Written by Alison Price
Rumours abound when enterprise education is omitted from key discussions surrounding the student experience, and whilst the consultation on the strategy of the Office for Students may feel outside your day-to-day work as it focuses upon the effective regulation of HE, with 3 priority areas, quality, wider student interest and sector resilience, enterprise educators wish to see the regulatory tools support student ambitions (see the critique of former Education Minister Jo Johnson) whether they are intrapreneurial, entrepreneurial or enterprising! We are urging you to ensure that your English HE institution is indicating that benefits of enterprise education which are not highlighted – either as a benefit of employing an graduate (enterprising or intrapreneurial), or as a benefit to tax payers (supporting UK Growth ambition) or as part of the “hopes and dreams” of any student. With enterprise education potentially providing so many transformational benefits, its omission is worthy of note. Don’t delay in supporting your institutional response (deadline of 20th ).
There is also talk of sector reform, coming the shape of a White Paper this summer, but few expect any new funding. Many had hoped that education could form a central role in the new government vision for Growth but within the current climate, this opportunity may be missed due to the financial crisis in the sector which is seeing loss of social capital through staff losses.
The debate surrounding AI sees a divided use across the sector, but a new report shares the potential of effective integration, adding to global discussions around effective assessment and #EntEd ones around EntreComp and AI. Others of you may be looking for some quick wins in the office through AI, so check out some free and cheap AI tools to improve meetings, support planning, research or generate a quiz. However many remain cautious, JISC is also highlighting the need for data literacy in the workplace given the increased data load in our roles.
JISC is also capturing Trends in Assessment (Jan 2025) in a new report exploring programme level assessment, co-design and also looking the need to rethink given AI, given the Russell Group’s 5 Principles, to understand how students use AI and can provide evidence of learning that demonstrates creativity or analyses AI output.
With these themes in mind, we were delighted to see EEUK Directors and members, sharing their case examples from their work across the ‘3Es’ (Norton and Penaluna, 2022) as the pillars that support the success of our students and the wider community. This new Advance HE report (Jan 2025) provides case examples to compliment the key topics coming through AI discussions (above) with sections on co-creation and assessment as well as employer engagement, providing inspirational examples throughout.