Jonathan Jones, University of South Wales

At the University of South Wales (USW), we believe that entrepreneurial education is not just a subject, it’s a mindset woven into the fabric of our strategy, curriculum, and culture. Our mission is to embed enterprise across all disciplines, ensuring our graduates are equipped with the skills needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

In 2023–24, we significantly accelerated our impact through purposeful innovation and cross-sector collaboration. Our efforts have resulted in national recognition and real-world success for our graduates. We’re proud to be ranked first in Wales and sixth in the UK for new graduate start-ups, a testament to the growing demand for and support of entrepreneurship within our community.

Our success stems from a holistic, university-wide commitment to change-based learning. The Enhancing Entrepreneurship (EE) project, launched in April 2024, is a cornerstone of this approach. We’ve piloted interventions in 23 diverse courses—from Cyber Security to Creative subjects—demonstrating how real-world challenges and entrepreneurial tools like EntreComp can deepen student engagement. In the first three months alone, our team engaged 60 academic staff and developed bespoke curriculum interventions to empower them to teach enterprise skills.

This project goes beyond traditional teaching methods. We’re working to embed transferable enterprise skills, regardless of a student’s discipline or career path. The positive feedback we’ve received from both staff and students shows that this hands-on, co-designed approach to teaching is working.

Our entrepreneurial ecosystem extends beyond the classroom. The success of the EE project has led to a new partnership with Tumkur University in India, funded by Global Wales. We’re sharing our best practices in incubation and curriculum development to help them build their own enterprise ecosystem.

Our Careers Enterprise team provides crucial, hands-on support that integrates traditional careers advice with dedicated enterprise support. Through a  holistic package of one-to-one mentoring, workshops, and extracurricular programs that help students and graduates develop a start-up mindset and turn innovative ideas into viable ventures. This blended model of support has led to a increase in graduate outcomes and entrepreneurial activity. Moving forward, the team will be embedded directly into curriculum design, ensuring that enterprise skills are a core component of our academic offerings, not just an extracurricular option.

Our extensive support network for startups also continues to thrive. Our Startup Stiwdio incubators and USW Exchange teams provide targeted support to graduates, alumni, and local businesses. A prime example is the USW-supported business, Clear_pixel VR, which successfully raised £378,000 in angel funding. This story exemplifies how our nurturing environment helps ventures grow and flourish.

In essence, our approach is about more than just numbers. It’s about empowering every student and staff member to think entrepreneurially, solve complex problems, and create positive change. This is what truly makes USW an entrepreneurial university.