EEUK

Whilst many of us were at the International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference, IEEC 2011, a second Higher Education and Enterprise Conference was held on the 8th September at the Royal Institution in London organised by the Reform think tank. According to the Andy Wright of the Times Higher, student and academic entrepreneurs need more support in universities because the UK is lagging behind other nations. According to Twitter comments made on the day, there was criticism of current business studies education and a call for entrepreneurship education to be more innovative.I can't help wishing that the keynote contributor David Willetts MP, the universities and science minister, and other attendees could have come to IEEC 2011 where they would have seen some truly innovative and inspirational initiatives for student-led enterprise, curriculum-based enterprise and entrepreneurship education, and student and graduate business start-up support.IEEC 2011 also included the announcements of the National Enterprise Educator Awards where Newcastle University's Rise Up Student Committee won the Student Educator award; Sue Poole from Gower College Swansea won the Enterprise Educator award for the expansion of Enterprise Education across Swansea Bay in all education institutions from Primary to Higher Education; and the Yorkshire and Humber-wide Graduate Entrepreneurship Project won the Enterprise Champion award after helping over 270 students and graduates start-up in business and delivering enterprise skills training to many more.Excellent practice is out there. However, cuts in the HEFCE teaching and learning grants and HEIF allocations and potential future issues with absence of self-employment as a metric in the Key Information Set as described in the recent HE White Paper, is putting current activity and further expansion at risk.I'm still bowled over by IEEC 2011 and the community of educators who attend. Although still in early stages, the evaluation seems to suggest that – in addition to showcasing best practice - the power of the conference is in the willingness of all participants to share and learn from each other. We'll be putting learning points and a summary of the conference together with NCEE and will let you know when it's available here. In the meantime, Simon Brown, Chair of EEUK 2009-10, has written some thoughts on why IEEC has come of age.Dr Kelly Smith, Chair Enterprise Educators UK