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PurposeEntrepreneurship requires the attitudes and capabilities needed to begin new and innovative projects able to create positive impacts in the economy of a society. Given that it forms the basis from which new companies, products and innovations emerge, it is a very relevant term in business. With the aim of strengthening these capabilities, many universities are incorporating new educational strategies into their curricula to boost entrepreneurial intention and business skills among their students. This study aims to determine the factors that intervene in the entrepreneurial spirit of students in Spanish universities by examining areas of study, different personal and contextual characteristics, and the type of training students receive in entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachData collected from 33,182 students in 77 Spanish universities in the 2018 edition of the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey (GUESSS) is examined in an exhaustive univariate and bivariate descriptive and inferential analysis. Furthermore, the relationship between the entrepreneurial index and the different explicative variables is modelled, and a basic random effect for the area of study is introduced to detect differences at this level.FindingsEconomics, engineering and health sciences presented higher than average entrepreneurial indices. Regarding the type of training, only voluntary education in entrepreneurship influenced entrepreneurial spirit, albeit not equally in all areas of study.Originality/valueThis study’s results can help universities to incorporate new educational strategies into their curricula to boost entrepreneurial intention and business skills among students by focusing resources where they are most efficient.