The importance attached to preparing graduates for a role on an international stage has become increasingly recognised by U.K. higher education institutions and by successive U.K. governments in recent years. At the same time, the contribution that enterprising individuals make to an economy has also gained in importance, but the answer to the question of what makes an 'enterprising individual' is still uncertain. This thesis investigates whether internationally mobile students develop or enhance certain entrepreneurial attitudes through a study or work placement period abroad and, if so, why certain attitudes may have developed or been positively enhanced by a prolonged exposure abroad. I have also considered the impact that such a sojourn has on the entrepreneurial intent and behaviour of graduates. I have followed a concurrent mixed method approach using a group of mobile students and, as a control group, students who do not undertake mobility during their degree. The results indicate that there is little difference in certain entrepreneurial attitudes between the two groups before mobility, but that the mobile students show a higher degree of (positive) change in some entrepreneurial attitudes than the non-mobile students after mobility. There are a range of factors from the international sojourn that could account for this change. The results imply that, along with other benefits of international education, an international sojourn contributes to developing potential entrepreneurial behaviour, as evidenced by the careers and activities of internationally mobile graduates. This thesis contributes to the existing body of knowledge in the fields of international education and entrepreneurship in a number of ways. Firstly it provides more insight into the entrepreneurial behaviour of graduates who have studied abroad. Secondly, my results add to the debate about what differentiates a mobile student from a non-mobile student. Thirdly, my research findings support the assertion that student mobility brings benefits (both to an individual and to the economy) by turning anecdotal indicators and suppositions about the benefits into more concrete and substantial evidence. Fourthly, and finally, through using a mixed method approach I have extended the to-date narrow focus of much of the research into the area of student mobility to provide an atypical approach to investigating international education benefits.

Entrepreneurship has been consolidated as one of the pillars to country development, through generation of incomes and work to population. However, entrepreneurship is not centered only on the business world. Nowadays a new branch of entrepreneurship is emerging, known as social entrepreneurship, whose main focus is social mission. Therefore, social competence must also be part of entrepreneurs' profile, both individual and social entrepreneurs, so that they are able to develop cooperative work relationships. This study is inserted in this context and it aimed to identify the relation between entrepreneur attitude and social competence according to the perception of individual and social entrepreneurs. Thus it was conducted a descriptive research with a quantitative approach. The population researched consisted of 136 managers who are members of Santa Maria Young Entrepreneurs Association and 36 managers of social organizations registered at the Social Organização Parceiros Voluntários , to whom a questionnaire was applied, which was developed with basis on the model proposed by Lopez Junior and Souza in 2005, named Measurement Instrument of Entrepreneur Attitude (IMAE). The second model consisted of questions related to social competence defined by Baron and Shane (2007). Statistic descriptive analyses were done such as distribution of frequencies, Correlation of Pearson and the Mann Whitney's Non-Parametric Test. The results led to family influence as the main reason for entrepreneur activity choice among individual entrepreneurs, and living with another entrepreneur as the second reason, while to social entrepreneurs the main reasons were necessity of helping needy people/communities and living with other entrepreneur. The analyses referring to Correlation of Pearson indicated positive correlations among all the dimensions of entrepreneur attitude, and social competence as well. Comparing the two groups studied through Mann-Whitney's Test, the results led to the existence of a significant difference between individual and social entrepreneurs regarding the social dimension. The other dimensions showed statistically no significant results to the two groups, and the social competence as well. / O empreendedorismo vem se consolidando como um dos pilares para o desenvolvimento do país, por meio da geração de renda e empregos para a população. No entanto, o empreendedorismo não está centrado somente no mundo dos negócios. No contexto atual emerge uma nova vertente de empreendedorismo, conhecida como empreendedorismo social, cujo foco principal é a missão social. Dessa forma, a competência social também deve fazer parte do perfil dos empreendedores, tanto individuais quanto sociais para que possam desenvolver relacionamentos cooperativos de trabalho. Inserido neste contexto, o presente estudo teve o propósito de identificar a relação entre a atitude empreendedora e a competência social na percepção de empreendedores individuais e sociais. Para tanto foi realizada uma pesquisa de caráter descritivo com uma abordagem quantitativa. A população foi composta por 136 gestores de empresas associados na Associação de Jovens Empreendedores Santa Maria e 36 gestores das organizações sociais cadastradas na Organização Parceiros Voluntários, aos quais foi aplicado um questionário estruturado a partir do modelo proposto por Lopez Junior e Souza em 2005, denominado Instrumento de Mensuração da Atitude Empreendedora (IMAE). O segundo modelo abordou questões relacionadas à competência social definidas por Baron e Shane (2007). Foram realizadas análises estatísticas descritivas como distribuição de freqüências, Correlação de Pearson e o Teste não Paramétrico de Mann- Whitney. Os resultados apontaram que o principal motivo para a escolha da atividade empreendedora entre os empreendedores individuais foi a influência familiar e o segundo motivo foi a convivência com outro empreendedor, enquanto que para os empreendedores sociais a necessidade de ajudar comunidade/pessoas necessitadas e a convivência com outro empreendedor, foram os principais motivos. As análises referentes a Correlação de Pearson indicaram correlações positivas entre todas as dimensões da atitude empreendedora, assim como para a competência social. Ao comparar os dois grupos pesquisados por meio do Teste Mann- Whitney, os resultados apontaram a existência de uma diferença significativa entre os empreendedores individuais e sociais na dimensão social. As demais dimensões apresentaram resultados estatisticamente não significativos para os dois grupos, bem como a competência social.