Resumo

The selection of the cooperative juridical form as an entrepreneurial option is endorsed not only by its economic potential derived from the very notion of creating a business and its expected benefits, but also by their social effects on the territories where they are created. Among other advantages, it is a societal model in which values related to mutual support, responsibility, democracy, equity, equality and solidarity are paramount; these values are on the same level as those directly related to economic performance.

Our objectives are both, how encourage cooperative entrepreneurship within Higher Institutions and how to modify the students’ perceptions about this concept but also to assess the best practices’ methodology in order to do so.

Different initiatives have been proposed aimed at raising awareness and justifying the interest of university students in an active way through round tables and conferences, all with the fundamental objective of making students aware that the cooperative legal formula is a very interesting option for entrepreneurship. In total, a population of 150 students took part within the different activities analysed from different subjects from the business studies into the Faculty of Juridical and Social Sciences in the University of Jaén

- The university students have had access to the reality of cooperatives from close experiences considered as good practices in the sector. - University students have interacted with executives, managers and employees of cooperatives in order to make direct contact with this sector. - Students have learned about the advantages of entrepreneurship in the specific case of cooperatives.

Replicate this study in other university contexts and disseminate the best practice methodology as a way to foster entrepreneurship in general and cooperative entrepreneurship in particular.

Diaz‐Foncea, M., & Marcuello, C. (2013). Entrepreneurs and the context of cooperative organizations: A definition of cooperative entrepreneur. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l'Administration, 30(4), 238-251. Hernández-Sánchez, Cordella and Sánchez-García (2022), Miradas sobre el emprendimiento ante a crisis del coronavirus. Dykinson, Madrid. ISBN: 978-84-1377-995-9 Veselý, A. (2011), Theory and methodology of best practice research: a critical review of the current state. Central European Journal of Public Policy, 5(02), 98-117.

Considering the relevance of entrepreneurship in the economic sphere, this study focuses on its promotion among business students using best practices’ lessons. We have focused on cooperative entrepreneurship with the aim to discover the potential of this type of entrepreneurship and will train them in the possibility of using cooperativism instead private juridical forms as it has been usual.