Workshop:
If you can lead a horse to water….why do we need to immerse students in
enterprise education? – and how!
Evidence is increasingly suggesting that students benefit from what Gibb (2004)
describes as “enterprise experience”. The question within enterprise education has to
be how to engage students most effectively?
Alison Price Leeds Met
Introduction
This workshop will invite delegates to explore key themes of:
 Enterprise education;
 Role of Higher Education, in creating “graduate-ness”;
 Entrepreneurial capacity – creating self efficacy;
 Effective learning and creating student engagement.
Across the university sector, the drive for enterprise can be traced back to the 1980s
initiative - “EHE Enterprise in Higher Education” (DfEE 1987). Nearly three decades
later, the drivers have multiplied (Dearing Report 1997; Lambert Review of BusinessUniversity Collaboration 2003; HM Treasury Report Enterprise: unlocking the UK’s
talent 2008) and the term ‘entrepreneurial’ is now applied to staff, students and also
universities. This is creating culture change within HEIs with the potential to redefine
notions of ‘graduate-ness’ in terms of skill development, employability, and career
options. Whilst many disciplines may initially feel enterprise may sit uncomfortably
with their subject areas, universities are seeing the benefits of embedding enterprise in
terms of:
-
Student retention
Progression and achievement
Employability (options)
Commercial opportunities
Such benefits are most apparent when curriculum changes build entrepreneurial “selfefficacy”. In 1997 Bandura defined self-efficacy as “people’s judgment of their
capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to produce given
attainments” and have the consequence that “people’s level of motivation, affective
states and actions are based more on what they believe than on what is objectively
true”. It is therefore clear that creating self-efficacy in our students is critical to
supporting to “use their talents to the full1” – be that in small businesses or social
enterprises; as an entrepreneur or within their personal lives. This approach demands
that we provide, not just entrepreneurial inputs into courses, but create enterprising
experiences for our students. The challenge of enterprise education is to embed this
within their core discipline to create meaningful learning that supports individual
development effectively
Barriers to creating enterprise experiences
Curriculum change can be a complex undertaking, as much of the key infrastructure,
designed to support quality, parity of learning experience and academic rigour within
1
Leeds Met vision and Character Statement
3rd July 12.00-1.15 Employment, Entrepreneurship and Recruitment
Higher Education, can limit the opportunities for innovation and change within
curriculum design. Key barriers to curriculum change are identified as:




Institutional
Discipline
Pedagogic
Personal
With enterprise education is defined as “an inclusive concept which provides both the
context in which subject disciplines can be explored as well as an approach to
learning (learning philosophy), which can be taken to the exploration and discovery of
a discipline. In this respect, it can provide a challenging environment within which to
explore a variety of teaching areas (such as a small business context) as well as
providing a new and stimulating dimension to learning - that of being enterprising”
(Price 2004). This challenge is met across disciplines through the creation of rich
learning experiences, incorporating challenges; competitions; small group working
which incorporates externals; peer group; guest speakers and experts.
Having overcome these barriers it can be difficult for staff when student feedback
during the semester sounds like this:
“I don’t know why we are doing this?”
“I don’t understand where this fits?”
“I felt that group work at level 3 was
risky”
“my team don’t turn up – what’s the
point?”
“Before attending university I had no
idea about enterprise, what it was and
the importance of understanding it.
My passion lies within community
work & volunteering, so why would
this be relevant?
However it is clear, if only anecdotally, that teaching staff find non-attendance to be
more de-moralising than such student questions. It is clear that limited student
attendance and course engagement can be seen reflected within student marks2 and
listed as first within Pickford and Race (2007)” “ten indicators of excellent learning”,
is “participating fully in lectures, tutorials and other teaching-learning contexts”(p17).
So the final challenge is therefore to improve student engagement in enterprise
education throughout the course – and the key question, what creates engagement and
participation?
Race (2005) suggests effective learning stems from:
 Wanting to learn
 Learning by doing
 Learning through feedback
 Making sense of what has been learned.
How to immerse
These key factors link clearly to the aspiration of creating integrated enterprise
experiences and can be established through thoughtful curriculum change.
2
Evidenced by exploration of log books (indicating engagement and attendance) against
marks in enterprise modules.
3rd July 12.00-1.15 Employment, Entrepreneurship and Recruitment
Key (Race 05)
Want to learn
Learning by doing
Making Sense
Feedback
Creating Immersion in Enterprise Education
How
Why
Embedded Enterprise
Create connection
Experiences
Creates c
Embedded Enterprise
Create context
Experiences
Create confidence
Develop
Skills / knowledge
Feelings/ behaviour
Application / relevance
Self-efficacy
Evidence of these approaches can be found in our students reflective voices.
Want to
learn
Learning
by doing
Making
Sense
Feedback
Student Voice 2008 “When I began university, I had little knowledge of entrepreneurship, just assuming it
was people who set up their own businesses. I never had the ambition to become an
entrepreneur and believed it was a world I would never become a part of. Then in the
final year of my degree, I was taught a module called ‘Entrepreneurship & Business
Development’ and my thinking began to change. It appeared the world of enterprise was
actually a lot more accessible than I had imagined everyday people could become
entrepreneurs, whatever their background or situation. Although luck may play a part,
successful enterprises are run by those often sharing particular personality traits and
with enough drive and ambition, anyone possessing these characteristics could be
entrepreneurial.”
“Entrepreneurship and Business Development’ was the best course I had in this year.
The module tutors infected us from the very first moment on with their enthusiastic way
of presenting the subject matter. I felt perfectly integrated in the course and in the topic.
Even though I didn’t plan to start my own business before I took the course, it took
away the fear of thinking about new ideas and possibilities to solve problems in future
business life. At the same time it was not the kind of course where you thought you
have to take part but you liked to join (even if it was at 9 o’clock in the morning) ;-)
The word enterprise used to mean nothing to me …[following curriculum input]…As a
result I have started to utilise more and more of my enterprising skills, by advising my
brothers (who are both self-employed) how to write a business plan to maintain
competitive advantage and most importantly, knowing what figures help you remain
solvent! In terms of community and volunteering, it is equally, if not more important to
have an understanding of businesses priorities, in order to communicate in a way they
recognise so that you might obtain and maintain sponsorship or funding.
“Before attending university I had no idea about enterprise, what it was and the
importance of understanding it. My passion lies within community work &
volunteering so why would this be relevant? ………….Suffice to say now I can't
believe how I ever coped without! “
“Today I have realised that each event manager somehow needs to have an enterprising
desire and the characteristics to create and innovate in the job. Personally, I came to
realise that although I might not be the risk-taker I still own some characteristics of an
entrepreneur. This knowledge provides me now with confidence for the future and the
things that lie ahead.”
External (“dragon”)
“I thoroughly enjoyed the day. Although we tried to re-create the “Dragon’s Den”
atmosphere I would like to think we were not as nasty as the Dragons and more
constructive in our comments. I was very impressed with the standard of the business
plans presented.”
This was a new experience as I found myself once again pushing myself to excel in an
environment that I find not only interesting but rewarding. To work within an Events
company such as THA rather than theories in a classroom was an amazing opportunity
and gave me a valuable insight to life within an Events company. The events
surrounding the competition and subsequent prize has made me realise how much I
thrive on being challenged, I am now left with the knowledge that I have many creative
ideas and that I can fit into any team, I have good communication skills to which will
lead me to succeed in the future.
Following inputs relating to these themes, delegate experience is now sought.
3rd July 12.00-1.15 Employment, Entrepreneurship and Recruitment
References:
Price, A (2004) “Enterprise Education” DfES / HEA
Race P (2005) Making learning happen London: Sage Publications
Stewart, J and Harte, V (2008) “Enterprise education and its impact on career
intentions” Working Paper Innovative approaches to supporting learning and
teaching in HRD May 2008
Acknowledgements:
Jackie Mulligan Institute for Enterprise Pioneer – Leslie Silver Faculty – for her
inspiring work capturing the student learning and sharing their voices.
3rd July 12.00-1.15 Employment, Entrepreneurship and Recruitment