Oxford Brookes: Evolve conference

EEUK’s Jon Powell and Alison Price joined Oxford Brookes University staff for a focus on employability, enterprise and entrepreneurship as part of their two-week student enterprise THRIVE FESTIVAL in a special staff conference “Evolve”. Oxford Brookes is keen to engage more of their teaching staff in developing enterprise and employability within the curriculum.  This focus is also driven by the recent announcement that EEUK’s annual conference “IEEC2019” will be coming to Oxford Brookes 4th – 6th September 2019.  Evolve saw staff showcasing their approaches to enterprise and employability through workshops. Staff are being supported to make changes to their teaching which will contribute to employability through embedding enterprise into their teaching – learn more about this at IEEC2019.

 

University of Westminster: BIG IDEA competition

Westminster’s Creative Enterprise Centre (CEC) formally launched its BIG IDEA competition with Santander Universities during GEW 2018. The competition is an all new, University wide student business idea initiative, designed to promote and foster a culture of entrepreneurship across the University.  It also aims to increase the awareness of the range of business support services and funding opportunities including one-to-one business advice appointments, incubator co-working space and signposting to professional advice. Sponsored by Santander Universities, the prize fund of £5,400 will be divided into eight £250 runner-up prizes, four £500 winner prizes and four £350 viral idea prizes. The winners will be announced in March. More details here or contact the CEC.

 

Birkbeck: Pioneer programme underway

Birkbeck have kicked off their Pioneer programme, a large-scale extra-curricular course for students interested starting a business and developing their entrepreneurial skills. Close to 200 students began their journey on the programme, in partnership with Santander Universities, as they took part in an inspiring and energetic session to turn their ideas into reality. Students continue the course in December followed by a monthly workshop, culminating in a Pitch and Celebrating Evening in June 2019. Check out what happened in this video – you can also find out more here.

 

Buckingham: Opening of new Vinson building

The University of Buckingham has unveiled its new £8 million Vinson Building which will house the Vinson Centre for Economics and Entrepreneurship, the first of its kind in the UK. The opening ceremony, attended by EEUK Vice-Chair Gareth Trainer, was led by the Lord Vinson and the Independent MP Rt Hon Frank Field. Students on the Business Enterprise course (BBE) which is the first in the world in which students “pitch” for up to £5,000 to set up their own companies as part of their degree, will use the centre. Students will be able to develop their businesses in the new Enterprise Hub where they can meet entrepreneurs and business people. Read the full story here.

 

King’s: Outstanding Entrepreneurial University

King’s College London has been announced as the Outstanding Entrepreneurial University at this year’s Times Higher Education (THE) Awards. This award, sponsored by NCEE,  recognises the work that King’s does to support entrepreneurial thinking, skills and experiences amongst King’s students, staff and alumni. Central to the award win is the King’s20 accelerator initiative, a year-long programme run by the Entrepreneurship Institute. The initiative supports individuals from King’s who are at the start of their business venture journey, or businesses that are already established and are looking to scale up. Over the past the 12 months, the King’s20 accelerator has helped 20 teams gain nearly 400 hours of expert coaching and mentorship, and has generated £227,000 revenue and £430,000 of investment. Read the full story here.