Having no academic qualifications does not prevent entrepreneurs achieving business success, new research claims.

According to the poll by Barclays Local Business, just 46% of small company bosses had a degree and only 11% believed achieving a good education is crucial to business success.

The report claimed that with figures showing that someone starting their three year degree in London last September could graduate with debts of more than £27,000, it was unsurprising that young people are shunning higher education in favour of "more immediate financial returns".

In addition, with other findings from the Barclays poll showing that 20% of small business owner-managers are educated to GCSE level or below, the bank suggested that entrepreneurialism is a quality born to people, rather than taught.

Jordan McGreevy, who left school at the age of 16 to run his own computer empire, said: "Having worked on my game during the last few years at school, I felt confident that I knew enough about the field to not go to university.

"It is hard work, but with any luck I won't have to work as hard in the future. University would have been a good experience, but I prefer the challenge of learning on my own."

According to the research, entrepreneurs in London are most likely to have a degree, while those in the north east are least likely to be university educated.