Entrepreneurial Learning Symposium at Glamorgan

January 14, 2009

The Centre for Enterprise in conjunction with the Welsh Enterprise Institute hosted and organised the recent Business, Management, Accountancy and Finance (BMAF) Special Interest Group (SIG) symposium in Entrepreneurial Learning at the Glamorgan Business Centre in December 2008.

The role of the Entrepreneurial Learning SIG is to disseminate and share best practice in the field of entrepreneurship education throughout the UK. More than forty academics and representatives of the leading enterprise support agencies attended the day from institutions as far afield as the University of Napier in Edinburgh and the University of London.

The event opened by Dr Gary Packham included key note lectures from some of the leading thinkers in entrepreneurship education in the UK including Professor David Rae of the University of Lincoln and Professor Harry Matlay and Dr Charlotte Carey from Birmingham City University.

In setting the scene for the event Dr Packham alluded to both the importance of entrepreneurship in economic recovery and the role that educators needed to play in developing a new breed of enterprising individuals that could meet the challenges that existing business philosophies and approaches had created.

In Professor Rae’s insightful keynote he further considered the renewed importance of the entrepreneur in the light of the credit crunch and economic recession. Professor Rae suggested that entrepreneurs need to identify and take advantage of the opportunities that the credit crunch will bring and the need for collaborative and socially aware activity. He further suggested that entrepreneurs need to take advantage of the under utilized resources of failing multi national resources such as people, equipment, location and capital.

Professor Harry Matlay and Dr Charlotte Carey presented an informed review of entrepreneurship education in the UK. Their address also considered the key questions that are emerging from the field of entrepreneurship education and the challenges that need to be surmounted in the years ahead.

The event which was also supported by the Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) was the first in a series of BMAF events concentrating on the future development of entrepreneurial learning and education and the afternoon session, chaired by Dr Packham, challenged participants to respond to the key messages presented in the morning by helping to set the agenda for future SIG events.

The next Entrepreneurial Learning SIG will be hosted by Napier University at the end of January 2009.

Tagged: enterprise