Enterprise can be defined as ‘the generation and application of ideas, which are set within practical situations during a project or undertaking... It combines creativity, originality, initiative, idea generation, design thinking, adaptability and reflexivity with problem identification, problem solving, innovation, expression, communication and practical action’ QAA 2018, p.7.*
Entrepreneurship education is defined as ‘the application of enterprise behaviours, attributes and competencies into the creation of cultural, social or economic value. This can, but does not exclusively, lead to venture creation’ QAA 2018, p.7.*
'Approaches to teaching and learning, by their very nature, often encompass entrepreneurial learning. Regardless of whether these are labelled as enterprise and entrepreneurship education, the enhancement of appropriate skills, knowledge, attributes and behaviours necessary for transforming creative ideas into actions are of ever increasing importance.' Advance HE, 2019, p.2.*
Get your Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Employability resource pack
Complete the form by clicking the link below and we will send you an email resource pack containing a range of guidance, reports and useful links to help you understand and embed enterprise, entrepreneurship and employability in the curriculum.
Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education Framework
The framework is centred on the ways in which enterprise and entrepreneurship education can add value to the journey of learner, whether they are interested in starting their own venture or being enterprising when working for someone else in the private, public or voluntary and community sector. There is an evidence base that highlights the value of developing enterprising and entrepreneurial skills in learners, not only in terms of facilitating the creation of new ventures whilst in education, and upon graduation, but also in enhancing their employability.
This framework provides a resource, both to connect the journey of the learner to the role of the educator and in facilitating the education experience. This in turn enables managers with responsibility for processes and practices within the institution that enable the enterprise and entrepreneurship educator to deliver an effective experience to internal and external stakeholders.
REPORT: Engaging students in entrepreneurship education
This short report sets out some of the key challenges in moving enterprise and entrepreneurship education forward, in order to ensure that it is appropriately embedded across institutions and that there is engagement in it across Departments and Faculties.
Professor Nick Williams, University of Leeds, author of the report, introduces the report in his blog, discussing the growth in this area and how measures of impact need to improve.
Useful resources and sites
Below is a list of useful resources and sites for embedding enterprise and entrepreneurship in higher education:
- Advance HE Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education Framework
- Advance HE Embedding Employability in Higher Education Framework
- Big Ideas Wales
- Enhancing employability through enterprise education: Examples of good practice in higher education
- Enterprise Educators UK (EEUK): Enhancing the Curriculum - Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education Toolkit
- EntreComp: The Entrepreneurship Competence Framework
- Innovation Research Universities: National Innovation Case Study Collection - Australia
- Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (IOEE)
- Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE)
- SFEDI Group
- QAA: Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education: Guidance for UK Higher Education Providers
- QAA Scotland: Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
Adding Value through Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education
The collaborative project will provide an opportunity to identify how enterprise and entrepreneurship can add value to both students and other stakeholders.
The project aims to:
- understand current levels of enterprise and entrepreneurship at a programme level
- develop a clear image of what enterprise and entrepreneurship looks like in the curriculum
- identify ways in which enterprise and entrepreneurship can add value through extra-curricula activity
- support colleagues in engaging with enterprise and entrepreneurship within the curriculum
- provide a platform to share good practice regarding enterprise and entrepreneurship
- work collaboratively to navigate challenges and add value to your programmes.
Join the conversation on Advance HE Connect
Advance HE Connect now has more than 14,000 users that have come together to engage on key HE topics including equality and inclusion, teaching and learning and student success.
The aim of the Employability and Enterprise space is to enable all participants to share, connect, and collaborate with a specific focus on employability and enterprise. Over time this site will host an array of useful resources, research, guidance and case studies linked to employability, enterprise, entrepreneurial education and a variety of thematic areas that transcend this landscape (e.g. authentic assessment, flexible learning, attainment, progression, students as partners etc.). The community is specifically designed to remain flexible, evolving and developing as you help shape the future of the community.
Thoughts from the sector
At 2019's UK Teaching Excellence Award ceremony we asked some of this year's winners to tell us why they think enterprise and entrepreneurship education is important and for their tips for embedding them into the curriculum.