In our latest article showcasing those universities shortlisted for the THE Awards Outstanding Entrepreneurial University 2022, we look at how the University of Central Lancashire nurtures an enterprising and entrepreneurial culture.
What makes the University of Central Lancashire an entrepreneurial university?
The University of Central Lancashire is proud to nurture an enterprising and entrepreneurial culture. We are a catalyst for economic growth, providing a vast range of business support under the leadership of our business school, the Lancashire School of Business and Enterprise. Our Centre for SME and Enterprise Development has been a huge success story, providing local business leaders with opportunities to connect, collaborate and share best practice. Its thriving 1,500-strong membership is growing all the time, with members benefitting from tailored business advice, development events and networking opportunities all year round.
The Centre epitomises our commitment to being an outstanding, sector-leading entrepreneurial institution which seeks to foster a more productive and innovative SME sector in Lancashire. The Chartered Association of Business Schools recently commended our work as “unique” and “ground-breaking.” We’ve inspired leaders across the North West to experiment with pioneering new ideas, adopt new technologies and enhance their efficiency and competitiveness. After tapping into our expertise, leaders have taken bold steps to future-proof their organisations and ready themselves for the incredible opportunities that the Fourth Industrial Revolution will bring.
Our support for business and entrepreneurship is just one example of how the University is making a strong and sustained contribution to economic growth across Preston, Lancashire and the whole region. A University-commissioned report by Regeneris highlighted that the University contributes more than £200 million to the North West economy every year.*
Championing student enterprise is another of our strengths. Through our Propeller Start-up Programme, we have given formal business and enterprise support to 851 new businesses, including sole traders, in the last six years (current in 2021). We have been named the top university in the north of England for producing start-up businesses and we are ranked fifth overall in the UK**.
Being enterprising and entrepreneurial is about being agile, having the skills and knowledge to be resilient, imaginative, and to further advance the very thing you want to make a difference about. We also want our students to have an excellent university experience leading to employment, or self-employment, and for our staff and students to be thoughtful and enterprising citizens. This enterprising spirit is inherent in our University Strategy, which encourages and enables all colleagues to learn and advance entrepreneurial practices, whatever their discipline. We foster an environment where students are nurtured to develop their own enterprising and entrepreneurial skills and behaviours.
What’s more, we’re ensuring that we hold ourselves accountable in terms of our investment and delivery in entrepreneurship through careful measurement. Underpinned with rigorous research, we have developed the Amplify Innovation and Enterprise Instrument which enables us to map, measure and monitor innovation and enterprise across seven dimensions, establishing the link between culture and performance. This means we can see how and where we make a difference.
Our educational ethos is demonstrated through the combination of academic excellence and real-world teaching – we inspire people to transform their lives by seizing opportunities and achieving things they never thought possible. Our strategic commitment to advancing enterprising practice is reflected across our curriculum and through in-depth extra curriculum support that continues after graduation.
Our entrepreneurial culture enables us to effectively contribute to the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and the Knowledge Excellence Framework (KEF). We actively drive real-world research both into and from our SMEs that is demonstrably impactful and relevant. We are proud of our civic and anchor role in our region and beyond and have a significant impact on the communities in which we are embedded, as demonstrated in our recent REF results.
Industry-led, we connect communities so that businesses, particularly SMEs, benefit from students or graduates. We enable the transfer and exchange of knowledge to flow effortlessly between internal and external communities. The Small Business Charter recognises the ‘ground-breaking’ and ‘truly unique’ Centre for SME and Enterprise Development and how its work creates demonstrable value and impact for SMEs and student enterprise/start-ups and wider impact through amplifying enterprising practices within the University.
What would winning Outstanding Entrepreneurial University mean to the University of Central Lancashire?
Our staff, students and business community know we are an outstanding entrepreneurial university; they are part of the community who live and breathe it, and we are delighted to have been shortlisted. It would be amazing to win the award, which would give us external verification and endorsement and, of course, another reason to celebrate the great work we do.
* Financial report by Regeneris Consulting, 2015
** University Start-up League Table, TIDE