Presentation from the Association for National Teaching Fellows Annual Symposium 2021 with Dr Princy Johnson & Dr Ceri Batchelder

1. Building resilience
within our university
community: Enterprise
education at the heart
of higher education
Gary C Wood, University of Sheffield
Princy Johnson, Liverpool John Moores University
Ceri Batchelder, University of Sheffield

2. Overview
● The changing landscape of higher education in recent decades
● Enterprise education as a focus in learning and teaching – challenges and missed
opportunities
● A revaluation of enterprise education, with some examples
● A call to action!

3. Context: The changing UK HE landscape
● Increasing numbers and diversity of students entering HE
● Increasing interest from Employers to have a greater influence on the learning
and development of the graduates
● Re-evaluation of the role of universities:
○ Office for Students
○ Government seeking ‘return on investment’ (Lebeau et al 2012; HM Government 2017,
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, 2017)
○ Plans for increased spending on R&D, but with large contribution from private sector –
requiring more KE activity (Royal Society 2019)
○ Scrutiny of the value of education provided to students, especially in terms of
employability and work-readiness (Britton et al 2020)
● Increased Government scrutiny through metricisation: REF, TEF and KEF.

4. Context: Enterprise & entrepreneurship
education
● Enterprise is a set of capabilities that enable individuals to spot opportunities,
generate ideas, and do something about them. Enterprising people get things
done and make things happen
● Increased interest in enterprise education (Hytti & O’Gorman 2004):
○ HEIs developing opportunities to develop enterprise capabilities in students –
see, seize and respond positively to opportunities, and make ideas happen
(Pittaway & Hannon 2008)
○ Formation of Enterprise Educators UK in 2007
○ THE Entrepreneurial University of the Year Award since 2008
● But, not yet mainstream – not a fundamental part of HE alongside, e.g.
communication, numeracy and literacy
○ Enterprise educators report difficulty in gaining traction, or effecting
cultural change.

5. Enterprise is not just about teaching
and learning...
Five Capabilities Model of enterprise education (based on Barluenga et al., 2013):
1. Authentic Problem Solving
2. Innovation & Creativity
3. Risk, Uncertainty & Value
4. Taking Action
5. Collaboration & Networking

6. Enterprise is not just about teaching
and learning...
Example
capability
Research
Vitae Researcher
Development Framework
(Vitae 2011)
Teaching/Learning
QAA UK Quality Code for
Higher Education
(QAA 2018)
Knowledge Exchange
KEF: Decisions for the
first iteration
(UKRI 2020)
Authentic
problem
solving
● Cognitive abilities
(A2):
● Analysing
● Synthesising
● Critical thinking
● Evaluating
● Problem solving
● ‘Devise and sustain
arguments, and/or
solve problems’
● ‘be able to apply their
knowledge and
understanding’
● ‘frame appropriate
questions … identify
solutions to a problem’
● Working with
businesses, the public &
third sector
● Local growth and
regeneration
● Public & community
engagement
● Skills, enterprise &
entrepreneurship

7. Enterprise is not just about teaching
and learning...
Example
capability
Research
Vitae Researcher
Development Framework
(Vitae 2011)
Teaching/Learning
QAA UK Quality Code for
Higher Education
(QAA 2018)
Knowledge Exchange
KEF: Decisions for the
first iteration
(UKRI 2020)
Innovation &
Creativity
● Inquiring mind
● Intellectual insight
● Innovation
● Argument
construction
● Intellectual risk
● ‘use ideas and
techniques … at the
forefront of the
discipline’
● Innovate UK KTP and
grant income
● Graduate startup rate
● Local growth and
regeneration
● IP and
commercialisation
● Business, public &
community
engagement

8. Why should enterprise be central to
our activities?
● Enterprise is a commonality across our core
activities
● Situating it at the intersection, not as a
peripheral pedagogical approach delivered
by a subset of enterprising academics,
offers value
● Our activities become symbiotic, supporting
and feeding each other, rather than feeling
like competing priorities
● Good results on the 3EF metrics will follow.

9. Case Study 1: Sheffield Engineering
Leadership Academy
● SELA develops selected, high-potential engineering undergraduate students to
become leaders who create positive impact in research and industry
● 2-year programme, delivered in close collaboration with industry
● Students complete real projects to deliver real value, whilst testing and
developing their skills:
○ E.g. Industry 4.0 adoption – modernisation in SME manufacturing:
■ Students developed low budget entry points to digital technologies
■ Students gain leadership capability, and sense of their agency
■ New research projects have been established and funded
■ Students were able to effectively mediate the knowledge gradient for KE
■ Outcomes and outputs captured and used widely across the institution for
metrics.

10. Case Study 2: LJMU Leadership Module
● The Professional and Leadership skills module – core for all MSc Programmes in
Engineering at LJMU.
● Aim: To develop personal and social competencies including adaptability,
creativity, innovation, social skills etc. using a Emotional Competence (EQ)
Framework
● LTA methods: team-building using diversity, personality profiling for team roles,
student-led group discussions and panel sessions, inverted classroom activity,
creativity, games based team activity, Self-reflection and peer review.
● Pedagogy: Questionnaire measuring self-efficacy, EI/EQ, leadership styles and
skills
● Successful outcomes:
○ increased employment of graduates since the introduction of the module
○ Increased achievement level in terms of grades
○ industrial placement and knowledge exchange through group design projects.

11. Case Study 2 cont’d...
● Feedback from students:
○ I enjoyed the lecture you delivered today!
○ Refreshing change from the engineering modules so far this year.
○ While other engineering modules cover information I'll need in an engineering career,
the leadership module will help with all other skills such as team-working and outside
of my career too.
○ I really enjoy your classes and look forward to them each week.
○ Definitely the most engaging and fun, interesting classes I have.
● Feedback from employers:
○ “they (students) have demonstrated extraordinary ability to integrate within the teams,
generate creative ideas as potential solutions for industrial challenges, and evaluate
them.”
○ “... also industrious and have great drive.”

12. Enterprise at the heart of the 3EFs
● Sheffield Engineering Leadership Academy
○ TEF: excellence in student learning,
employability, preparing lifelong learners
○ REF: enabled new research collaborations as
a result of our projects
○ KEF: projects involve knowledge exchange
and have been included in our KEF return.
● LJMU Leadership Module
○ TEF: increased employability with industry
collaboration
○ REF & KEF: increased industry collaboration
has resulted in research
and KTP projects.

13. Benefits of positioning enterprise at
the heart of HEIs
1. Enables an integrated approach to delivering excellence across the quality
measures in REF, TEF and KEF
2. Enterprising/entrepreneurial mindsets enhances staff and students’ leadership
capabilities
3. Enterprise capability enables students, institutions and their staff to build
resilience, and so be more adaptable and flexible in an uncertain world.
How could our approach be useful in your institution or for your practice?

14. In one or two words, how could our
approach be useful in your institution
or practice?

16. Building resilience
within our university
community: Enterprise
education at the heart
of higher education
Gary C Wood, g.c.wood@sheffield.ac.uk
Princy Johnson, p.johnson@ljmu.ac.uk
Ceri Batchelder, ceri@connectcreate.co.uk