SHARED EXPERIENCES BOOST ENTREPRENEURSHIP

City of Glasgow College was delighted to welcome members of the Network of Networks for the first-ever Entrepreneurship Education Network Summit.

The network consists of regional and national groupings of colleges from Northern Ireland, Finland, the Netherlands, the Basque Country and Scotland providing an opportunity for colleagues to exchange ideas and best practices in the delivery of entrepreneurship education, whilst also identifying collaborative project opportunities.

The Summit, funded by Scottish Enterprise’s Ecosystem Fund, started by showcasing Scotland’s plan for entrepreneurship with a keynote speech from Professor Ross Tuffee, Advisor to the Scottish Government, about the Entrepreneurial Campus Blueprint Report.  The participants also heard from Pawel Jancz, Head of Regional Engagement for Glasgow and West of Scotland from Codebase, about the services and incubation space they offer Tech Start-ups across Scotland.  Representatives from each network then shared examples of best practice from their own country.

Stuart McDowall, Head of Innovation & STEM, at City of Glasgow College, said:

“The opportunity to connect with colleagues from across the EU reinforces the opportunities we have to access resources and skills to help improve our approach to entrepreneurship education. It’s clear to see the similar approaches being taken across the EU to create entrepreneurial, work-ready graduates and a workforce that’s adaptable and agile.

I’d like to thank everyone involved in organising this event including colleagues from the Dutch Alliance, FINN-NET, HETEL, Colleges Northern Ireland and Scotland who were willing to share their experiences, and special thanks to Professor Ross Tuffee and Codebase for their inspiring presentations that helped shaped the discussions at the Summit.”

Entrepreneurship remains one of the working groups of the NoN, and the ideas generated and the information shared during the Summit have signposted the direction of the WG for the year ahead, including the creation of a pan-European Entrepreneurship Skills and Competence Framework, and joint pitching competitions for students of all countries represented by the networks.

Colleagues from across the Networks provided fantastic examples of how college institutions are developing, scaling and embedding Entrepreneurship into education, with key takeaways being:

• Maximise our existing resources and collaborative networks to increase participation in Entrepreneurial activities.
• Establish a varied toolkit of activities covering the breadth of the entrepreneurial journey of students.
• Start small to prove the viability of approaches that can be scaled for impact.

The event provided a platform to showcase best practices from across the Continent and concluded with discussions around the most appropriate pedagogical approaches and the support our educators require to deliver effective Entrepreneurship training to inspire the next generation of student entrepreneurs.