Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to improve the current knowledge of the effects of a higher education program for entrepreneurs, integrated in an entrepreneurial ecosystem, in the entrepreneurial intention of the students. Design/methodology/approach: For this, group dynamics have been carried out with the students to know the process of entrepreneurial learning, the acquisition of competences, the mentoring received and the influence of the program in its entrepreneurial intention in the short and medium term. Findings: The results suggest that the program positively influences students’ entrepreneurial intention, especially in the medium term. In particular, they point out that working personal skills in the program contribute to the development of their entrepreneurial project. On the other hand, mentoring requires a more methodical accompaniment and a greater degree of specialization of the mentors. Research limitations/implications: This research represents an excellent first step toward a better understanding of the factors that influence entrepreneurial intention. In addition, they lead to improve existing knowledge about the impact of entrepreneurial higher education. The only limitation of the paper is given by its nature as a case study. Practical implications: The case study aims to provide the results of the practical experience of a higher education program in entrepreneurship and serve as a basis for future lines of research that address the research gap based on the need of identification of best practices in entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial behavior. Social implications: This work brings practical experience that inspires diverse social actors as managers of higher education programs, managers of ecosystems entrepreneurs and public institutions. Originality/value: Our findings respond to previous concerns on the results of programs aimed at training future entrepreneurs. Besides, this work describes an interesting case study based on a postgraduate program, while most of the previous studies have been limited to undergraduate programs.

Purpose: – The purpose of the current paper is to develop and validate a scale for measuring and managing the acquisition of competences provided by higher education studies. Design/methodology/approach: – A representative sample of Spanish graduates was obtained in the framework of the REFLEX project. In this questionnaire, a battery of 19 self-assessed items was used to measure the contribution of universities to the acquisition of generic competences. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. Findings: – The main competences acquired in higher education according to Spanish graduates can be grouped as follows: innovation, interpersonal, knowledge management, communication, organisational and professional development. Results indicated excellent fit indexes of this six-factor model to data. Research limitations/implications: – This scale may be particularly useful to understand the process of transition of higher education systems according to Bologna principles. It also represents a significant contribution to the existing research in competency-based education. Practical implications: – This paper may help higher education institutions to identify improvement areas in their study programmes. Besides, the proposed scale may offer crucial information in the determination of which Bologna principles have been successfully implemented. Social implications: – Organisations may use these findings to design formal or informal training for new graduates hired by the organisation. Originality/value: – Despite the recent increasing research in the field of competency-based learning and competences required in graduates’ workplaces, this is the first paper that aims to present a validated scale designed to measure graduate self-assessed competences.