Building Strategic Alliances for Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Development (QAA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7) #FEEUK

Objectives:

• Nurture meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships with university supporters and partners
• Develop a suite of student enterprise programmes and support services accessible to all students 
• Leverage existing enterprise related targets across the institution through strategic partnerships
• Avoid duplication and maximise impact by aligning core activities with the gaps in the wider startup ecosystem 

Introduction: 

At Ulster University people and relationships are central to everything we do. As Northern Ireland’s civic university with campuses distributed across the region; we have an active role in many local communities and innovation ecosystems. The Student Enterprise team is often required to multiply delivery of all programmes, supports and opportunities by four (once per campus) to ensure all 26,000 students have equal access to student enterprise and entrepreneurship services. 

Established in July 2017, the Student Enterprise team started with one full-time member of staff. Since then the team has grown to include two full-time team members, a contracted Business Advisor and two placement students recruited annually. However, the task of delivering a mounting suite of enterprise and entrepreneurship services across four campuses, remains a core challenge for this small team. In order to support increasing demand from students and deliver demonstrable impact, we have adopted an enterprising approach to service development through meaningful collaboration.  

Activity:

Although the home of enterprise and entrepreneurship activity differs across UK, HE institutions. Many enterprise teams encounter similar challenges such as; short-term or project-based funding and limited human or financial resources. This was also the case for the Student Enterprise team at UU, until we shifted our focus and prioritised meaningful collaborations and partnership delivery. 

Based on the principles of effective customer discovery, the steps below outline this extremely simple but effective approach to service development through strategic alliances.

Identify partners and opportunities:

1.   Meet with colleagues from other teams and departments quarterly for a cuppa
2.   Understand their departmental goals, activities and challenges (keep a record)

Map institutional enterprise and entrepreneurship activity:

1. Group activity into categories (we use culture, curriculum, creation and coaching) 
2. Identify service gaps or saturation across categories (we do this quarterly)

Review institutional and departmental needs, goals and challenges: 

1.  Search for opportunities for collaboration where needs or challenges are shared
2.  Explore how combined human or financial resources could achieve shared goals 

Here are some examples of our strategic alliances and meaningful collaborations: 

Impact: 

Since the implementation of this strategy we have been able to:

•        grow the team by creating shared roles with other departments;
•        source new private sector funding for capital projects;
•        develop and deliver new co-curricular programmes;
•        increase student engagement by 20% year on year;
•        support additional new business ventures; and
•        better contribute to the needs of the wider startup ecosystem.

Resources: 

• A convenient coffee spot. Discovery chats with other departments and teams should take place in an informal setting, not a white walled meeting room. The aim is to build a relationship and understand their needs, not take minutes.  
• QAA Guidelines for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education (2018) provides very clear definitions and frameworks which help when speaking to colleagues who are not familiar with the difference between enterprise and entrepreneurship and associated activities.  

References:

• Dubini, P and Aldrich, H (1991). Personal and extended networks are central to the entrepreneurial process. Journal of Business Venturing, 6, 305-313

• Godin, S (2013). The Bootstrapper’s Bible. Available from: https://seths.blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/8.01.bootstrappersbible-1.pdf [Accessed: 4^th June 2020]

• Kanter, R (1994). Collaborative Advantage: The art of alliances. Harvard Business Review, 99, 102-107 

• Lambert, D and Knemeyer, A (2004). We’re in this together. Harvard Business Review, 82, 114-122