About Us
What is GUESSS?
What Is GUESSS INDIA?
Our Vision
Our Mission
Objectives
This GUESSS survey is conducted across Indian higher educational institutions, capturing a diverse range of students from various academic disciplines and levels of education. The survey aims to achieve the following objectives:
- To generate actionable insights for aspiring student entrepreneurs, enablers, and policymakers to foster a vibrant student entrepreneurship culture within Indian higher educational institutions.
- To assess the aspirations and motivations of Indian students toward entrepreneurship.
- To analyze the evolving career intentions of Indian students in relation to entrepreneurship.
- To evaluate students' perceptions of the entrepreneurial culture and available support at their universities.
GUESSS Global
GUESSS, or the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey, is a comprehensive research initiative established in 2003. It aims to analyze the entrepreneurial intentions and activities of students globally. Coordinated by teams from the University of Bern and the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, GUESSS has expanded significantly over the years, involving 57 national teams and gathering over 226,718 responses worldwide in its latest iteration.
The project employs a web-based anonymous survey to explore various dimensions of student entrepreneurship, including career choices, entrepreneurial intentions, and the socio-demographic profiles of students. The theoretical foundation of GUESSS is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, which connects attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control to entrepreneurial intentions. By incorporating factors such as university environment and family influence, GUESSS provides valuable insights into the dynamics of student entrepreneurship across different cultural contexts.
For Academic Research Publications visit: GUESSS Academic Publications
GUESSS India Team
Dr. Puran Singh
GUESSS India is led by Prof. Puran Singh at IIT Mandi, who serves as the Country Head. He is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at the School of Management at IIT Mandi. He is ex-Director Incubation and the founding Faculty Incharge of IIT Mandi Catalyst, an emerging technology business incubator in the Himalayan Region.
He has served on the Governing body of ISBA. He is also a member of CII’s Northern Region Committee on Entrepreneurship.
Dr. Aparna Rao
Dharmender Yadav
Dharmender K Yadav is a doctoral candidate at the School of Management at Indian Institute of Technology Mandi. His research interests include student entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, and geography of entrepreneurship. He has a Master’s Degree from Banaras Hindu University and an MPhil from the Delhi School of Economics.
Gautam Mishra
Gautam is researching in the area of entrepreneurial personality traits. He is a B. Com. and M. Com from Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur and also an MPhil with a gold medal from Dr. C. V. Raman University. He is an entrepreneur himself and also has teaching experience as visiting faculty at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee University, Bilaspur.
Javeed Dar
Javeed is researching the embeddedness of entrepreneurial development, from intention formation to actualization. He holds a Masters in Craft Management, Design, and Entrepreneurship from the Craft Development Institute, Srinagar. He is Young Awardee by the Governor of Jammu Kashmir, leading youth peace initiatives in Kashmir. He regularly writes columns on national and international platforms.
Oshin Goel
Oshin is currently researching in the area of Entrepreneurship education with specific focus on pedagogies. She runs her own venture by the name of Vibrant Dots which provides activites and games based learnings in leaderhsip, team skills and selfdevelopment. The training programmes are conducted for corporate professionals as well as college and school students. She is an alumna of the second batch of IPM, IIM Indore. She has also been a visiting faculty as well an online tutor in the area of management.
Prerak Sharma
Prerak is pursuing MBA-DS & AI at IIT Mandi. He brings a sharp strategic mindset and a passion for creative problem-solving to GUESSS India. Known for his agility and openness to learning, Prerak thrives in dynamic environments where critical thinking is key. He is deeply motivated by helping turn others’ visions into reality, believing that true satisfaction lies in enabling impactful ideas to take shape. With a blend of analytical insight and innovative drive, he plays a pivotal role in shaping the strategic direction of the project.