HEEP University of Huddersfield Enterprise Education (Staff) Prog (QAA 1 4 5) FEEUK

Objective:

• Building skills and confidence in University of Huddersfield staff (enterprise agenda; entrepreneurial education; pedagogical techniques)
• Developing entrepreneurial confidence and practice in students
• Contributing positively towards the development of enterprising graduates
• Build ‘up-stream’ enterprise confidence/competencies in students who may then go on to engage in business start-up activities via the Enterprise Team provision
• Further the entrepreneurial culture of the institution

Introduction:

The University of Huddersfield has a clear commitment to Enterprise, as evidenced by:

• Dedicated Enterprise Team with in-house Business Advisors (Est 2004)
• The Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Centre in 3M Buckley Innovation Centre (2013)

Resulting in:

• THE Entrepreneurial University of the Year (2012),
• Queens Award for Enterprise (2013)

Building upon these achievements, the Enterprise Team recognised a further need and opportunity to support academic staff to embed enterprise in the curriculum. This staff CPD opportunity developed and promoted entrepreneurial skills, culture and mind-sets, across a diverse range of subject disciplines and contextual backgrounds by delivering to staff from 6 of the university’s academic Schools and also the Student Union. Whilst the project aimed to assist academic staff to embed enterprise into their course modules, the opportunity to engage with the SU offered further added value. It enabled key SU Staff, responsible for ensuring that the student-led societies are managed and developed in an enterprising and sustainable way, to also benefit from the development programme and to significantly increase the number of beneficiaries via the student-led societies.

Activities:

1. Working with 10 staff on 10 specific and diverse undergraduate/postgraduate modules, in order to change teaching methods to create entrepreneurial outcomes in students.
2. By reviewing module descriptors and changing teaching methods to engage external stakeholders and community groups
3. Assessing the understanding and potential value of enterprise education in the staff at the start and end of the intervention to monitor impact

The Programme was delivered in the following manner:

• Initial workshop for all staff to discuss the programme’s aims and objectives and address commonality of language relating to Enterprise Education. Sharing of key resources such as the QAA Guidelines on Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education/ETC ToolKit/EntreComp Framework and an opportunity to share current practice across a wide range of disciplines and academic Schools
• A period of 1:1 support offered to all staff to develop and adapt existing module descriptors and to embed enterprise activities. Creation of bespoke action plans for staff members to develop confidence
• Final workshop after the end of the first semester to assess student response and engagement across the cohort and to exchange best practise and advise of potential next steps for the cohort, e.g. ETC ToolKit Case Study and/or EEUK Fellowship application

Impact:

The design of this programme ensured impact across three main parameters:

1. Volume: This project will deliver high volume of beneficiaries by through working directly with 10 key staff (academics and SU). Each of the 10 modules identified creates access to students as well approx. 100 student-led societies. By embedding enterprise within pre-identified existing modules, the volume is secured, and then further through the planned cascade of these project outcomes to others.
2. Type: focused upon staff, this project has been carefully designed to cascade impact to other beneficiaries and create long-term change. With impact initially focused upon curriculum change through staff/modules, the intended outputs will be delivered for staff, the wider community as well as key disadvantaged groups within the university’s student community and beyond. 
3. Depth: designed specifically to deliver depth, this project will create lasting change that reaches across the university and its wider community.

By envisioning this is a pilot project, the impact will be lasting as curriculum change will continue beyond the pilot stage. This enabled multiple impact layers for key stakeholders by:

• Enabling widespread and diverse enterprise education engagement across the institution
• Contribution to the existing Enterprise/Entrepreneurship provision at the UoH by building pipeline development from within academic course content
• Impact above and beyond just ‘within the curriculum’, but leading to extra-curricular enterprise opportunities via the existing Enterprise Team
• External tertiary beneficiaries will be impacted where our students/staff engage with external organisations and partners

Resources: 

The ETC Toolkit for examples of enterprise ‘Case Studies’ and ‘How To’ sessions in disciplinary specific settings (www.etctoolkit.org.uk)

The EntreComp Framework to demonstrate the scale/scope and learner outcome potential of Enterprise Education (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/entrecomp-action-get-inspired-make-it-happen-user-guide-european-entrepreneurship-competence)

References:

The rationale for putting staff development at the heart of our proposed project was drawn from best practice and policy, notably QAA Guidelines for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education (2018) which states: 

• “take a contextualised approach that enables students to enhance their entrepreneurial capabilities within their subject”
• “use experiential learning strategies where theory follows practice and provide theory support and encourage discussion on the merits and demerits of the theories under consideration”
• “the educator can select delivery methods based on the behaviours, attributes and competencies they wish to enhance and develop” (p13)
• “practical opportunities for gaining experience can be created both within the curriculum and through optional extracurricular activity that complements learning within the curriculum, and recognises the value of extracurricular experiences for confidence building” (p18)
• “students should be encouraged to develop self-awareness of their own enterprising and entrepreneurial capabilities, as well as the motivation and self-discipline to apply these flexibly in different context to achieved desired results” (p19)