Uni generates innovative report on enterprise and education

Professor Liz Towns-Andrew and Philip Clegg team up with think-tank Localis and UCL to compare entrepreneurial education in Yorkshire and London 

AN INNOVATIVE partnership between the University of Huddersfield, think-tank Localis and University College London (UCL) has led to the generation of a major report which explores what more can be done to encourage university entrepreneurial activity and its role in emerging local industrial strategy. 

The report, entitled 'Place, learning and entrepreneurialism: The impact of entrepreneurial education on regional economies', assesses university enterprise and entrepreneurship education as distinct from research and spin-out activity and considers how best it can be supported to grow. Central to the report was a comparison of entrepreneurial education in London and Yorkshire. 

With the Government’s new Knowledge Exchange Framework being developed and a major Parliamentary study on entrepreneurship now underway the report begins with two powerful and personal forewords from the founder of Cobra Beer, Lord Bilimoria, and QAA Guidance author, Professor Andy Penaluna, both champions of entrepreneurial education and its local economic impact. 

With the concept of “place” now at the heart of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, the intention is that their words and this provocative report will elevate the case and profile of entrepreneurial education and encourage both universities and Government to recognise its huge potential in creating the businesses and economic growth of tomorrow. 

The University of Huddersfield’s instigation and management of the report was led by the University’s Director of Research and Enterprise Professor Liz Towns-Andrews and the University’s Head of Student & Graduate Business Start-Up Philip Clegg.