You don't need a university degree to run a small business but neither does the education system provide the skills that are required.
Those are the findings in a new survey of small and medium enterprises by business solutions provider MYOB.
It mirrors the views of business leaders at last week's meeting with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who want a better alignment of vocational and university education with the rapidly changing needs of business.
"There is much more we can do to support innovation across the country," MYOB's chief technology officer Simon Raik-Allen says.
Fifty-eight per cent of respondents in the survey of 400 SMEs said the education system isn't providing the skills students needed to be entrepreneurial and innovative in their future, while two-thirds said it doesn't give the know-how to run a business.
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Over three-quarters said that you don't need a degree to run a small business, while 43 per cent of owners felt their own education had not helped them running the firm.
"Our business people are learning on the job," Mr Raik-Allen said, releasing the survey on Thursday.
"We could fast-track our entrepreneurship if we started teaching more of the skills needed in schools, TAFE, private colleges and universities."
