From Student to Enterprising Researcher

Abstract

In recent years, I have found myself coming into contact more and more with ‘enterprise education’. This relatively new discipline sets out to give students and graduates the capacity to generate ideas together with the skills and confidence to see those ideas through to fruition. After the shift in economic climate post-2008, many British students found it more difficult to find employment in their chosen fields and these efforts to develop students’ soft skills, those that perhaps are not developed directly by academic study alone, became more necessary. British universities now employ numerous methods and interventions, from business competitions to hosting public lectures from successful business leaders, to try to develop students’ ‘entrepreneurial spirit’. Pinning down accurately what that ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ entails is difficult. Of course, there are certain characteristics that many entrepreneurs share. They tend to be good problem-solvers, innovative, they take risks, and they can mobilise people and resources to make things happen. However, finding the blueprint for making an entrepreneur can be quite difficult. In addition, many students do not want to become entrepreneurs as they prefer to work in teams and join existing organisations. Can they be helped by enterprise education? People who are innovative within existing organisations can be referred to as intra-preneurial, and enterprise education aims to help them realise their potential too. In this case study, I recount my experiences with enterprise education indicating what helped me, explain how I found myself being more entrepreneurial than I had realised I could be, and how I ended up moving forward as an enterprising researcher in academia.