Presentation from Advance HE Employability Symposium 2021: 3Es for Wicked Problems, with Ceri Batchelder & Princy Johnson

1. Revaluing Enterprise
Education in the
Twenty-First Century:
Unifying learning and teaching, research,
and knowledge exchange to thrive and
succeed in a changing world
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...
1From Five Capabilities Model – 1. Authentic Problem Solving; 2. Innovation & Creativity; 3. Risk, Uncertainty & Value; 4. Taking Action;
5. Collaboration & Networking (based on Barluenga et al., 2013).
Example
capability1
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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Case Study 2: LJMU Leadership Module
● The Professional and Leadership skills module a common core module for
MSc Programmes in Engineering at LJMU.
● Varied learning and teaching (L&A) methods including student-led group
discussions and panel sessions, inverted classroom activity, creativity,
games based team activity, and peer evaluation.
● Successful outcomes: employment, industrial placement and knowledge
exchange through group design projects
● Feedback from employers hosting industry placement and group design
project:
○ “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.”

9. 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.

10. 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 relevant is this framework to your institution and practice?

11. Revaluing Enterprise
Education in the
Twenty-First Century:
Unifying learning and teaching, research,
and knowledge exchange to thrive and
succeed in a changing world
Gary C Wood, University of Sheffield
Princy Johnson, Liverpool John Moores University
Ceri Batchelder, University of Sheffield