Investigating the Role Practical Courses in Improving the Entrepreneurial Competencies of Students (The case of: Students of Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University)

Acquiring entrepreneurial competencies by higher education graduates will increase their participation in the field of economic development and improve the welfare level of their social life. Therefore, training entrepreneurial graduates is one of the basic goals of the country's higher education system. Among the different courses, practical courses are an opportunity to develop skills and equip graduates with entrepreneurial competencies. Practical courses can provide critical thinking and problem-solving learning by combining theoretical knowledge and experimental knowledge. Therefore, the present research was conducted with the aim of investigating the role of practical courses in improving the entrepreneurial competencies of the students of Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University (SANRU).

The general research approach is quantitative and descriptive-survey. The statistical population of the study is the students of SANRU in Ph. D and Master's degree and final year of the bachelor's course (1611 people), of which 310 people were selected as a sample by stratified random sampling method. The validity of the questionnaire was checked by the faculty members of the university and checking the Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR). The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by using the pre-test and calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient.

The results of the research showed that, according to the majority of the studied students, practical courses have an average effect in improving their entrepreneurial competence indicators. Individual and communication competences have the highest average and technical-specialist competences have the lowest position among the types of competences. Also, the research showed that the level of education is effective on the entrepreneurial skills of students and Ph. D students obtained a higher average skill. Among the various practical courses, the internship course had the greatest effect in improving the entrepreneurial skills of students.

The entrepreneurial competence of Ph. D students is higher and their belief is more about the effect of practical courses in improving entrepreneurial competences. As a result, although the effect of practical courses on the improvement of each dimension of entrepreneurial competencies is moderate, but this view has been strengthened with the increase in the literacy level of students. Due to being in concrete and objective conditions, the internship course has had the greatest impact on improving entrepreneurial competencies. According to the findings of the research, suggestions have been made to improve the effect of practical courses on improving the entrepreneurial competencies of students.