Investigating capacities and barriers of Iranian medical universities in developing entrepreneurship in terms of educational experts: A content analysis study

Background: Entrepreneurship leads to an increase in national income by creating new jobs and plays a role as a positive factor in economic growth by serving as a bridge between innovation and the market. The aim of this study was to identify the capacity and barriers existing in the medical universities of Iran to develop entrepreneurship from the viewpoint of some of the officials and academic experts. Methods: This qualitative, descriptive-analytic study was conducted to explore threats and opportunities in educational entrepreneurship at medical universities. The sample consists of medical universities' deputies of education across the country, attending the national meeting of education deputies. A questionnaire containing 10 open questions was tailored and given to the participants. After returning the questionnaires, the responses were evaluated using the content analysis method. Results: The issues related to the strengths of the medical universities in entrepreneurship development can be summarized in 3 categories: human factors, organizational and infrastructure factors, and technical and technological factors. With regard to the existing weaknesses while developing entrepreneurship in the context of medical universities, there are 3 general categories: education and research barriers, state-legal-political, and economic-managerial shortcomings. The barriers to entrepreneurship development among medical graduates can be categorized in 4 groups, including education and information, cultural and social factors, financial barriers as well as structural and infrastructural drawback. Conclusion: The most important movement toward entrepreneurship development in medical universities could be making structural revisions in transforming into third-generation universities. This important issue is being pursued and implemented by the government in the form of Plan for Development and Innovation in Medical Education.