unemployed people without experience.

The article by Lado-Sestayo et al. [30] analyzes the spatial nature of entrepreneurship at the territorial level of maximum disaggregation, the NUTS III. It is a good example of how academic studies are lately including the relationship between new entrepreneurs and the territory. In some cases, this relationship is considered unidirectional to the extent that the decision to become an entrepreneur can be highly influenced by geographic location. In other words, beyond the entrepreneurial, cultural, and social competencies that have to do with entrepreneurial people, there are spatial characteristics that provide location advantages for some industries. These authors highlight the role of location as a determining aspect of business activity and the importance of using a temporal and spatial methodological approach in entrepreneurship research to avoid biases. In the same vein, Danciulescu [31] argues that facilitating the integration of young people into the labour market and promoting their professional mobility could be an effective measure to reduce the unemployment rate at the regional level, especially in developing regions. The objective of the article is to measure the degree of economic development from the perspective of employability in each NUTS II and to identify possible disparities.

Another topic of interest is to increase student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) because these areas of knowledge are gaining more and more relevance in the world of human resources. How to retain the workforce with high qualifications STEM has become increasingly important in both higher education and regional development. In terms of employability, STEM profiles are at the top, with a high and growing demand in the labour market. We have found papers reflecting on how to inspire and empower youth to pursue STEM. In the United States, the work of Lysenko and Wang [32] focuses on how to improve the employability of STEM graduates. With an interdisciplinary approach, this study develops a framework that encompasses individual attributes, university institutional characteristics, and labour market factors to explore the work experiences of STEM graduates. The authors argue that university locations not only provide potential employment opportunities, but also that the interaction between students, universities, and the regional context generates employment opportunities and improves salary levels. Therefore, the efforts of the different agents in the territory must be joined and coordinated to increase the employability of graduates and promote collaboration between universities and companies in favour of regional development.

Another topic of interest is the analysis of active labour market policies for improving the labour market outcomes of unemployed people, which are usually criticized for their low effectiveness [33]. In this regard, in our selection of papers, the work of Karasova et al. [34] analyzes the Slovak reality in the period 2007–2017 and finds little evidence of its economic efficiency. The performance of these public policies is related to a series of external factors, such as business cycles, the number of local job vacancies, discrimination against some ethnic minorities, and the levels of regional development. As a result, they indicate that jobseekers with low educational levels have more difficulty finding work and are more likely to return to unemployment. Education is then revealed as an extremely important factor of employability.

Finally, Udrea and Stefanita [35] look at the international mobility of Romanian university students (for example, the Erasmus Program) and study the effects that these educational stays abroad can have on their transition to employment. The article analyzes how students perceive the impact of the mobility experience on their employability and future professional opportunities. They also study to what extent and in what way international mobility stimulates students’ desire to obtain a job abroad. Their results show that most students are more interested than before in finding an internship or a job abroad after having been students in mobility programs, although only some of them feel prepared to take the necessary steps to achieve this aim.

Consequently, and to conclude this section, and considering the reviewed academic papers, we could affirm that active labour market policies are needed for regional development, linking employability and entrepreneurship. All the studies reviewed allow us to confirm both the novelty and the importance of this field of study. Employability, entrepreneurship, and regional development go hand in hand and all efforts that contribute to strengthening this trinomial are welcome in terms of public policies. The Innovation and Talent programs in the region of Extremadura meet this objective and do so under the approach of the European competency framework with very satisfactory levels of compliance, as will be explained in the following sections dedicated to analyzing this case study.

3. Method

Some recent works in the field of business administration use single [36], or multiple case studies [37] to examine real-life situations within organizations, providing a rich and detailed understanding of the complexities and dynamics of the environment. In this work, the case-study approach has been selected as a method for exemplifying in a real situation the link between employability, regional development, and entrepreneurship goals put into practice.

The case-study method bridges the traditional gap between quantitative and qualitative methods in the social sciences [38]. The case study of the region of Extremadura focuses on the perceptions—gathered by a questionnaire of 53 items (Appendix A)—of the young participants of an employability public program at the regional level, especially focused on entrepreneurship competencies. Data analysis was performed in Smart Partial Least Squares and SPSS software version 27. The structural equations model developed served to validate the EntreComp scale. The descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed the participants’ competencies acquisition.

4. Case-Study: The Region of Extremadura and the Entrepreneurship Culture

4.1. The Big Picture

The Entrepreneurial Culture Programs developed for years by the regional government of the autonomous region of Extremadura (called in Spanish Junta de Extremadura) are aligned with the European Entrepreneurial Competence Framework (EntreComp Europe), launched in 2016 by the European Commission [39]. Since then, several academic studies have focused attention on this framework [40,41,42]. Both the European framework and the entrepreneurship policy of the regional government of Extremadura, are based on the idea that the early development of entrepreneurial skills contributes to regional development, as previous studies on the topic have shown [43,44,45].

In 2021, and for the first time, the Observatory of Entrepreneurship in the region, under the umbrella of the regional policy, has considered an extension of the entrepreneurship programs in the university environment. In this context, the Innovation and Talent Program (PIT is the acronym in Spanish) was launched by the Public Employment Service of Extremadura (SEXPE is the acronym in Spanish) in 2021. A second project was launched in 2022 with the acronym PIRT, including the R for retour, trying to attract talent from the region but with previous experiences abroad, in international programs, as is the case of Erasmus students coming back home.

These programs, PIT in 2021 and PIRT in 2022, have combined the development of competencies within the EntreComp Europe framework of young university graduates, including professional internships with monetary retribution, in selected organizations in the region, mainly private firms. The first purpose of these programs was to enhance the capacities of the region’s talent in the strategic areas that have been marking the smart specialization strategy agenda of the region (the current RIS3): the agri-food sector, information and communication technologies, tourism, health, clean energy, basic research, humanities and social sciences, green economy, circular economy, and bio-economy. The ultimate goal is to facilitate the job placement of participating young unemployed people.

Focusing attention on the PIRT of 2022, it is remarkable that a strict process of application and participant selection was conducted, and a total of 91 graduates were selected. The program beneficiaries received a monthly salary of EUR 1225 gross. The PIRT has aimed to enhance the employability of graduates who have previously participated in International Mobility Programs at the university. It specifically has been focused on developing their entrepreneurial competence through a comprehensive training curriculum. The program is designed within the EntreComp framework, which serves as a valuable tool for improving the entrepreneurial capacity of European organizations and citizens [39]. EntreComp defines entrepreneurship as the ability to identify opportunities and transform ideas into valuable outcomes [39]. With a strong emphasis on learning by doing, the training program has encouraged participants to apply their knowledge in practical settings, fostering experimentation and real-world application. Throughout the entire process, the University Entrepreneurial Culture Team, under the umbrella of the General Directorate of University Policy of the Junta de Extremadura, have provided continuous support and guidance. The PIRT 2022 has expanded over a period of six months and has consisted of seven face-to-face sessions. These sessions have served as valuable opportunities for participants to engage directly with the content and actively contribute to their own learning and growth. By combining theoretical knowledge with practical experiences, the program aims to add significant value to the participants’ skill sets, empowering them to succeed in the ever-changing job market.

4.2. The Empirical Study

With the aim to test the impact of the PIRT 2022, we assessed the extent to which participants improved their competencies during the program, and according to the EntreComp framework. For this purpose, we measured the perceptions of participants before and after the program.

• Sample

A total of 91 participants were sampled, 62 women, representing 68% of the total, and 29 men with 32%. All the participating people were young graduates of the University of Extremadura who had some previous international mobility experience. In short, young people with studies who were unemployed and needed to improve their employability to join the labour market in the region. A total of 64 valid questionnaires were recollected, representing a participation rate of around 70% of the total.

Table 1. Technical data sheet.

Competency Study—PIRT 2022
Geographic Scope	Autonomous Community of Extremadura
Universe	91 participants enrolled in the Entrepreneurial Culture program of the University of Extremadura—Internationalization and Return of Talent Program (PIRT) 2022
Information Collection	Online Questionnaire
Temporal Scope	April/December 2022
Participants	Young university graduates with previous international experiences 62 women (68%) 29 men (32%)
Sample	64 valid questionnaires
Participation Rate	70.32%

shows the technical data sheet of the study.

• Instrument

The scale designed for this study is based on the European EntreComp framework [39] which allows us to evaluate the PIRT as an Entrepreneurial Culture Project. EntreComp is made up of 3 key areas (identifying ideas and opportunities; resources; taking into action) which are further divided into competencies, giving a total of 15 entrepreneurial competencies in 3 blocs, and a total of 53 questions (Appendix A). The blocs are as follows: identifying ideas and opportunities, mobilizing resources, and taking action. It is not a rigid framework because it can be adapted to the interests of each organization and each context. Nor do some competencies prevail over others because they are all considered relevant, and the objective is the sum and progress in each of them.

The term competence has been defined as the sum of knowledge, skills, and attitudes [46]. Competencies are defined through learning outcomes, that is, what the person knows and understands, can do, and is willing to do. In a simplified way we usually say that competence is the sum of knowing, knowing how to do, and wanting to do. In the EntreComp framework [39], learning outcomes are described for eight different levels of progression, from beginner to expert. The instrument used for this study has considered the maximum levels that the EntreComp model describes for each competence (expert level). To measure the internal consistency of the items within each bloc, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients have been calculated (

Table 2. Internal consistency.

Competencies According to the Entrecomp Framework	Cronbach’s Alpha
Bloc 1: Identifying ideas and opportunities (Opportunities)	0.844
Bloc 2: Mobilizing resources (Resources)	0.852
Bloc 3: Taking action (Actions)	0.839

). Generally, a higher alpha value (above 0.7) indicates better internal consistency.

It should also be noted at this point that, unlike previous measurement instruments used in other previous Entrepreneurial Culture analyses carried out in Extremadura [45], in this study we have put special attention to the level of development in economic–financial skills, given their importance in the EntreComp Europe framework [39,47,48] and in entrepreneurship studies [49,50].

In addition, to validate the scale, and according to the rationale of the EntreComp framework, the three following hypotheses have been tested:

H1: 

Identifying ideas and opportunities is direct and positively related to mobilizing resources.

H2: 

Identifying ideas and opportunities is direct and positively related to taking action.

H3: 

Mobilizing resources is direct and positively related to taking action.

By using Smart PLS software and following the Hair et al. [51] procedure, the main results of the measurement and the structural model are shown in Figure 5. As follows,

Table 3. Hypotheses testing.

Hypotheses	Path Coefficient (Original)	Path Coefficient (Sample)	St. Error	t-Statistics	Significant (p < 0.05)
H1	0.671	0.679	0.061	10.932	0.000
H2	0.776	0.779	0.049	15.950	0.000
H3	0.699	0.695	0.124	5.627	0.000

shows the results obtained after bootstrapping procedure with 5000 resamples to test the hypotheses.

• Competencies’ level of the participants at the beginning of the program

The first block of questions consisted of identifying ideas and opportunities whit the following components: opportunity detection and creative utilization, referring to creating value and developing solutions for existing and new problems; future vision as the ability to predict different scenarios to guide actions; idea consideration about maximizing the potential of ideas to generate value; and ethical and sustainable thinking related to evaluating the consequences of actions and acting responsibly. On a 7-point scale, the global average for this competence was 4.65 points, with a variance of 0.85. The minimum value recorded was 2.87, and the maximum value of 6.33 (Figure 6).

The second block of questions was related to mobilizing resources and consisted of the following components: self-awareness or self-efficacy, referring to short, medium, and long-term aspirations, individual and group strengths and weaknesses, or believing in oneself to keep going despite uncertainties and adversities; motivation and perseverance related to maintaining focus and not giving up, being patient in the process of achieving set goals, being resilient under pressure or when facing occasional failures; mobilizing resources about gathering and managing everything needed to bring ideas into action, whether they are material, immaterial, or digital; knowledge in the economic–financial area related to estimating the cost of implementing ideas into a value-generating activity, making economic plans, making decisions and evaluating them, and managing finances to sustain long-term activity; and mobilizing others, about effective communication, persuasion, negotiation, and leadership to inspire and attract people and stakeholders to join the own project, and achieve positive results.

On a 7-point scale, the global average for this competence is relatively lower than the previous one (ideas and opportunities), with a value of 4.45 points. The variance is also slightly higher than the previous one, with a value of 0.89, showing greater dispersion. The minimum and maximum values are also lower than the previous competence, with 2 and 6.13 points, respectively (Figure 7).

Finally, the third block of questions was related to taking action, and consisted of the following components: initiative, related to accepting challenges, initiating processes of value creation, and working independently to achieve objectives, being persistent, and carrying out planned tasks; planning and management referring prioritizing, organizing, and tracking short, medium, and long-term goals, and adapting to unforeseen changes; dealing with uncertainty, ambiguity, and risk related to being able to make decisions in contexts where information is incomplete or ambiguous, following guidelines to test ideas and develop prototypes to minimize defects or failures; cooperation, related to working as a team, networking, and collaborating with others to develop ideas and make them a reality, resolving conflicts, and addressing competition in a positive manner; and learning through experience, about using initiative as an opportunity to learn, learning from other people (peers and/or mentors), and doing so from both successes and failures (one’s own or others’).

On a 7-point scale, the global average for this competence is slightly higher than the previous one (resource mobilization), with a value of 4.48 points. The variance is lower (0.62), indicating less dispersion. The minimum and maximum values are higher than the previous competence, with 2.67 and 6.4 points, respectively (Figure 8).

• Assessing the participants’ competencies acquisition

With the aim of determining the degree of success of the evaluated program, in the first place, normality tests were carried out of the three competency dimensions considered, both before starting, PRE, and at the end of the program POST. The normality of the distributions (null hypothesis, Ho) is assumed if the level of the p statistic is not significant (that is, if p > 0.05). In our case, with 95% confidence for the mean, and in view of the results obtained, we could not assume the normality of all the variables analyzed.

Therefore, with not all distributions being normal, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was performed (

Table 4. Ranges.

Ranges
		N	Average Range	Sum of Ranks
OPPORTUNITIESPRE— OPPORTUNITIESPOST	Negative Ranges	52 (a)	34.09	1772.50
	Positive Ranges	10 (b)	18.05	180.50
	Tie	2 (c)
	Total	64
RESOURCESPRE— RESOURCESPOST	Negative Ranges	61 (d)	33.46	2041.00
	Positive Ranges	3 (e)	13.00	39.00
	Tie	0 (f)
	Total	64
ACTIONPRE— ACTIONPOST	Negative Ranges	54 (g)	33.42	1804.50
	Positive Ranges	8 (h)	18.56	148.50
	Tie	2 (i)
	Total	64

(a) OPPORTUNITIESPRE < OPPORTUNITIESPOST/(b) OPPORTUNITIESPRE > OPPORTUNITIESPOST; (c) OPPORTUNITIESPRE = OPPORTUNITIESPOST/(d) RESOURCESPRE < RESOURCESPOST; (e) RESOURCESPRE > RESOURCESPOST/(f) RESOURCESPRE = RESOURCESPOST; (g) ACTIONPRE < ACTIONPOST/(h) ACTIONPRE > ACTIONPOST. (i) ACTIONPRE = ACTIONPOST

and

Table 5. Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

Test Statistics (a)
	OPPORTUNITIESPRE— OPPORTUNITIESPOST	RESOURCESPRE— RESOURCESPOST	ACTIONPRE— ACTIONPOST
Z	−5.582 (b)	−6.695 (b)	−5.806 (b)
Lateral asymptotic significance	0.000	0.000	0.000

(a) Wilcoxon signed-rank test; (b) based on positive ranges.

) to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in the mean of each dimension, before and after people passed by PIRT 2022 experience.

The test revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in the mean of the three competency levels of the EntreComp framework (Z = −5.582, p = 0.000; Z = −6.695, p = 0.000; Z = −5.806, p = 0.000). These results indicate that the PIRT 2022 has had a significant impact on the entrepreneurial skills of the participants.

5. Discussion

The objective of this study has been to explore the interconnections among employability, entrepreneurship, and regional development, as three pertinent topics in contemporary public policy. The method used has helped us to achieve the goals. First, the bibliometric study [27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35] has highlighted specific works [27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35] that demonstrate the subject’s increasing significance and the growing interest it holds among academic researchers today. However, the role of higher education institutions is not still determinant as it has been revealed in the network and cluster analyses.

Second, within the European context, and regarding the evaluation of the EntreComp framework in practice, the case study evaluated is developed under the assumption that entrepreneurs drive the establishment and growth of businesses, leading to increased employment opportunities and income generation within a region [2,3,5,27,30,31,43,44,45]. The case study shows the contribution of a program of regional public policy to the development of entrepreneurial competencies in university graduates. In 2022, two major milestones were achieved in the region of Extremadura. On the one hand, the expansion of the Entrepreneurial Culture Programs to the university level closes the educational cycle of entrepreneurship in Extremadura as a public policy for regional development. On the other hand, the application of the EntreComp framework in an innovative way is not only giving excellent results but has also been recognized and awarded by the European Union. As a general reflection, then, we can say that the Entrepreneurial Culture Programs are consolidated in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura and that this is having a positive effect on the development of the entrepreneurial spirit in the region.

We highlight the usefulness of the European EntreComp framework for the projects of the Junta de Extremadura, even at the higher education level. Walking hand in hand with our European partners allows us to measure and compare ourselves better. Also, satisfactorily, being an example of good practice for other European regions.

In the year 2023, the traced path is being followed. The challenge for 2023 is to improve employability programs by focusing on the competencies of the EntreComp Europe framework that are not being fully developed considering the results that have been obtained after analyzing the “post” information collected on December 13, 2022. We are referring specifically to the skills that obtained the worst evaluations in terms of the degree of achievement, which are the skills related to financial education (questions 29, 30, and 31 in Appendix A, called here FC1, FC2, and FC3, having PRE or POST to differentiate the value before and after the program). However, if we compare it with the previous starting values, the program has substantially improved the competence of the participating people (

Table 6. Financial education. Comparison of means.

Means in the Three Indicators of Financial Competence (EntreComp Framework)
	FC1PRE	FC2PRE	FC3PRE	FC1POST	FC2POST	FC3POST
Mean	3.2188	3.3594	3.4375	5.0156	4.6250	5.0781
Standard Deviation	1.78591	1.77610	1.72631	1.70426	1.53788	1.48329

).

In 2011, within the EU, the European Economic and Social Committee warned that society had to take a step forward and promote financial education initiatives among citizens. There are works that show that even the simplest financial concepts, such as interest rates, inflation, its effects on the economy or the necessary risk diversification in personal finances, are not clearly understood by a high percentage of citizens.

The lack of knowledge makes people vulnerable and easy prey for complex products and, unfortunately, many times, opaque, which can lead to indebtedness and financial exclusion. Therefore, better treatment of financial education within entrepreneurship programs will benefit society. Thus, within the EntreComp framework, we think that the next programs in Extremadura should encourage better development of these financial skills that are framed within the second block related to resources.

6. Conclusions

The relationship between employability, entrepreneurship, and regional development, is crucial for achieving regional cohesion within Europe. By promoting entrepreneurship and ensuring employability, regions can address socioeconomic disparities, reduce regional inequalities, and foster inclusive growth. This will contribute to a more balanced development across different regions, enhancing social cohesion and reducing the gaps between economically prosperous and disadvantaged areas. In this context, this study is in line with previous research [14,15,16,17,18,19]. The case study, theoretically and practically, investigates the role of universities as key agents to contribute to the sustainability of their territories. The results obtained from the bibliometric analysis of relevant publications linking the three topics under study—employability, entrepreneurship, and regional development—have shown that it is not the area of Education which is devoted to this gap of research. It is the area of Economics and Sustainable Regional Studies which is producing research on the topic.

In addition, the fourth cluster found in the bibliometric analysis must be interpreted as topics of research on the field (economic, public, business and universities). The importance of the Triple Helix model has been constated [27,28,29] where universities have a determinant role in the transformation process towards sustainable economic growth. The topic “universities” is the fourth and the last cluster, and for this reason, is the topic that must be considered as a gap in the research deserving of more effort in the future.

The instrument used in this work to evaluate the acquisition of entrepreneurial competencies of the participants—based on the EntreComp framework [39]—can be a useful tool to evaluate other similar projects in the EU.

The analysis of the project, PIRT 2022, has yielded results that not only showcase its significant impact on the participants but also highlight how these initiatives, aimed at attracting talent from universities, fostering entrepreneurship, and enhancing employability, align with public policies pertaining to sustainable development. These findings emphasize the project’s efficacy in driving positive outcomes and its contribution towards broader societal goals. Such projects serve as a catalyst for fostering regional development in Extremadura, thereby potentially serving as an exemplar for other territories within the European Union and beyond.

Our aim is to persist in this trajectory and strive for even greater excellence in future editions. This study will act as a springboard for generating novel research inquiries and exploring uncharted avenues of investigation. We have highlighted gaps in existing knowledge and areas that require more exploration, and we prompt researchers to conduct additional studies and contribute to the advancement of the field, especially related to the specific role of universities.

In this context, and for the near future, the University of Extremadura is leading the EU GREEN project, which is a European university alliance for sustainability, including responsible growth, inclusive education, and environment. The recognition of EU GREEN as a European Alliance in 2022 by the European Commission will have an impact in terms of sustainability in the territories of the nine partners: University of Gävle (Sweden); University of Évora (Portugal); University of Angers (France); Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg (Germany); University of Extremadura (Spain); University of Oradea (Rumania); South East Technological University (Ireland); and University of Parma (Italy). We hope that the experience of the region of Extremadura’s leading entrepreneurship culture programs will count to achieve the common goals of this new and promising alliance. Another program that would soon benefit from the PIRT experience in the region is the incoming First Professional Experience Program in public administrations. This program consists of the recruitment of young people unemployed within the services provided by public administrations, within the framework of the European Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience in Spain.

In conclusion, the relationship between employability, regional development, and entrepreneurship is of utmost importance in the European context. By nurturing entrepreneurship, improving employability, and supporting regional development initiatives, European countries can drive economic growth, foster innovation, reduce regional disparities, and create a more resilient and inclusive society.

It is necessary to highlight that the difficulty of acquiring a first work experience affects young people and this difficulty also prevents the prompt integration of graduates into the labour market and prevents their professional and personal development, and regional development as well. The case study analyzed here will help to define better actions for the future. This work has contributed with new insights into the field, and it should be useful for practitioners and public managers, considering that other regions in Europe, and in other locations in the world, have the need to conjugate employability, entrepreneurship, and regional development to achieve sustainable development. Certainly, higher education must assume a more proactive role in the future concerning the employability of its graduates and the overall development of the surrounding region in which it is located.