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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.

Background The main aim of this study, using a spatial-temporal model, is to analyse the link between a deprivation index and the incidence of prostate and cervical cancer in the Girona Health Region (GHR). Methods This is a population-based study which includes all the inhabitants in the GHR in the period 1993–2006. In order to assess prostate/cervical cancer risk, Besag, York and Mollie (BYM)’s spatial-temporal version of the model was used and four random effects were introduced: (non-spatial) unstructured variability, spatial dependency, temporal dependency and spatial-temporal interaction. As an explanatory variable, a deprivation index was introduced at the census tract level. Furthermore, the percentage of the population between 45–64 years of age and over-65 was also considered as explanatory variables. Results In the case of prostate cancer, all the variables which were introduced into the model showed a significant correlation with the relative risk, except for the second quintile of the deprivation index. Furthermore, as the index increased the correlation became negative and lower. Thus, the correlation between the relative risk and the two age bands proved to be lower, the higher the age was. In the case of cervical cancer, only the correlation between the over-65 age band and the relative risk was found to be statistically significant and positive. Conclusions In the case of prostate cancer, the results obtained in the GHR are in line with similar analyses. However, in the case of cervical cancer, no significant relationship between incidences in this location or economic status was found.