This study aimed to explore university students’ awareness levels about entrepreneurship’s role in promoting entrepreneurship in acquiring social and economic balance within Emirati society. A descriptive-analytical method was used, with data gathered from 365 participants through a questionnaire. The findings revealed that university students demonstrated a strong awareness of the impact of entrepreneurship on achieving entrepreneurship in acquiring social and economic balance equilibrium in the UAE. In particular, students from Ajman University expressed highly positive views on the entrepreneurship in fostering this balance. Additionally, the results showed no significant statistical differences in awareness levels based on gender or academic year. However, there were notable differences between students in scientific and humanities colleges, with the significance level below 0.05. The study recommends supporting students in launching entrepreneurial initiatives that contribute to entrepreneurship in acquiring social and economic development. Moreover, efforts should be made to eliminate barriers that hinder the understanding and practice of entrepreneurship.

As urbanisation increases, questions arise about the desirability of further urban growth, as it was not accompanied by corresponding economic growth, and social and environmental problems began to grow in the largest cities in the world. The objective of the article is to substantiate the limits of urbanization growth in Kazakhstan based on the study of theoretical views on this process, analysis of the dependence of social and economic parameters of 134 countries on the urbanisation level and calculation of the urbanisation level that contributes most to economic growth and social well-being. To achieve the goal, the following tasks have been set and solved: theoretical views on the process of urbanization have been generalized; a hypothesis has been put forward about the emergence of an “urbanization trap” in which the growth of large cities is not accompanied by economic growth and improvement of social well-being; an analysis of the dependence of socio-economic indicators on the level of urbanization has been carried out on the example of 134 countries of the world; the level of urbanization that maximizes economic growth and social well-being is calculated; the necessity of the development of small towns in Kazakhstan is substantiated. To solve the problems, the methods of logical analysis, analogies and generalizations, economic statistics, index, graphical, Pearson correlation analysis, Spearman and Kendall rank regression based on models in SPSS were used. As a result, the following conclusions are made: the hypothesis of a possible deterioration of socio-economic indicators in large cities is confirmed; the best positive result is demonstrated by the level of urbanization of 50%–59%. The recommendations are justified: in Kazakhstan, it is necessary to adhere to the level of urbanization no higher than 59%; the growth of urbanization should be ensured through the development of small towns; it is necessary to improve the methods of managing the process of urbanization and develop individual city plans.