Endorsing academic entrepreneurship has become a major topic of public policy across the developed and developing countries. From the perspective of students, starting a new firm is a complicated decision due to high uncertainty and perceived risk. There are many factors that can support or hinder the students' decision to start their own firms. This paper is intended to explore the role of factors that determine the students' decision to start up own businessess. Internal factors such as motivation and other personal characteristics are explored together with external factors such as uncertainty in political and economic growth. The hypotheses based on these ideas were tested by using a survey on the university students at Petra Christian University (PCU), Indonesia. The regression analysis results broadly support the argument that the personal characteristics are important. Furthermore, external factors and some perceived barriers also proved to be positively significant. Based on these findings, suggestions were given for the improvement of entrepreneurial program conducted by the university.

The role of small firms in economic growth is widely recognized (Birch, 1979). They significantly contribute to the local economy through the creation of new jobs. Therefore, endorsing entrepreneurship has become a major topic of public policy across the developed and developing countries. In the developed countries, policy discourse centers on the issue of how to support the creation of new firms which are spin offs from the university or the research center. Combined with a capability to develop technology, these new firms contribute not only to the economic growth, but also innovation. On the other hand, endorsing academic entrepreneurship has recently started as a subject of discussion for policy makers in the developing countries. Various steps have been taken to stimulate the growth of entrepreneurship, particularly in the university. However, there are many obstacles in the way of supporting the academic entrepreneurship. Many universities lack research activities and outcomes. Most universities focus on teaching, educating and preparing their students to be workers in the industrial or managerial world. Moreover, there is a lack of comprehensive policy in supporting the academic entrepreneurship. Apart from universities, other actors such as government or the existing industries have paid very little attention and thus given little support to the issue of academic entrepreneurship (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 1997).

From the perspective of students, starting a new firm is a complicated decision due to high uncertainty and perceived risk. Many studies have revealed that entrepreneurial intention could be influenced from two sources, internal and external. Internal factors include a strong motivation and personal characteristics of students while external factors cover the external environment that may support or hinder entrepreneurial intention. For instance, the uncertainty in the political and economic situations such as those in developing countries, may affect the entrepreneurial intention among students. Therefore, to design a good policy, it is important to know what factors support or prevent the intention of students in starting their own firm after graduating. While there have been significant researches on the causes of entrepreneurial propensity, only a limited number of studies have focused on the entrepreneurial intention especially among students in the developing countries.

Entrepreneurship Development Journal, Entrepreneurial Intention, Entrepreneurial Programs, Career Decisions, Business Ownership, Business Communities, Product Development, Business Plans, Marketing Firms, Business Development, Domestic Productions, Government Bureaucracy.