UK

Citation

(2008), "UK", Education + Training, Vol. 50 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2008.00450aab.004

UK

Higher education and enterprise

Universities in England must do more to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs by adopting a wider view of entrepreneurship and embedding a culture of enterprise and entrepreneurship that engages students right across the campus, according to a report by the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE). Enterprise and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education is the largest survey ever conducted of enterprise and entrepreneurship activity and provision in higher education in England and included 122 universities serving a student population of around 1.75 million. The report maps the scale and scope of provision, engagement and climate for enterprise and entrepreneurship education in the sector. Key findings include:

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  11 per cent of students are currently engaged in enterprise and entrepreneurship related activities – the Student Engagement Rate (SER);

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  53 per cent male SER, 47 per cent female SER;

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  61 per cent of provision is led by business and management schools (0 per cent engineering; 8 per cent creative; 1 per cent health);

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  in-curricula provision accounts for 36 per cent of activity;

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  extra-curricula provision accounts for 64 per cent of activity;

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  85 per cent of funding is from the public purse;

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  fewer than 50 per cent of universities display entrepreneurial characteristics; and

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  significant variances in provision across regions.

According to NCGE, despite significant public sector funding, engagement is concentrated in too few subject areas and there remains an over reliance on public sector funding. “The fact that just 11 per cent of students in our survey are engaged in enterprise and entrepreneurship related activities suggests there are still significant challenges in embedding a sustainable enterprise and entrepreneurship culture across the university campus […] this compares unfavourably to the US where a majority of students are engaged in such activities”.

In-curricula delivery, accounting for 36 per cent of provision, is dominated by business and management schools (60 per cent) and, according to the NCGE a tired, old-fashioned, business-orientated conceptualisation of entrepreneurship. Growth in other disciplines such as engineering (9 per cent), creative subjects (8 per cent) and health (1 per cent) is emerging, but slower. While the business context for entrepreneurship remains important, the survey advocates a wider world-life view of entrepreneurship and provision that extends across disciplines to reflect the growing importance of entrepreneurial approaches right across the economy and society.

Extra curricula delivery – accounting for 64 per cent of provision – is diverse, ranging from workshops and competitions to summer schools and mentoring, but there is an immense variation in the student experience and learning outcomes. Most provision is also largely driven by short-term project funding from the state, which creates uncertainty over sustainability and is not conducive to long term culture change. The study highlights the need for a long-term solution to an over-reliance on state funding by exploiting and expanding funding sources.

Fewer than 50 per cent of universities surveyed displayed the full range of entrepreneurial characteristics across infrastructure, staff development and policy that are crucial to entrepreneurial engagement, institutional development and culture change. According to the NCGE, “the entrepreneurial university has explicit institution-wide strategies, missions, visions and action plans to support an entrepreneurship-positive environment […] strong leadership is vital to developing capacity for innovative entrepreneurial teaching across all subjects, disciplines and faculties and facilitating networks that enable good practice to be shared regionally, nationally and internationally”.

Further details are available from NCGE at: www.ncge.com/communities/research/

Widening participation and promoting student diversity in higher education

The HE Academy has completed a research project examining the drivers, benefits and costs of embedding widening participation within higher education institutions. The focus of the research was on the business benefits to be derived from learner customer diversity, a theme considered by the HE Academy to be undeveloped in both discourse and practice.

The main findings of the research are summarised in the following extract from the report:

A number of cross-cutting themes emerged from the research:

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  the understanding of the term “diversity” was patchy and often confined to issues of ethnic diversity;

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  widening participation is a problematic term and was being used in different ways;

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  the evidence for a link between student diversity and positive teaching and learning outcomes is still limited and remains under-researched;

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  the HE sector is partially marketised and the resultant stratification may perpetuate the different “WP paradigms” that limit the scope for promoting student diversity right across the sector; and

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  HE in FE was outside of the scope of this study, but is likely to provide some important evidence and practice examples, especially through HEFE partnerships.

Overall, there was a lack of understanding of the concept of a “business case” for WP and student diversity among the case study HEIs. At the same time the findings suggest that a viable and useful business case could be constructed. Given the highly contingent nature of the drivers for WP and student diversity and how they are perceived and acted upon throughout the sector, together with the wide diversity of practice, approach and structure within the sector, a “one size fits all” business case model would not be appropriate. Instead, a series of key strategic questions is posed in Section 5, together with “stakeholder tools” to guide institutions and their staff through the process of gathering evidence towards the development of their own business case for WP and student diversity. These are likely to be developed further through the continued work of the Academy.

“Embedding widening participation and promoting student diversity: what can be learned from a business case approach?”, by Jenny Shaw, Kevin Brain, Kath Bridger, Judith Foreman and Ivan Reid, is avaialble from the HE Academy at: www.heacademy.ac.uk/

Learning and Skills Network: foundation degrees

Findings from LSN research into the impact of foundation degrees are also expected shortly. The research project had two main research objectives:

1. 1.

   to explore the impact of foundation degrees on students and the student experience; and

2. 2.

   to explore the impact of foundation degrees in the workplace from an employer perspective.

The research has been undertaken by working closely with a limited number of case-study sites (20 in total) covering the range of types of provision in terms of both student profile and sectors of employment (public/private; strong/weak traditions of work-based learning; niche) and covering a limited number of regions.

Learning and Skills Network: effective practice in employer engagement

The LSN Evaluation and Skills team is currently carrying out some research into Effective Practice in Employer Engagement on behalf of the QIA. The ability of FE providers to effectively engage, and respond to the needs of, employers is seen as crucial for meeting the UK’s current skills gap and is a current sector priority. LSN’s work is intended to disseminate relevant knowledge and practice across the sector, feeding into QIA’s wider work to develop a framework for good practice in employer engagement. The research comprises a literature review and case studies.

Sharp rise in demand for work placements

According to government figures, around 95 per cent of students in Key Stage 4 undertake work placements and about half of sixth form students have a further period of work experience or work shadowing. This makes a total of over half a million students a year undertaking work experience – and for the vast majority of employers, young people and their parents the experience is very positive. The benefits that come from well-organised work experience programmes are very well recognised.

However, despite this past success there is a huge problem looming on the horizon. Already it is extremely difficult for many young people to find a company that does something which is relevant to their interests and is willing to take them on for a week or so. This situation is going to get much more difficult in the next few years with the growth in work-orientated diploma courses. Around 40,000 students will be doing diploma work in 2008 and by 2010 every school and college in England will be participating fully in the new courses. These highly practical programmes all have a demand for work-based experience that will put even greater pressure on a system of locating and running work experience.

To help handle this hugely increasing demand for work-related activities and work experience, a free-access website has been set up that brings both schools and business together – allowing firms to advertise their willingness to accept work experience pupils, and allowing schools to manage the placements that they arrange for their pupils. For more details, see: www.myworkexp.com

Cool careers culture may widen UK skills gap

A survey of 1,700 school children by careers advice website b-live.com shows that young people are not interested in the best careers to alleviate Britain’s skills shortages. Major skills shortages are likely to persist particularly in IT, skilled trades and “caring” professions, whilst other professions will be oversubscribed and many jobs will have a surplus of applicants. If children achieved their ambitions for every five builders needed there would be only two available and for every four care workers needed there would only be one available, Yet there could be as many as 44 vets or eight architects for each job required. A surprisingly low 7 per cent of young people are interested in careers involving computers and technology. The top ten jobs, favoured by 36 per cent of respondents, were actor/actress, sportsman/woman, lawyer, accountant, teacher/lecturer, doctor, beauty therapist, singer/musician, designer and policeman/woman.

The survey also indicated that boys are more motivated by money than girls, who are keener to capitalise on their skills. The work ethic appears to be relatively strong. If they had trouble getting a job 36 per cent would seek more qualifications, while 60 per cent would take any job while they looked for one they really wanted. However, obtaining careers advice was seen as difficult. Two-fifths of 16-year-olds admitted they didn’t have any idea what they wanted to do career wise and/or didn’t know how to find information. Less than half of 16-year-olds used their school careers centre and over a third had not even set foot in it. Gaining insights into work is key but hard to offer young people. In the survey of secondary schools 87 per cent admitted they had difficulty finding young people suitable work placements and 80 per cent felt not enough employers offered schemes. Yet the survey of employers indicated that 85 per cent felt organised work experience was the most important factor in school leaver job applications.

b-live.com conducted the survey online with 1,700 children between the ages of ten and 19 in 2007. b-live.com is an interactive careers portal for 12- to 19-year-olds providing career, employment and learning opportunities support, advice and guidance. Further information is available from Tanja@b-live.com or Natalie@b-live.com

ESRC Festival of Social Sciences: evaluation

The ESRC Festival of Social Science is in an annual, week-long programme of events held across the UK that are designed to communicate information about the social sciences and how social science research impacts on our lives. The Festival events are aimed at a range of different audiences, including policymakers, business, the media, the general public, and students.

This evaluation of the 2007 Festival was commissioned by the ESRC and undertaken by Technopolis Ltd in the period February 2007-June 2007. The overall aims of the evaluation were to assess the performance of the Festival against its stated objectives, and to gauge its success and impacts in attracting participation and communicating key messages to its audiences. The evaluation reports that the Festival has been a resounding success. The Festival has grown for the fifth year running, with a total of 76 events held across the UK (an increase of 33 per cent on last year), and an estimated audience in excess of 4,600 people (an increase of more than 20 per cent on last year). The events and audiences have also been more diverse than ever before, reflecting efforts on the part of ESRC to increase the general appeal of the Festival and to reach out to new audiences. As a result we have seen a rise this year in the number of newer event formats (debates, exhibitions, films) and a significant increase in participation by young people and member of the general public. Feedback from attendees at events was overwhelmingly positive, with over 90 per cent of the audience rating events as accessible, interesting, enjoyable and topical, while also being educational. Over 90 per cent stated that they had learned something new at their event, with two-thirds gaining an increased understanding of the social sciences and the benefits research brings to society.

Recommendations to the ESRC as a result of the evaluation include:

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  directly encourage more of the ESRC Investments to stage Festival events in future, to further improve the overall subject mix and distribution of events around the UK;

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  redouble efforts to more fully integrate the Festival of Social Science within National Science and Engineering Week (NSEW), maximising the volume of cross-promotion between the two initiatives;

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  introduce a younger, livelier image for the Festival as part of its rebranding exercise, with an improved website and a more novel range of promotional items;

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  develop an information pack to assist organisers in running events suitable for general audiences and young people, focusing particularly on how to promote and market events to these groups; and

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  further develop the short film Social Science: Making a Difference to People’s Lives to include more compelling examples of ESRC-funded research and distribute it to all event organisers.

The 2008 Festival will continue to run alongside the National Science and Engineering Week (7-16 March) and will continue to promote how social science has a role in all of our lives.