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The importance of new business start‐ups cannot be over‐emphasised. The UK government has taken actions designed to stimulate the growth of new businesses and aid their survival. The identification of barriers to entry is important, together with strategies to minimise their impact. The UK continues to lag behind the USA in its levels of entrepreneurship. The removal of barriers to start‐up is key to rectifying this situation and stimulating the new business aspect of the economy. The paper highlights the government’s position in furthering entrepreneurship, draws on initial primary research into student barriers to start‐up and makes recommendations for how higher education institutions can assist in breaking down the barriers identified.

West Yorkshire universities together with Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency (RDA) for Yorkshire and Humberside, are collaborating on a graduate entrepreneurship programme. This paper outlines the national and regional context for the role of entrepreneurial education in producing new business and a climate in which creativity and innovation may thrive.

Enterprise initiatives come in a number of guises but, whether they are grant‐funded or a commercial aspect of a university’s business, the key driver is output. This usually means numbers – of students, of businesses, of ideas developed and sold, of financial gain and reputations made. A critical element impeding progress to the successful development of enterprise is marketing. This is something of a misnomer within organisations as amorphous as universities. The ability to develop products and services and to market them effectively to what should be a captive audience can prove even more trying than dealing with the mountain of paper work that accompanies most, if not all, enterprise initiatives. This paper describes the difficulties experienced by Business Start‐Up@Leeds Met in marketing enterprise at Leeds Metropolitan University, lessons learned and the future direction in terms of marketing approach.

What is the most effective approach to teaching enterprise? A residential week‐long event brought together students and tutors from a variety of backgrounds and with differing expertise. The result was a melting‐pot of ideas, some of which generated new businesses. This article critically examines the approach taken on the first of what have become an annual event and includes evaluation by the participants themselves. A literature review of teaching in enterprise is given as a back‐cloth to the format of the event itself. Qualitative reports from the participants show a significant degree of success, the main factors in which are highlighted and advanced by recommendations for taking students through to subsequent stages of start‐up.

This article examines the need to develop a more enterprising approach to learning by adopting an experiential approach. It specifically examines the use of video case studies of entrepreneurial role models within an enterprise module at Leeds Metropolitan University. The exercise enables students to act as a consultant or counsellor and apply models, theories, tools and techniques to gain an understanding of the entrepreneurial process and the entrepreneur. The transcript from one video role model, Vio, a digital data and network company, has been summarised for examination, so that its use by a variety of specialists might be explored. The learning outcomes from using the video case study and the module being undertaken by the students are analysed to determine the changes that have taken place in the areas of awareness of skills, self‐development, confidence and career aspirations.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/00400919910279973. When citing the article, please cite: Roger Henderson, Martyn Robertson, (1999), “Who wants to be an entrepreneur? Young adult attitudes to entrepreneurship as a career”, Education + Training, Vol. 41 Iss: 5, pp. 236 - 245.

There has been a trickle of recent evidence that the current recession is coming to an end. From a number of perspectives it may be argued that it is fortunate that the pace of recovery from the longest post‐war recession is faltering and slow. How can slow recovery from the longest recession since the war be welcome when almost 44% of the small businesses responding to the National Westminster Bank / Small Business Research Trust surveys report low turnover or lack of business as the major constraint, with the smallest businesses being affected most? The reason is that the economic and social policy cocktail which offers the prospect of sustained growth has yet to be discovered in the UK, if indeed such policies exist. Over the past thirty years (excluding the oil shock of the early 1970s) two periods of decline in real GDP have occurred, both since 1980 (Budget Statement 1990/1). It thus appears that the downside swings in the economy are becoming more pronounced. Recent reductions in interest rates are helpful in encouraging recovery but policies which smooth rather than accentuate fluctuations in the levels of economic activity are what is really required. These policies need to be established within the context of a strategy for managing the UK economy. Such a strategy must incorporate the role of small firms which, as recent evidence shows, continue to be a very important segment of industry and commerce despite the ravages of recession.

The past few months have seen the publication, by both the Conservative and Labour Parties, of statements of industrial strategy (HMSO 1994, The Labour Party 1994). It is interesting to note that, although TECs and LECs are referred to in both of the main parties' strategies, the Business Link initiative is only referred to in ‘Competitiveness: helping businesses to win’ (HMSO 1994). This White Paper refers intermittently to the original and newly extended role of the DTI sponsored Business Links. The Labour Party strategy makes no reference whatsoever, although they are preparing a further policy statement on small firms which may clarify the position.

The changing nature of work suggests that young people may face the prospect of a “portfolio” career including periods of paid employment, non‐work and self‐employment, of which the latter implies greater scope for entrepreneurial activity. Reports questionnaire surveys of young adults which examine their attitudes to entrepreneurship as a career. Reference is also made to current policy initiatives and entrepreneurship education in the UK. The findings suggest that generally positive images of entrepreneurship are hampered by a lack of identifiable role models, poor media presentation of individuals or small firms, and lack of encouragement from important influencers on career choice such as teachers and career guidance specialists. University courses have their limitations but can have a role in providing a useful insight into the challenges involved in being an entrepreneur and also encouraging skill development and self‐reliance.