Measuring the Impact of Student and Graduate Entrepreneurship Dr Kelly Smith
Setting the scene What is enterprise?
Some Working definitions Enterprise skills The ability to be enterprising E.g. idea creation; innovative thinking, opportunity spotting, problem solving; identifying, sourcing and collecting resources; communicating; enthusing others; project management; costing and managing a budget Entrepreneurship skills Business and new venture start-up E.g. enterprise skills above plus strategic business planning; financial planning; intellectual property use and protection, knowledge of legal issues relating to starting and running a business
QAA Guidelines 2012 http://www.qaa.ac. uk/publications/informationandgu idance/pages/ enterprise-entrepreneurshipguidance.aspx
QAA Learning Opportunities
Discussion Where does student or graduate entrepreneurship sit in your institution?
Are we failing students? "A key consensus reached by this report is that, in Britain, we lack the kind of education that stimulates entrepreneurship and innovation." "University does not provide the know-how to launch or work in small, high growth business skills would be really beneficial to many young people. Smith & Williamson report Unleashing British Business Research produced by a forum organised by Smith & Williamson, the business group, along with Cubitt Consulting and The Centre for Entrepreneurs, argues that schools and universities are failing to provide education to stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation. The Telegraph UK schools are failing entrepreneurs Sept 2014
Impact of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education Enterprise and entrepreneurship education generally has positive benefits that should be expected to lead to some students starting new businesses and making contributions to the growth of existing businesses the evidence does not conclusively show the attribution of this to enterprise and entrepreneurship education BIS (2013). Enterprise education impact in higher education and further education (p7) Some argue that for new business creation courses, objectives should be primarily economic and include measures such as businesses started or saved, revenue generation and growth, job creation and retention, financing obtained and profitability e.g. Storey, 2000; McMullan et al., 2001; c.f. Henry, Hill, and Leitch, 2004)
Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Survey HE-BCI Annual survey that collects information on a range of university-led knowledge exchange activities between August and July. Data returned to HESA in December Collects information on graduate start-ups (also called graduate spin-outs) defined by HE-BCI as all new business started by recent graduates (within two years) regardless of where any IP resides. Undergraduate start-ups can be included where there has been formal business/enterprise support from the HEI. Can have any enterprise structure (e.g. not for profit, partnership or sole trader) but there must be some form of registration (e.g. with HMRC) before they can be included in the survey (required from 2011/2012).
Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Survey HE-BCI 1. Number created 2. Number still active which have survived at least 3 years 3. Number of active firms - The total number of companies that are active, including those entered under 1 and 2 above, plus those companies which have been active for between one and three years. 4. Estimated current employment of all active firms (FTE) 5. Estimated current turnover of all active firms 6. Estimated external investment received - excluding any investment from HEFCE/BIS third stream funds (such as Higher Education Innovation Fund)
HEBCI Statistics - Totals Totals for the six graduate start-up measures returned by universities by year Year Number created Number still active which have survived at least three years Number of active firms Estimated current employment of all active firms (FTE) Estimated current turnover of all active firms ( 000s) Estimated external investment received ( 000s) 2008-2009 2048 1657 4008 7952 136,205 50,692 2009-2010 2357 1948 5064 9704 225,175 8,437 2010-2011 2848 2602 6413 11914 272,655 88,782 2011-2012 2726 2824 7036 13617 345,997 31,627 2012-2013 3502 3270 8127 15588 376,407 28,544
HEBCI Statistics Number of Returns Number of HEIs returning data by year and graduate start-up measure Year Number created Number still active which have survived at least three years Number of active firms Estimated current employment of all active firms Estimated current turnover of all active firms Estimated external investment received Total number of Universities in survey population 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 74 87 97 94 98 65 75 78 83 87 78 87 93 95 98 74 81 82 85 86 64 69 75 76 80 32 37 43 41 42 163 164 163 163 161 62 11 5 9 12 71 70 12 6 8 10 64 75 14 8 10 11 52 100 23 8 16 7 16 Number of years that a return was made by HEIs 0 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years 54 13 9 16 19 59 73 12 6 9 13 57
HEBCI Means Mean values for the six graduate start-up measures for data returning HEIs by year. Year Number created Number still active which have survived at least three years Number of active firms Estimated current employment of all active firms (FTE) Estimated current turnover of all active firms ( 000s) Estimated external investment received ( 00s) 2008-2009 28 25 51 107 2,128 1,584 2009-2010 27 26 58 120 3,263 228 2010-2011 29 33 69 145 3,635 2,065 2011-2012 29 34 74 160 4,553 771 2012-2013 36 38 83 181 4,705 680
DLHE Institutional Level University of Huddersfield self-employment and business start-up returns for DHLE Question 5 Self-Employment Business Start-Up Combined Year N % N % N % 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012* 2012-2013 70 129 165 161 179 2.8 4.6 5.1 4.8 5.4 24 35 0.7 1.1 70 129 165 185 214 2.8 4.6 5.1 5.5 6.5 Number of Respondents 2537 2812 3204 3372 3285 * National average = 3.1 and 0.5% Number and percentage of responses to Question 30 referring to how well the University prepared gradates for self-employment Question 30 Response Very well Well Not very well Not at all Can't tell Total respondents 2011-2012 N % 545 16.20 749 22.30 451 13.40 511 15.20 1104 32.90 3360 2012-2013 N 666 812 463 495 1224 3660 % 18.20 22.20 12.70 13.50 33.40
HEAR Experience of linking enterprise skills to the HEAR?
Lord Young s Enterprise For All HE Specific 1. 2. 3. 4. Universities to have an elective enterprise module available to all students. An active and supported enterprise society in every university A start-up programme in all universities that have business schools holding Small Business Charter status. This should include specific provision for starting and funding social entrepreneurship. Create an incentive and reward structure for enterprise activity at universities by developing an enterprise E-Star award, under the patronage of the Duke of York, to distinguish the universities that are delivering the strongest enterprise ethos and outcomes for their students.
Lord Young s Enterprise For All Wider Recommendations 1. The publication of a Future Employment and Earnings Record after leaving education. Publishing this information through league tables would also promote competition and improvement amongst educators in their response to raising academic standards and their relevance to work and business. 2. Developing an Enterprise Passport For young people to record and demonstrate their enterprise learning and work experience throughout their education. This will be held digitally and offer a pool of accredited enterprise schemes and resources to educators, a differentiator for employers looking for proven employability skills alongside educational qualifications in a young person s CV, and an accessible tool for Ofsted to assess the quality and level of a school s enterprise commitment.
Final Thoughts Universities help seed a substantial number of student and graduate businesses Routinely collected data is likely to be an underestimate How do we better showcase and evidence what we do? How can we / should we be doing more?
Comments and questions?