A study conducted by the University of Liechtenstein has concluded that almost half of students at fashion colleges plan to set up their own company. According to the study, fashion colleges provide hardly any tuition in business skills.

“The changes that have taken place in recent years in the purchasing behavior of consumers offer fashion entrepreneurs the chance to exploit new business opportunities and meet the demand for newly developing markets and therefore achieve entrepreneurial success”, writes the University of Liechtenstein in a press release. One of its Entrepreneurship Master’s students Fabian Stengel has examined the entrepreneurial aspirations of students at fashion colleges in Switzerland, Germany and Austria as part of his master’s thesis.

The press release goes on to say that, according to the results of his research, students at fashion colleges have a “very strong entrepreneurial mindset”. Stengel’s research shows that almost half of all students want to set up their own company five years after graduating. Only four out of ten up-and-coming fashion designers would prefer to work for somebody else.

The press release explains that students receive hardly any support with realizing their entrepreneurial goals. Business skills form only a small part of the syllabus. Especially the entrepreneurial potential of women studying at fashion colleges is therefore being wasted.

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