Built Environment Education Symposium:Building the Future5/6 September 2005

Developing Entrepreneurship Skills in the Context of Higher EducationDr. Andrea I. Frank (CEBE)

“One becomes an entrepreneur not by birth but by education as well as by experience” (Volkmann 2004)

CONTEXTThe title of this presentation ‘Developing Entrepreneurship Skills in Higher Education’ refers primarily to the development of entrepreneurship skills1 in students through teaching and learning of and about entrepreneurship2; and secondarily to the development of entrepreneurial faculties, staff and universities3. While different – the two activities are linked as the teaching of entrepreneurship and requisite entrepreneurial skills requires both knowledgeable staff and innovative pedagogy such as internships or business plan competitions not usually part of the standard university teaching program.

Over the last decades, more than one initiative or reform movement in Higher Education provision has addressed skills requirements and actual or perceived educational deficiencies. There was - in no particular order - the key skills agenda, C& IT skills, transferable skills recently followed by employability and entrepreneurship skills. Academics may wonder if this latest push for the provision of entrepreneurship skills in HE is yet another attempt at downgrading higher education to training - invariably taking away time to convey subject-specific knowledge in their academic field and/or forcing them to teach something they feel not competent to do. Reversely, employers and professionals may ask themselves whether this initiative (finally) will help produce more able, fit-for-the-job graduates? Or, they may ask whether the focus on leadership, creativity, innovation, and financial management etc. will distract students from acquiring other professionally relevant skills?

While there is merit in all these views, the current urge to foster entrepreneurship skills teaching and learning in HE curricula and develop ‘Entrepreneurial Universities’ is, I believe, an expression of more fundamental changes in the tertiary education sector and society at large. On one hand, we need to recognise that employment prospects for university graduates are changing. Long-term public sector employment is decreasing and with an increase in outsourcing many employees are expected to move to self-employment or small to medium size businesses. Moreover, the creation of new knowledge-based or social enterprises is seen as vital to maintaining competitiveness in a globalising world and to address social and environmental issues effectively (Small Business Service 2005). In the 21st century “graduates are expected not only to be job-seekers, but also and above all to be job-creators” (Miclea 2004).

On the other hand, universities are recognising their responsibility to provide a useful and relevant educational experience. Responding to external pressures, universities around the world have started to

1 Entrepreneurship skills include leadership, creativity, marketing/sales, negotiation, administration, time management, self-motivation, financial management and a range of interpersonal skills.2 Entrepreneurship in the broadest sense is defined as “an activity which leads to the creation and management of a new organisation design to pursue a unique, innovative opportunity” (see Higher Education Academy Circular 6, 2004)3 The term entrepreneurial university is often used in juxtaposition with traditional university meaning innovative or proactive (see Clark 1998, 2004).

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change the way they operate (Clark 2004: 1). Entrepreneurialism is not (anymore) a concept foreign to academia. There is an increasing interest in co-operating with businesses and industry often leading to the input of private funding to public universities. Like corporations, universities diversify. Many universities have broadened their mission (beyond education and research) to include outreach activities such as community service and knowledge transfer in the form of spin-offs, incubators or enterprises. Although the stimulation of intellectual activity in students through transmission of theoretical knowledge and the advancement of knowledge through research are still important, other aspects are gaining importance such as provision for practical skills and applied knowledge and the direct and indirect contribution of universities to knowledge economies. Providing employability and entrepreneurship skills is a logical progression from this development. A 2003 European University Association survey of heads of European universities reveals that 90% regard the future employability of their graduates as important and 56% as very important aspect impacting on the design of university curricula. As entrepreneurship creates employment, it is not only intrinsically linked but may also be seen as a special form of employability (Moreland 2004).

Young professionals in the UK appear to be less inclined to starting their own business than in other parts of the EU and North America (Boon 2004). Thus, the government is actively encouraging the development of an entrepreneurial culture in society. Higher Education is seen as a key instrument to help spark the entrepreneurial spirit in young people. One of the latest measures of the government in this respect was the founding of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE) whose remit it is explicitly to 1) increase the number and sustainability of graduate start-ups and 2) to increase the number of students and graduates giving serious thought to setting up a business in all its forms (see NCGE website, available at http://www.ncge.org.uk). The government in Wales through its Welsh Development Agency is funding an Entrepreneurship champion at each of its universities and there many more programmes around the country. Efforts go well beyond the traditional business plan competitions which appeal only to a few select individuals.

BRINGING ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION TO ACADEMIAFormal entrepreneurship education at the university level is relatively young. One of the first courses specifically addressing entrepreneurship was established at the Harvard Business School in 1947 (Volkmann 2004: 178). In the UK the first courses were launched in the 1980s together with the UKs first initiative for Enterprise in Higher Education (Elton 1991, Kirby 1989, Kirby 2005). Since then entrepreneurship programmes have experienced a global proliferation and it has been suggested that entrepreneurship will become “the major academic discipline for business education in the 21st century” (Volkmann 2004).

Entrepreneurship programs differ significantly. Some emphasise theoretical issues, i.e., research into the characteristics of entrepreneurship success, management models and so forth. Other programs focus on entrepreneurship practice, i.e. the necessary skills such as interpersonal skills, business planning, idea creation, negotiation etc. Accordingly, entrepreneurship is being either taught by academics specializing in entrepreneurship research and/or actual entrepreneurs (often on a part-time basis).

Moreover, while entrepreneurship programmes typically are offered in the business schools, recently different models of entrepreneurship education and training have been emerging. At the University of Limerick (Ireland), for example, entrepreneurship courses are integrated not only in the curriculum of the business school but also in engineering, the humanities, science and educational faculty programmes. At the University of Ulster (NIR) two introductory e-learning modules on entrepreneurship are integrated in the UG curriculum of nearly all its courses, including engineering and construction/surveying. Other Universities have developed independent entrepreneurial units responsible for training and support of entrepreneurial activities of all students (see Anderseck 2004).Despite the proliferation of entrepreneurship programs, however, there is (still) considerable debate about the goals of entrepreneurship education – is it to study entrepreneurship, to increase the number of start-ups after graduation, or is it to equip students with the skills, attitude and behaviour enabling

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them to function effectively in the competitive atmosphere of the 21st century and become potentially entrepreneurs?

It is the latter element of developing students’ skills, self-confidence, and way of thinking and behaving in a confident, independent and pro-active manner, that I believe, has the most value and promise for Higher Education and Built Environment Education in particular. With the challenges facing us in terms of creating high quality, sustainable living environments we need young people who are innovative and enterprising.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TEACHING & LEARNING IN BUILT ENVIRONMENT DISCIPLINESBuilt environment professions, such as architecture, planning, or surveying, exhibit a comparatively large proportion of self-employment. For example around 80% of architects are self-employed or work in small practices and many of our students show an interest in self-employment. Considering the employment pattern in the sector and students’ stated preferences, one would expect that entrepreneurship skills and knowledge are an integral part of HE curricula in Built Environment disciplines. Yet, this is only partially true – for a variety of reasons.

One reason is context and language. Students in many of the BE disciplines are exposed to some business related skills and knowledge teaching them about planning practice, financing, cash flow, procurement, costing, risk assessment etc. In town planning courses students are often learning negotiation skills considered vital for entrepreneurs and in architecture and urban design creativity and idea development are promoted. What is missing is the link of those skills with entrepreneurship. Even if the link to the profession or private practice is made, self-employment as of recent was not customarily associated with entrepreneurship. Hence, the language used by these modules does not include the terminology of entrepreneurship and enterprise.

Second, self-employment or consulting was something that one embarked on after many years of experience in practice. Learning how to set up a business during your HE course seems therefore not to be a pressing priority. This creates an interdependency by which self-employment is delayed because of lack of knowledge. Self-employment or opening one’s own practice is almost always defined as long-term goal, because the students feel they lack experience, need to gain full membership in their respective professional bodies and have no idea of how to start a business!

Third, professional career paths appear predefined, e.g., with a planning degree one is to work in a local authority or planning department. Developing one’s own perhaps more enterprising career options seemed again no good use of the time. However, this may be very important in some areas such as architecture where we have more graduates than the market needs.

Entrepreneurship is not just for business students. Built environment student have a unique set of skills that can make them suitable for entrepreneurial activities, i.e. creating jobs for themselves or others. At least 4 types of entrepreneurial opportunities can be distinguished. Students should be made aware of these different careers and teaching and learning should support relevant skills and competency acquisitions. Kirby (2004) and Rae (1997) argue that business skills and knowledge are insufficient to turn a graduate into an entrepreneur. Rather, universities need to develop a certain way of thinking and behaviour in graduates, which not only requires a change of content but also pedagogy. Table 1 below lists entrepreneurship/employment opportunities, relevant skills and characteristics that support entrepreneurial behaviour and pedagogical approaches. The list is indicative and by no means exhaustive or complete.

Table 1 – Entrepreneurial opportunities for BE graduates

Entrepreneurship Opportunity Skills/Attitudes Teaching/Pedagogy(a) Business/consultancy in area of General Business skills Internship/work in a small

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professional specialisation or working as Contracter.This typically happens 7-10 years after graduation due to the requirement to practice within professional codes of conduct and accreditation.

such as marketing, time management etc.

Confidence, enthusiasm, willingness to work hard*

practice Student run consultancy at

university

(b) Social entrepreneurship Employs creativity and innovation to improve the public good rather than private profit and using imagination to identify new opportunities and determination to bring them to fruition (School for Social Entrepreneurs).

Idea development, leadership, working with public, fund raising, negotiation, planning, organising, enthusiasm, self-belief & confidence.

General Business skills

Community partnership projects, live projects, internships, shadowing of social entrepreneurs

(c) Intrapreneurship i.e., working within an organization or agency to effect change, by developing new ideas, procedures or products, by innovating practice and thereby enhancing the business.

Idea development, recognising opportunities for improvements

Alliance building, confidence, leadership

Case studies

(d) Non-traditional specialist businesses, e.g., an Architect opening a specialty touring business or starting a computer-aided design training consultancy.

General Business Idea development,

creativity, confidence, willingness to work hard

Work experience Case studies

(e) General business ventures (web-design, marketing, etc)

Idea development, creativity, confidence, willingness to work hard

General Business

Business plan competitions

* Confidence and willingness to work hard were some of the qualities that young entrepreneurs emphasised in interviews on their setting up business and making it a success.

MAKING BUILT ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION MORE ENTREPRENEURIALAs suggested, built environment professions are well suited to entrepreneurship and students gain already valuable skills and experiences for self-employment and entrepreneurship. Further development of entrepreneurship (skills, attitudes and behaviour) in Built Environment students requires adjustments at the curriculum as well as the institutional level.

Curriculum levelEntrepreneurship and relevant skills development can build on existing good practices both in terms of pedagogy and module content such as the teaching of practice management or other relevant financial business knowledge. A recent study by a CEBE funded Special Interest Group investigated enterprise and commercial learning practices in BE courses with a focus on construction, surveying and civil engineering. The database of exemplary practice (http://www.cebe.heacademy.ac.uk/projects/enterprise/index.php) contains 16 sets of teaching materials addressing issues such as “business planning,” “Procurement,” “Cash Flow” etc. including some practice orientated modules where students learn by doing.

Many BE courses require work placements, internships and placements where students gain practical knowledge and experience. It requires perhaps some background or self-learning module to help them analyse and study their respective work place in terms of an organisation or enterprise as part of the experience. Employers may be encouraged to set students intrapreneurial projects or universities may help students to set-up training consultancies and companies within the university.

Entrepreneurship should be encouraged in the broadest sense of the word – including looking at community based activities which may not be grounded in market imperatives; but, rather, in the concepts of critical citizenship, social justice and human rights. There are already modules, studios

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and projects often in Architecture and Town Planning that are offering such opportunities for social entrepreneurship.

Last year’s CEBE Prize for teaching and learning for Social entrepreneurship went to the Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh) for a live urban design project for a small ex-mining community in Scotland. A group of postgraduate planning students worked with the community under the guidance of the tutor, an architect and a landscape architect to develop a design strategy and implementation plan for town improvements. From the student point of view the project fostered skills in working with real communities on a real project: listening, negotiating, analysing, devising alternative problem definitions, and creating imaginative solutions to complex problems. They had to be enterprising to effect change. From the community point of view the student project was a new venture that captured people’s imagination. Social Entrepreneurship was promoted because students proposed solutions based on community views and they had to develop implementation plans including phasing, funding, mechanisms and agency and community involvement. The students attended a number of public meetings and focus groups to learn about issues and problem areas in the community before developing their design ideas and presented their designs to the town before an audience of over 60 people, comprising of community development workers, planners, the Council’s director of planning, elected officials, and a local Member of the Scottish Parliament. Now one of the local action groups is taking the design ideas forward with the council and local authority.

The runner-up spot was claimed by London Metropolitan University’s Department of Architecture and Spatial Design for a novel undergraduate module "Communication and Participation" mandatory for all second year architecture and interior architecture students. The module introduces students to current practices in participatory design in relation to the wider political, economic and professional context and a concept of duty of care (towards society). Small student teams are charged to work with a local community group or institution organising a creative workshop that

Engages members of the community and develops a group/site-specific theme; Investigates people’s opinions of their living and working built environment; Explores how the quality of interior and exterior spaces may be improved; Utilises the students’ design and communication skills to generate new ideas and, Establishes relationships with a view to realising projects in the future.

Students are given a small budget for materials and other essential expenses and had to develop a statement of intent, propose communication and participation methodologies and record the activities undertaken during he workshop. Furthermore the students had to evaluate the event and identify potential further involvement and collaboration. Although some students struggled with the task – others continue working with the community in successive years of study and throughout their diploma year.

In sum, educators need to be more explicit about the skills students learn and how they can be employed. They also should create opportunities where students can learn while being entrepreneurial. It requires the educators taking risks – letting students organise, take control and responsibility but in the long run it may be a more rewarding experience for all. It also means that we accept that things may go wrong. One cannot be certain with innovations – but that is an element of the entrepreneurial culture as well. Lecturers need thus to:

Make the link between skills and entrepreneurship more explicit Discuss self-employment and entrepreneurial career paths explicitly with students (see for

example young entrepreneurship profiles: http://www.cebe.heacademy.ac.uk/learning/entrepreneurship/profiles.php)

Develop opportunities for partnership projects (industry/ community) – where students have both responsibility but also freedom to release their enterprising creativity to effect change

Support live projects and student run consultancies Actively stimulate creativity and idea development Stimulate more right brain activities and thinking

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Promote joint degree programs (such as the joint Bachelor of Surveying and Commerce/Entrepreneurship which is offering a integrated education and dual qualification – at Curtin University of Technology in Australia)

Department/School/University LevelEmbedding entrepreneurial and employability skills in the curriculum requires the support of the department and school, the professional institutions and partnership boards (or whatever accreditation mechanisms apply). Many university lecturers may not feel confident in conveying a subject that they do know very little about: entrepreneurship. Staff development programs are one means to overcome this paucity of confidence and knowledge. Alternatively external lecturers may fill the gap.

Perhaps more importantly– at present there is little incentive for lecturers to try new things and invest time in the development of new modules. While industry/university collaborations are very useful – it also takes time to develop these relationships. Kwiatkoski (2004) has emphasised the social capital and the value of trusts and relationships in the development of opportunities and enterprise – particularly in situations with little financial capital and resources. However, the pay-off for educators (in terms of promotion and kudos) is by doing research (i.e. bringing in large contracts) and publications – not developing new modules or community partnerships. One of the challenges in developing entrepreneurship in HE is to change the reward and appraisal criteria for academic staff – particularly in areas where there is no established knowledge transfer cultures or spin-offs (new product design, patenting etc). The engagement with enterprise needs to ‘pay-off,’ in terms of promotion in similar fashion as does research.

Also, we need to learn and be able to treat students as adults, give them freedom to make mistakes. Reversely, student expectations need to be altered. We are not to spoon feed them – they have to work to learn themselves (the total focus of students on marks, on individual learning is detrimental to experimental learning).

EXISTING RESOURCES AND SUPPORTA wealth of teaching materials and resources are being developed by CEBE, the Higher Education Academy and the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship. The latter has recently commissioned a mapping document which represents a valuable overview of the landscape of entrepreneurship support and activities (Price et al 2004).

Higher Education Academy ProgramRealising the importance and recognising the challenge of bringing entrepreneurial skills teaching to all university subjects and disciplines, the Higher Education Academy (formerly the LTSN) has embarked on a programme of activity “to facilitate the development of the undergraduate curriculum by putting in place the background information and materials needed to equip universities to teach the skills required to start and grow a business and contribute effectively to an organisation” (http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/Enterprise.htm).

The programme (partly funded by the DfES) provided also know how and resources for ten Subject Centres to develop specific materials for subject communities not usually associated with entrepreneurship such as Philosophy and Religious Studies, English and Built Environment. The programme enabled subject centre staff to explore what entrepreneurship means and how students could be entrepreneurial within the context of their discipline using their unique skills and knowledge. This let to a set of inspiring projects and work.4

Making the link between a subject and enterprise was naturally easier in one set of disciplines than in others. For example, in the Hospitality sector, a relative high percentage of graduates open up their own small businesses or restaurants and the project could focus on collecting and compiling a set of instruction materials representing best practice. In other cases, the promotion of entrepreneurship skills 4 Projects are documented http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/948.htm

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teaching required a leap from traditional practices as in the case of religious studies. There, the needs of an increasingly diverse society, namely that of understanding different religious belief systems were found to represents an opportunity to people with intricate knowledge on such matters. Religious study students were shown how to set up a service business – a faith literacy consultancy and thus gain vital entrepreneurial experience. In another instance, students in sociology at Warwick University founded their own company (learning and research in the process what it means to set up an enterprise, how to draw up a business plan, get funding and organise themselves).

Centre for Education in the Built EnvironmentAs part of this project, CEBE developed an award that would provide recognition for modules teaching entrepreneurship in the built environment disciplines. With this we tried to address the issue that there is currently little incentive to engage with the subject. The risk paid, and we received high quality submission, which serve as good practice examples of how to integrate entrepreneurship in the curriculum. The competition will be repeated in the coming academic year. We also developed case studies of young entrepreneurs, whose profiles and experiences can be used in teaching to discuss career opportunities as well as the knowledge and skills necessary to develop a business and succeed.

CEBE is committed to continue to compile teaching materials and best practice and a variety of our projects and research will continue to help provide resources and background material for the fostering of entrepreneurship teaching and learning in BE disciplines.

SUMMARYOver the last decades formal entrepreneurship education programs have proliferated in Higher Education. In the latest effort to stimulate more start-ups as well as a entrepreneurial culture in society, the concepts of enterprise and entrepreneurship in conjunction with employability are to become an integral part of the HE teaching and learning experience in all disciplines not just business education. This will not be a simple task. Simply providing commercial and technical knowledge will not create entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs have certain skills, attitudes and behaviour, which lets them not only recognise a need or an opportunity but compels them to act and initiate change.

There is significant potential to address this agenda within the built environment – as part of the goals of the built environment professions is to improve, enhance and change our immediate environment. In fact, considerable amounts of both of potentially suitable pedagogy (projects, case studies, placements) to develop entrepreneurial behaviour, attitudes and skills and business skills content and knowledge exist already in BE curricula.

Educators need to develop and strengthen the conceptual links to self-employment and enterprise more fully or make them explicit in their teaching. Community and industry partnership development require significant investments, but are essential for furthering entrepreneurial opportunities at the curriculum and departmental level. The engagement of educators with entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities (including teaching in community or industry partnership situations) thus requires also changes in the academic reward system and structure away from a dominant focus on research and publications.

Finally, while there is certainly a place for entrepreneurship and enterprise in Higher Education it should not turn to the only aspect in Higher Education. In the seminal Delors (1996) UNESCO report on the Education for the Twenty-First Century a balance between different ways of knowing and learning is stressed. The report recommends that the education in the 21st century needs to be based on four pillars of learning: a) learning to know (conceptual, theoretical, how to learn) etcb) learning to do (practical, applied knowledge and skills including entrepreneurship to affect change)c) learning to be, andd) learning to live together (as a diverse culture)

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This represents a good description of graduateness. While there is a need to emphasize practical knowledge and entrepreneurial culture, let’s not forget the other aspects of learning.

REFERENCESAnderseck, Klaus. 2004. Institutional and Academic Entrepreneurship: Implications for University

Governance and Management. Higher Education in Europe 29, 2: 193-200.

Boon, Jon. 2004. Initiatives aim to turn graduates into entrepreneurs. Financial Times, August 4, 2004.

Clark, Burton R. 1998. Creating Entrepreneurial Universities: Organisational pathways of transformation. Oxford: Pergamon/Elsevier Science.

Clark, Burton R. 2004. Sustaining Change in Universities: Continuities in case studies and concepts. Berkshire, England: Open University Press and McGraw-Hill Education.

Delors, J. 1996. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty First Century: Learning: The Treasure Within. Paris: UNESCO.

Elton, L. 1991. Enterprise in Higher Education: work in progress – looking back of the first 3 years. Education and Training 33, 2: 5-9.

European University Association [EUA].2003. Trends 2003: Progress Towards the European Higher Education Area. Brussels: European University Association.

Kirby, David. 1989. Encouraging the enterprising undergraduate. Education and Training 31, 4, 9-10.

Kirby, David. 2005. A case for Teaching Entrepreneurship in Higher Education. Online. URL: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/employability/EMP035_ACaseforTeachingEntrepreneurship.rtf [Accessed August 2005]

Kwiatkowski, Stefan. 2004. Social and Intellectual Dimension of Entrepreneurship. Higher Education in Europe 29, 2: 206-220.

Miclea, Mircea. 2004. “Learning to Do” as a pillar of Education and its links to Entrepreneurial Studies in Higher Education: European Contexts and Approaches. Higher Education in Europe 29, 2: 221-231.

Moreland, N. 2004. Entrepreneurship and Higher Education: An Employability Perspective. Online. URL: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources.asp?process=full_record&section=generic&id=341 [Accessed August 2005]

Price, Alison et al. 2004. Mapping Graduate Entrepreneurship. Research Paper # 2. Birmingham: National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE). Online. URL: http://www.ncge.org.uk/downloads/research/Final_Project_Report.pdf [Accessed September 2005]

Small Business Service. 2005. Social Enterprise Unit. Online. URL: http://www.dti.gov.uk/socialenterprise/index.htm. [Accessed August 2005]

The Higher Education Academy. 2004. Circular 6: Graduate Enterprise. York: Higher Education Academy. Online. URL: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/employability/EMP128D_CircularonGraduateEnterprise.pdf [Accessed August 2005]

Volkmann, Christine. 2004. Entrepreneurship Studies – an Ascending Academic Discipline in the twenty-first Century. Higher Education in Europe 29, 2: 177-185.

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