Category Archives: Enterprise Education

Blog, Enterprise Education, Training

Entrepreneurs don’t like forms

When you work with so many universities, you get to see many aspects of Enterprise Education, some good some bad. But there is one aspect which staff and students have issues with and its ERDF funded projects. These projects are designed by someone who normally has long gone to another institution and therefore the narrative is long lost on why they embarked on this journey, however across the sector we see a series of common issues:

Timing – When a student joins a university and wants to start a business on graduation. They pop over to the enterprise department and see what support is available for graduates and notice its “part funded by the EU”. The one question they forget to ask is “Will this be available in three years when I graduate”. If they did ask, the answer would be “I am not sure as its a three year project that started last year” or something like this. How can the student plan to start a business at that university if the support is not going to be there?  The length of the project is not in line with the academic programme and the University has not committed to provide a portfolio of support for students with or without ERDF funding.

Journey – The journey through enterprise education and support to create a business is not a linear one. The education is needed at the point of most impact, i.e, just before they need to undergo that task. You need book keeping at the start and completing the business tax return at some point within the first year. Some students require a considerable amount of social media training within the execution of the marketing plan, while others need very very little. These rigid projects can not coup with this approach.

Support Blocks – The majority of ERDF project require support to be in six hours blocks, signed off by the student on paper (That’s the EU Eco credentials crashing and burning). This requires a fixed “we are going to tell you” how to run a business approach. This limits the support to providing six hours on each subject and forcng everyone to attend every session to build up a set of paper work which evidences the “learning”. Whereby setting the objective to get people to sign forms in person. The majority of staff are only concerned with getting students to sign forms. The use of mixed media and social peer development is important for any long term business development and yet does not fit into these six hour form signing blocks.

Scope – The requirements of the project requires the scope of the project to be limited, which is understandable. However, a students startup comes in all shapes and sizes, which may not fit within the scope. The money is set out in a way which 2 years ago made sense, but now the economy, technology and business trends have moved on makes little sense to conducts the project with this set scope. The projects need to be able to adapt to the needs to the customer while keeping the aim, to support students in starting a viable business.

Location – The majority of projects are based around a location, so within the region of the university. The funding for the project comes from two sources, the EU and the students fees. So if the student intends to develop their business back home in another region, then they are not eligible for support under the ERDF project. The university does not offer support in getting them on a project in their region and nor does the university offer to support the student with the part of the funding which they are matching with the EU. So this student loses out.

One Stop Solution – Students want to go to one person and get all the support available for starting a business. They don’t need several projects which work on different aspects of enterprise and are separate. The supermarkets know this, the government know this (www.gov.uk), so Universities need to understand this and develop the enterprise support personal to be a single team where students meet the first person and can get access to the portfolio of support available at this institution. The ERDF project can not be the only support available and there has to be more offered to ensure the needs of students is met.

I know these issues are not entirely placed by the EU, who need to understand why these projects are providing little long term benefits or culture change within the institutions. The majority of the problems lies with those that create the proposals, the managers of the project and their briefs. Basically it needs further development of a working relationship with people who understand enterprise education with those who understand how ERDF projects should and could be run.

Blog, Enterprise Education, Skills Development

Institutional & Education Enterprise Requirements for Peer-Led Team Learning

There are numerous studies (Astin (1999) and Terenzini (1996) ) who highlight the advances of peer led learning within the educational institution, creating a strong evidence base for peer led student enterprise groups.

Astin, (1999) Proposes a student involvement theory whereby the High Education institution could use to measure ‘student involvement’ using a metric which refers to the quantity and quality of the physical and psychological energy that students invest in their experience whilst at the institution. This involvement may take many forms, such as absorption in academic work, participation in extracurricular activities, and interaction with faculty and other institutional personnel. According to the theory, the greater the student’s involvement in college, the greater will be the amount of student learning and personal development.

Terenzini (1996) states that, students’ out-of-class experiences appear to be far more influential in students’ academic and intellectual development than many faculty members and academic and student affairs administrators think

Slavin (1996) notes that the motivationalist critique of traditional classroom organization holds that the competitive grading and informal reward system of the classroom creates peer norms opposing academic efforts. Since one student’s success decreases the chances that others will succeed, students are likely to express norms that high achievement is for “nerds” or teachers’ pets. Such work restriction norms are familiar in industry, where the “rate buster” is scorned by his or her fellow workers Vroom (1969). However, by having students work together toward a common goal, they may be motivated to express norms favoring academic achievement, to reinforce one another for academic efforts.

As a learning pedagogical, Peer-Led Team Learning, whether project-based learning (PBL), game-based learning (GBL), Understanding by Design (UbD), or authentic literacy. Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) is a specific form of small group learning recognized by Project Kaleidoscope as best practice pedagogy (Varma Nelson et al 2004). PLTL was first developed by Woodward, Gosser,and Weiner (1993) as an integrated method that promoted discourse and creative problem solving Evaluation of the successful implementations of PLTL have suggested six critical components which fits well within our student led enterprise groups, especially within the further education sector:

  • Peer-Led Team Learning in integral to the course.
  • Peer-leaders are trained in leadership skills.
  • Faculty or Subject areas are involved.
  • Materials for workshops are challenging and promote collaborative effort.
  • Space and noise level acceptable for group discussion and work.
  • Peer-Led Team Learning is integrated into the institutional structure.

The institutional enterprise strategy will determine the characteristics of the Peer-Led group and the empowerment student are provided.

Enterprise Education, Entrepreneurial Mindset, Experiential Learning, Skills Development

A Strategic Vision for Student Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is undeniably a significant asset for students and young adults. More than hard skills as experience and technical knowledge, entrepreneurship has an intrinsic high dimension of creativity, self building, confidence and self realisation (Quality Assurance Agency 2012). A European Commission report on the effects and impact of entrepreneurship programmes in higher education stated: “Entrepreneurship education has a positive impact on the entrepreneurial mindset of young people, their intentions towards entrepreneurship, their employability and finally on their role in society and the economy.”(EC 2012)

Entrepreneurship as extra-curriculum activity might increasingly become critical for the professional development and students’ careers. As noted in High Fliers Research (2011), nearly two-thirds of recruiters warn that graduates who have had no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their organisations’ graduate programmes.

Sir Tim Wilson’s review of university-business collaboration stated “Networking between universities and the business community is a critical component of an efficient innovation ecosystem. There are several established networking tools at national and regional levels that create links between universities, business and research technology organisations. These mechanisms need to be constantly evaluated, reviewed and updated as media innovations change communications capability and expectation.” (Wilson 2012)

The National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) has the potential to be a major contributor to the development of entrepreneurialism amongst our student body. It deserves support from business sponsors, universities and government in promoting entrepreneurship. Such support should be conditional on NACUE retaining its close connectivity student entrepreneurial societies, and its active engagement in the Enterprise Alliance.” (Wilson 2012).

The World Economic Forum (2011) suggested four global challenges; Transform the Educational System, Build the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Strive for Effective Outcomes and Impact and Leverage Technology as an Enabler. The growth and advancement of entrepreneurship have been considered objectives for many EU and Member State policies over numerous years, and have grown in prominence over time. The European Commission and individual Member States have started to adopt a range of actions, including driving the build up of a more prominent culture of ‘entrepreneurial mindsets’ amongst European citizens, predominantly young people. This was partnered with the view that all students should have access to entrepreneurship education.

To make sure ‘entrepreneurship education’ does not become another extra-curricular ‘add on’ there needs to be certain changes that are made a necessity, and the following ‘actions’ are taken from McCoshan (2010) which will ensure they become an essential part of the curriculum:

  • Changes in teaching methods: greater use of experiential learning and a new coach/moderator role for teachers which helps students to become more independent and to take the initiative in their education;
  • Changes in the education context, which takes students out of the classroom into the local community and real businesses, and which establishes less hierarchical relationships within schools;
  • A key role for governments: only they can bring about the required step change in the spread and quality of entrepreneurship education.

Therefore, an ‘education in entrepreneurship’ needs to go through a conceptual shift from an education in ‘how to run a business’ to how to achieve competency in all areas of the curriculum and be able to apply entrepreneurial thinking into all those areas.

The UK Quality Assurance Agency (2012) for Higher Education has also published ‘guidance’ on the incorporation of Entrepreneurship in every teaching curriculum, qualifying this action as imperative. They acknowledged the need for entrepreneurship to enhance education across the curriculum (Quality Assurance Agency 2012).

Entrepreneurship as extra-curriculum activity might increasingly become critical for the professional development and students’ careers. As noted in High Fliers Research (2011):“Nearly two-thirds of recruiters warn that graduates who have had no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their organisations’ graduate programmes”.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Inspiring Enterprise report 2012 shows that across almost all industrialised countries, unemployment rates are highest among people just out of college, despite the international evidence that shows that young people have a lot of entrepreneurial potential. More awareness of entrepreneurship and engaging with entrepreneurship in education and training will inspire many young people (RBS 2012).

This is why the development of self help, peer led groups provides an important strategy for developing both employability and enterprise skills and should be incorporated into the national and every education institution enterprise strategy.

 

Blog, Enterprise Education, Social Entrepreneurship

Finding a Social Entrepreneur

The development of social enterprise over the last few years has lead to a wider appeal and also an increase in students looking at enterprise as a career option. These students are looking at the problems within their society and developing innovative solutions to the problems of today. This will be one of the core legacies of this recession as the young have seen how corporate greed can and does lead to a range of social and ethical issues.

We can not rely on bankers to mess up the economy so we can create greater social entrepreneurs.

So what are the core characteristics and triggers for social enterprise and entrepreneurs ?

Social enterprise is not new, so there is much evidence into its impact and development.  (Zahra et al). So reviewing some of the literature we essential have three types of social entrepreneur.

  1. Social Bricoleur : who is focused on small scale local social needs
  2. Social Constructionist : who exploits opportunities and market failures in order to introduce reforms in “broader” social system
  3. Social Engineer : who recognizes systemic failures and addresses them by introducing revolutionary change

Once we understand these three types, the development of the civic, social system and revolutionary change means we can identify a number of personal characteristics or attributes which the social entrepreneurs should hold, (Brooks pp12)

  • Innovativeness
  • Achievement Orientation
  • Independence
  • Sense of control over destiny
  • Low risk-aversion
  • Tolerance for ambiguity
  • Community awareness and social concerns

The first six are standard entrepreneurial attributes which you can find in the majority of literature and also entrepreneur tests, with the the seven being the community  aspect which introduces the social aspect of the entrepreneur.

These characteristics allow a level of entrepreneurship to exists when triggered. These trigger points are important (e.g. Banking Crisis). There are five entrepreneur trigger points which (Brooks, pp9).

  • Environment
  • Resources
  • Perturbation / Displacement
  • Personal Traits
  • Preparation

The majority of universities now have greater support for social enterprise, through partnerships with UnLtd and charitable organizations. These help create the right environment and provide the much needed resources to develop the idea. The education preparation for social entrepreneurship has been embedded into our education system for many years. Within the HE sector, we can see great examples from RAG, ENACTUS to formal Volunteering.

The social entrepreneur provides an opportunity to work with a real local issue and develop an eco system which ensures  real role models and local engagement for a wider set of students throughout their degrees. This is important in developing and maintaining our local economies.

By understanding the trigger points for social enterprise, we can help develop the skills and personal characteristics within our education system for successful social entrepreneurs.

Blog, Enterprise Education

New term, New version of Enterprise

For the student entrepreneur there is a great amount of support out there. However, this support is not well co-ordinated by the suppliers or by the university or college. Of course if you google “enterprise support” you get (Enterprise Support Services UK Ltd are a cleaning company based in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire)

However is a great list all students should take a look at: