Launch Day
At the beginning of today’s launch, the key focuses for the network were explained – we’re providing a physical representation of the hundreds of enterprise educators across UK, and the growing numbers of pioneering educators from China, but much more than that we’re here to take action and to begin openly sharing ideas and building partnerships which can benefit UK and Chinese students and their institutions, to create a new generation of innovations and innovative businesses.
A range of speakers led the sessions for this morning with enormous passion for developing enterprise, and enthusiasm for the potential of the network. A number of Chinese delegates pointed out that some parts of China were enjoying phenomenal economic development, partly fuelled by new businesses, but that the majority of new businesses were often low-skilled and low-growth, and unlikely to be created by graduates. While far behind the US, the UK’s success rate at producing graduate start-ups is historically greater than China’s, but it seemed to me that there was an echo in the concern amongst Chinese and UK educators to encourage enterprise and entrepreneurial thinking amongst their graduates.
While these similar challenges clearly showed opportunities for mutual learning about developing enterprise education, the opportunities in China were clearly unique. Delegates reported on phenomenal growth rates for the education market in China, and that while demand outstripped supply in relation to postgraduate management courses, it was clear that supply had to increase in order to meet the developing needs for a skilled workforce in China’s developing regions. At the same time, the increasing rate of unemployment in China made the need for enterprise awareness much greater.
UK delegates referred to the EU’s Olso agenda, which creates a challenge to develop enterprise education from pre-school through to post-graduates. The challenge for both the UK and China increasingly seems to be how we can meet this demand for enterprise education. Both countries delegates argued for the need to train more educators, but that this required the develop of not just an enterprise curriculum, but also of entrepreneurial educators who can support learning in innovative, creative ways that inspire as well as inform.
The morning closed with a discussion of what delivering enterprise education really meant, and the need for research across the network was discussed. We addressed the need for a curriculum that didn’t view enterprise as limited to business planning, but instead embraced enterprise values across a range of experiences and practices. We discussed the importance of enterprise education across the whole university, and the role of extra-curricular activities in developing enterprise activity. Finally we were urged to see the network as an entrepreneurial activity in itself – to grasp opportunities and think creatively and bring people together.
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