Enterprising Education in UK Higher Education

Challenges for Theory and Practice

Gary Mulholland, Jason Turner

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781315518114
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

The UK may be ranked as one of the best countries in the world to start a business, but evidence from growing skills gaps, and the decline in graduates' entrepreneurial aspirations suggest that higher education may not be contributing as it should to the enterprise environment. Enterprising Education in UK Higher Education brings together the challenges of embedding enterprise education in universities and colleges, identifies current debates around their roles and explores research, theory and practice to deliver roadmaps for innovative enterprise education.

This book provides solid and clear guidance to practitioners and academics who are starting their journey into enterprising education, as well as those who are more experienced, but understand that the traditional approaches limit the options of future graduates. It collates the theory and practice of enterprise education in the UK higher education sector and business engagement with wider stakeholders. Drawing on theory and best practice, and illustrated with a wide range of the examples and cases, it will provide invaluable guidance to researchers, educators, practitioners and policy makers.

1 Enterprise education in the twenty-first century

Gary Mulholland and Jason Turner

Introduction

Rather than slowing down, the rate of innovation and growth in the twenty-first century is accelerating. Some are now referring to a new age of growth – the fourth industrial revolution, or 4i (KPMG, 2017; Schwab, 2017). In this new environment it is the application of new ideas and creation of novel solutions which are converting technologically driven infrastructure platforms into practical and socially useful offerings. Examples such as Facebook, Google, eBay and Amazon illustrate how the enterprising application of technology platforms into business and customer-focused products and services, has led to transformations in society. These technology firms are leading examples of how an enterprising individual and idea can become a global success. As educators we must ask ourselves: How can we prepare more of our learners to be capable of delivering similar, more, or even better, innovations through enterprise? Are we delivering the right experience, and enabling enterprise, or not?

The concept of enterprise and the education of enterprise – enterprise education – is complex. There are many interacting and contradictory elements, and not just a well-structured education system that can generate entrepreneurs and enterprise activity. There are many paradoxes, for example, there is clear evidence that some of the most deprived nations, and least educated in the world are very high in entrepreneurial intention (ILO, 2013); highly developed countries’ entrepreneurial ecosystems are often less productive than much simpler and poorly funded systems (GEDI, 2017); and highly educated nations are not always the more enterprising (Sieger, Fueglistaller and Zellweger, 2016). So how does education contribute to entrepreneurial intention and activity? How should educators be designing programmes of learning to reflect the unique nature of enterprise?

Across the globe, there has been debate questioning the value of universities to society, their respective business communities, the growing graduate skills gaps, and the argument that universities and colleges could do more to assist entrepreneurship attributes among graduates (Birch et al., 2017; Dearing, 1997; Leitch, 2006; Wilson, 2012). Conversely, in China, the Central Government has formulated a number of innovation strategies that have transformed the Chinese Higher Education system. Anderson and Zhang note: ‘The Knowledge Innovation Program, promoted by the prestigious Chinese Academy of Science in 1998 redirected resources to create a handful of world-class institutes’. The consequence of this new political and economic approach is many world-class Chinese universities, and also a significant rise in entrepreneurs in Chinese society. In the USA entrepreneurship is part of the national culture and educational institutions embed the skills, attitudes and aspirations of the entrepreneur into everything they do. Using case studies from universities across the globe, this edited book brings together leading authors with knowledge, and/or experience, of the challenges of embedding enterprise education in university and college programmes. This text identifies and presents the current debates around the future role of universities and colleges in providing ‘fit for workplace’ graduates and offer insight into the challenges and practices involved in delivering innovative enterprise education.

Our own experience of higher education (HE) and the value of a more creative and applied approach is part of the rationale for this text. We know, and have benefitted from an excellent education, but recognise the limitations of traditional approaches, and ‘ready for employment’ options offered to today’s graduates. The language and focus of traditional education reflect more typically didactic knowledge transfer, with the teacher ‘downloading’ the body of knowledge, in their given specialism, and developing the cognitive skills leading to employment, rather than creative and application-based skills which can lead to enterprise, self-determination, and new ways of behaving. What are we doing wrong? How can higher education deliver a more complete learning experience for students? Who is doing something special and already having success in this area?

Entrepreneurship and enterprise education: what is it?

In some nations of the world entrepreneurship is a recognised and highly respected career choice. Global entrepreneur indices (GEDI, 2017; GEM, 2016; GUESSS, 2016) consistently demonstrate nations that can deliver new and creative solutions and support and encourage enterprise development. The USA typically leads the world in this and it is maybe a coincidence that Babson, Harvard, Princeton, and others are recognised as leading the world ranking in Enterprise Education. So, what is entrepreneurship and enterprise education in the context of this text?

Martin Lackéus (2015) suggests that it is common for authors to use two terms interchangeably when discussing this field: He notes:

enterprise education is primarily used in United Kingdom, and has been defined as focusing more broadly on personal development, mindset, skills and abilities, whereas the term entrepreneurship education has been defined to focus more on the specific context of setting up a venture and becoming self-employed.

(7)

This differentiation implies that in the UK higher education continues to view its contribution in terms of knowledge and skills, and thereby maintain the status quo, of educated graduates ready for employment. Many in the UK would disagree! In fact, there is no real agreement of what each term means, and often there is regional variation. Erkkilä (2000) notes that in North America, a more common term is ‘entrepreneurship education’, but Erkkilä also suggests a holistic term – ‘entrepreneurial education’ – which combines ‘enterprise and entrepreneurship’ into a single construct.

In the UK, higher education typically defines enterprise education as: ‘the process of equipping students (or graduates) with an enhanced capacity to generate ideas and the skills to make them happen’ as opposed to entrepreneurship education, which ‘equips students with the additional knowledge, attributes and capabilities required to apply these abilities in the context of setting up a new venture or business’ (QAA, 2012, 2).

More recently (QAA, 2018), the focus has changed from enterprise development and new venture to reflect the nature of learning and implications for the learner: ‘Entrepreneurship Education and the development of entrepreneurial capacity is not simply linked to employment. It provides competencies to lead a rewarding, self-determined professional life’. Consequently, the term Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education (EEE) is often applied.

The World Bank’s significant research establishes some useful differences between Entrepreneurship Education (EE) programmes, which ‘tend to focus on building knowledge and skills about, or for the purpose of entrepreneurship’ and Entrepreneurship Training (ET) programmes, which ‘tend to focus on building knowledge and skills, explicitly in preparation for starting or operating an enterprise’. (Valerio, Parton and Robb, 2014, 2). Combining this in their study they suggest Entrepreneurship Education and Training (EET) can be defined as: ‘academic education or formal training interventions that share the broad objective of providing individuals with the entrepreneurial mindsets and skills to support participation and performance in a range of entrepreneurial activities’ (Valerio, Parton and Robb, 2014, 21).

The evidence for enterprise education programmes has been growing for many years, but there is doubt whether the advancement is meeting demand. Key governments around the world are developing policy and infrastructure to enable integration of education and entrepreneurial development. The EU Commission (2006) has stated:

Universities and technical institutes should integrate entrepreneurship as an important part of the curriculum, spread across different subjects, and require or encourage students to take entrepreneurship courses. Combining entrepreneurial mindsets and competence with excellence in scientific and technical studies should enable students and researchers to better commercialize their ideas and new technologies developed.

How to educate entrepreneurs has long been debated at all levels of education, including higher education, without common agreement to date (Kirby, 2007; Powell, 2013; Neck, Greene and Brush, 2014). However, have the educators responded adequately in order to meet this need to develop more entrepreneurs? Interestingly, Neck, Greene and Brush (2014) conclude, entrepreneurship education has not changed substantially in at least two decades, with educators actually lagging behind stakeholder expectations.

Traditional approaches to education have adapted less quickly than society and businesses demand, and while there is awareness that enterprise education is unique and relevant, there has been slow progress. Now, governments around the world are targeting policy and resources at young people specifically through their national education systems, and this has led to most education systems embedding enterprise education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. It is now widely recognised that entrepreneurship and enterprise education have established their place within higher education around the globe (Hamidi, Wennberg and Berglund, 2008; Jones, Matlay and Maritz, 2012). A good example is the UK, where ‘currently enterprise and entrepreneurship education is present in all UK Higher Education Institutions’ (Rae et al., 2014, 390). Dreisler (2008) discusses entrepreneurship education in Denmark and argues that entrepreneurship has gained popularity in many ways; however, it is still an extracurricular activity rather than a regular educational activity at HE institutions. As educators we should be asking, how can enterprise education become mainstream and not just an ‘add on’ extracurricular activity? How can content, delivery, and assessment be better informed through an enterprise education teaching and learning mentality?

Education in the entrepreneurial ecosystem

The nature of entrepreneurship and enterprise is complicated. Clearly there are a number of factors that determine the enterprising outputs or culture of any nation. Such things as education itself – function and objective; structure and content; and business orientation, among others, are important. Equally, the attitudes and enablers of many other stakeholders, including banks and investors, government policy and regulation; social and personal attitudes; and, individual ambitions too, can enhance or deter successful enterprise. This implies a dynamic interaction between many elements acting in a complex and interdependent form – what Moore (1993) originally termed the ‘entrepreneurial ecosystem’. So, what do effective entrepreneurial ecosystems look like? How does education contribute to enhancing the pipeline of entrepreneurs and enterprises?

Researchers have noted a shift in government and social policy over recent years as industry focused growth has been augmented by entrepreneurial growth policy (Mason and Brown, 2014). This means more emphasis is being placed on creating new start-ups and innovation-led firms, than improving the efficiency or effectiveness of already well-established ones. Growing existing SMEs in size has a more significant impact on GDP and employment, rather than the profits of a few large and global forms, as these have often invisible consequences.

Initial financial support and incentive-driven attempts to support start-up development have been less effective, and Mason and Brown (2014) have argued that an entrepreneurial ecosystem will require a sophisticated system of supporting drivers, enablers and enhancers, defining this ‘ecosystem’ as:

a set of interconnected entrepreneurial actors (both potential and existing), entrepreneurial organisations (e.g. firms, venture capitalists, business angels, banks), institutions (universities, public sector agencies, financial bodies) and entrepreneurial processes (e.g. the business birth rate, numbers of high growth firms, levels of ‘blockbuster entrepreneurship’, number of serial entrepreneurs, degree of sellout mentality within firms and levels of entrepreneurial ambition) which formally and informally coalesce to connect, mediate and govern the performance within the local entrepreneurial environment.

(5)

Increasingly, it is recognised that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach and numerous interpretations of ecosystems have developed (GEDI, 2017; GEM, 2016; Mason and Brown, 2014). Auerswald (2015) comments that the very existence of a structured framework for entrepreneurship contradicts the essence of creativity and innovation itself, noting that entrepreneurs ‘see bridges where others see holes’, and that many entrepreneurs emerge out of failure and inefficiency, rather than planned discovery and strategy. Auerswald states:

An entrepreneurial ecosystem implies cooperative and productive relationships among different organizations. In many countries, these relationsh...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Notes on contributors
• 1 Enterprise education in the twenty-first century
• 2 Expanding entrepreneurship education and engagement with entrepreneurial ecosystems
• 3 Are the dominant teaching theories in higher education adequate to underpin teaching practices in enterprise and entrepreneurship context?
• 4 Coaching as an entrepreneurship learning and development tool
• 5 Global Board Games Project: a cross-border entrepreneurship experiential learning initiative
• 6 A Business Simulation Game (BSG) and its ability to enhance learning: an evaluation of student perspectives
• 7 Embedding high-impact enterprise and entrepreneurship education in higher education: getting to obvious
• 8 Sports entrepreneurship and the sporting chance initiative
• 9 Placements and EE among engineering students
• 10 Educating the enterprise: SME learning in collaboration
• 11 ‘Before university’ provision: enterprise education through the school curriculum
• 12 Making enterprise education more relevant through mission creep
• Index