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Enterprising learning (Spring 09)

Enterprising learning in the new era

Where will the new graduate jobs come from?

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Summary

In this article, Professor David Rae from the Lincoln Business School at the University of Lincoln argues that in the new era of recession, uncertainty and zero growth, enterprising learning is an essential skill for students and graduates as they face the most adverse job market for a generation. Educators face the greatest challenge of their generation in enabling graduates to learn how to start their careers, in which the most enterprising will also be the most employable. A new paradigm of entrepreneurship is needed which is socially engaged and responsive to the dynamics of the new era. ‘How to create the new jobs’ is the key question facing us, since the enterprises which will grow strongly in an eventual economic upturn may well be created during the slowdown and be very different from the casualties of the recession.

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The new era

The end of 2008 conclusively ended an economic age in which we had become accustomed to growth, prosperity, poorly unregulated capitalism and a mutant form of entrepreneurship which had manifested itself in the financial and other sectors as ‘the pursuit of opportunities without regard to the consequences’.

The new era, starting in 2009, is already very different. Our major banks are crippled by toxic debts. The availability of lending to businesses and individuals is severely constrained, leading to falling demand and confidence in almost all markets. Major corporations and millions of small businesses are affected, having to cut jobs or even face closure. The economic outlook is beyond gloomy, with no likelihood of early recovery and indications that stagnation could mire the UK for some years to come.

Governments are intervening on an unprecedented scale, guaranteeing risky debts, considering quantitative easing and funding economic stimulus packages to safeguard jobs and mitigate the worst effects of the recession, with what can most kindly be described as very limited success so far. It would seem that ‘the era of big government’ is back with a vengeance. Or is it?

It may seem strange to suggest that we are entering a new era of enterprise, but there are good reasons why this is so. The ability of government to regenerate the economy will be limited by the political acceptability of how much debt can be borne from future taxation. Government, at best, can aim to create some of the macro-economic conditions for recovery, but that is all. Corporate organisations are also more reluctant or unable to invest in major new projects except where the public sector is able to provide incentives or guarantees, as is increasingly evident in energy, infrastructure and transport projects.

The relevance of this for students and graduates is increasingly clear as they try to find jobs in this new era, and they understand very well that the world has changed. We must learn how to find or create work with and for them in this new era. As individuals, families, communities, networks and organisations, we have to learn to be enterprising and to create new forms of enterprise. That means finding and creating opportunities, working on them with human talent, ingenuity and creativity, and connecting them with underused resources. There may be a shortage of jobs but there is never a shortage of work to be done, rather the means of paying for it.

We need a new paradigm of entrepreneurship, which carries social responsibilities as well as freedoms. These responsibilities include creating opportunities to address social and environmental needs and problems, such as education, community, health, nutrition and housing. A vital challenge is to develop models of entrepreneurial activity which are sustainable environmentally, ecologically, socially and economically, and not dependent for growth and continuity simply on competition for and consumption of scarce and non-renewable resources. We must find ways of moving from the ‘use it up’ to a ‘use it again’ model.

The ‘old entrepreneurship’ is characterised at its most extreme as being the individualistic pursuit of opportunity regardless of resources, ethics or consequences, driven for short term financial profitability, measuring value creation purely in financial terms, exploitative and wasteful of resources, and featuring exclusive role models with masculine attributes of aggression, power and conflict.

Increasingly, students are rejecting this old model, and preferring a more socially responsible approach to entrepreneurship. This is characterised by individual leadership within socially connected and inclusive arenas; providing multiple forms of value creation; ethically responsible, economically and environmentally sustainable; and featuring feminine values of collaborative and intuitive working as well as masculine attributes of competition. This new entrepreneurship will not be imposed by regulation, but is being diffused as a powerful idea through education, culture and by example.

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Changing career expectations

Students and graduates face increasing difficulties in starting their working lives, whatever their degree subject, in conditions of uncertainty and change they never expected. This is very different from previous recessions. With participation rates of 42-45% of young people in Higher Education, the era of mass participation has arrived and coincided for the first time with a major recession. Graduates, perhaps especially female graduates, are highly vulnerable to the effects of a recession on their employment prospects at the start of their careers, and they are much more numerous than in previous downturns.

Even in mid 2008, most large employers anticipated that employee numbers would remain fairly stable and planned to continue to recruit staff, but this changed dramatically during the year, with those still recruiting becomingly increasingly discerning and having many more graduates to choose from. The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) reported a 5.4% fall in graduate vacancies and a freeze in salary levels, whilst as unemployment climbs past 2 million, the general job market becomes increasingly hostile and falls in graduate opportunities of up to 17% are reported.

This is a more complex and unpredictable environment than graduates and HEIs have experienced before in the UK. Universities are expected to educate graduates with the skills and other attributes that employers require, connecting with the needs of the job market and with national competitiveness. The challenges to graduate employability and the need for enterprising approaches are both different and greater than before.

Yet whilst employers have demanded that graduates possess employable skills and been critical of the HE sector for failing to provide them, the effects of the recession on the economy and graduate job market increasingly mean that employability, defined by the ability to secure a graduate-level job, is insufficient. There is an asymmetric gap, between employers who have difficulty in finding graduates with the skills they require, and many more graduates who cannot find the first career destination they aspire to. Graduate employment and the organisations which employ graduates are becoming insecure and subject to rapid and unpredictable change, with career security being greatly reduced. Graduates are increasingly aware that they can no longer afford to be dependent on the fortunes of a single organisation for their career, be this a corporate firm or a public sector organisation such as the National Health Service, and they need to adopt an enterprising outlook to their careers.

During a recession, the types of business activity, the organisations which grow, and the jobs which are created are different from those which characterised the pre-recessionary phase. We are seeing the shrinkage of sectors such as financial and business services, construction, retail and automotive as they consolidate or move outside the UK. Some of these industries will recover and generate new jobs, whilst others may not. The question is what industries, organisations and types of jobs will replace them? Yet we should not be too pessimistic since confidence in the ability to create new economic activity is a vital ingredient.

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Why are enterprising approaches required?

As educators, we face the biggest challenge and opportunity of our generation in providing the inspiration, optimism, confidence, enterprising skills and tools which will enable students to start or resume their lives and careers beyond university, and to contribute to economic and social regeneration. Every student needs to be flexible, adaptable, confident of their abilities, resourceful – in short, enterprising. Enterprising learning is a vital capability which can help students become more self/employable in this new era. More enterprising people are more likely to thrive in times of economic change and uncertainty.

Increasingly, employability is being designed and integrated into degree and postgraduate courses with career development at the core rather than the periphery. Approaches to starting, building and managing one’s career should be integrated, with personal and enterprise skills practised, demonstrated and assessed in ways which are relevant to the course content and its application. Training in networking, self-presentation and personal marketability should be available to all, with the theme that ‘your career is your personal enterprise’. Possibly all students should be given a grounding in macro-economics to enable them to understand the fast-changing market economy they are entering? Certainly it is important for students to be explicitly aware of the skills and knowledge they are developing and able to explain what these are and how they can be applied.

Enterprise education has a broader remit than simply preparing a small minority of often no more than 3-5% of new graduates for self-employment. Enterprising learning is a means to develop students’ confidence, and essential skills such as applied creativity and innovation, leadership and teamwork, communication, practical problem-solving, and working with external groups such as small businesses and communities. There has been a progression from enterprise being located as a subset of business studies, to integration across a wider range of subjects, including science, arts and creative industries, sports, leisure and health. But progress is too slow and too few students have the opportunity to participate in enterprise-based learning.

Enterprising learning is about the learning experience, culture and process as well as content. Enterprising approaches to curriculum design and delivery may include:

  • Learning centred on investigating ‘real’ problems and opportunities
  • Student project-based learning, investigating and presenting solutions
  • Experiential, practical, work and community situated learning
  • Alumni, practitioners and entrepreneurs contribute to learning
  • Conditions of risk, uncertainty and ambiguity being introduced into learning and assessment to develop students’ judgement
  • ‘Feel the enterprise experience’ - conative and affective valued as much as cognitive learning

Students may prefer ‘safe and certain’ approaches to learning and assessment but the real world is not safe. When exposed to ‘real-world’ experiences of discovery and curiosity led learning, they can experiment and take risks in safe conditions, and often find this both enjoyable and stretching and developmental, both personally and intellectually. The possibility of failing and learning as part of the process should be designed in, not out. Enterprising learning requires participation and assessment in mutual enterprises such as team as well as solo activities, just like the world of work. The challenge is to design, manage and co-create learning experiences which engage and stimulate students in such ways.

Enterprise is wrongly seen as synonymous with ‘business’ and with ‘entrepreneurship’, but it has applications and relevance in all walks of life and all degree subjects. Other subjects and disciplines, such as creative and performing arts, media, science and health, have different approaches to enterprise. People can be enterprising in a wide range of situations and even if only a minority become entrepreneurs, students should learn that entrepreneurship can be a realistic and achievable option for them in their careers.

It is important that students are not led to accept a view of economic determinism, that because their chosen industry or career option is affected by economic issues, there will be few jobs and there is no point in applying or that failure is guaranteed. Students can act more effectively in entering the job market if they can make sense of emerging trends in the economy, make informed choices about possible career opportunities, and revise job seeking strategies in changing circumstances. An enterprising outlook should encourage students to see this scenario as a challenge in which they can adopt a range of creative responses to increase their prospects for success. These may include distinctive approaches to presenting themselves and their experiences, finding alternative ways to getting started in the industry, agency or temporary work in the field, and freelance or self-employment.

Students’ personal confidence can take a dip at the time of completing final studies and exams and making the transition from university to the world beyond; this has been referred to as ‘emotional confidence’. There is a real danger that students fall into a gap and do not seek or receive career-start support at this stage, and risk becoming part of the ‘graduate pool’ of sub-optimally employed graduates identified by HECSU (2008).

Universities need to consider ways of reinforcing students’ confidence and resolve during this vitally important transitional period, for example through ‘summer schools’ for finalists to refresh their career-search and presentational skills, making mentoring and other relationship-based help available, and in other ways. Groups of students, student societies and Students’ Unions all have an important role to play in developing enterprising ‘self-help’ responses to enhance employability and skills.

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HEI-employer relationships

It is vital for future relationships between universities and employers that they continue to work closely together during the recession, both in the interests of current students and graduates as well as preparing for the future. Even when the availability of current graduate jobs is reduced, keeping interactions between HEIs, students and employers flowing is essential. Finding creative means of getting students and graduates into organisations in other ways, such as placements, projects and internships can offer advantages for both employers and learners. One way of enabling organisations affected by the recession to maintain capability is for groups of students to work on projects for business innovation or social enterprise, for example, which make use of facilities and even staff from the host organisation.

In developing new courses, universities should identify the realistic career prospects and employment outcomes for graduates, to demonstrate how and why the course content and learning processes will enhance students’ employability, not necessarily in a narrow vocational sense, but through a range of possible career pathways. Students are becoming discriminating in their choice of universities and courses, so data such as employability and first employment destinations are important in influencing their decisions.

Students increasingly look for work experience opportunities as part of their degree experience. Active employer involvement in creating placements and projects is essential, and there is a need to look at how the employer relationship can be created, managed and sustained in the interests of the employer, HEI and students, since the bank of ‘goodwill’ and positive relationships with employers forms highly valuable social capital for universities. This goes beyond seeing employers as providers of work experience placements on a transactional basis. Work experience is not a proxy for employability, as students may simply not be ready to go into a placement, or do not yet possess the motivation, social and work skills employers require. There is a range of wider opportunities for developing personal and employable skills, including sports activities and student societies, community and voluntary activities, social enterprise projects. Business enterprise and start-up projects can form a productive part of the student experience, as in the Student Placements for Entrepreneurs in EDucation (SPEED) programme where students created business start-up placement projects.

Many courses offer a sound preparation for employability, but students and graduates are often not well prepared to enter the job market. Students often do not see developing employable skills and a career-oriented outlook as the most interesting or the highest priority on their agenda. A big challenge is getting students to participate in personal and career development modules which are too often seen as an ‘add-on’ to the degree. University careers services may not see more than 10-15% of students face-to-face. Engaging employers at the sharp end of the teaching process adds greatly to the credibility and currency of employability and career learning.

There is potential for universities to be more involved in the lifelong learning and career development of alumni, whose employment may be at risk, through such activities as mentoring, providing careers guidance, continuing professional development, networking, business start-up support, and so on. This may not be easy when Careers services are at full stretch meeting the expectations of current students.

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Careers in the new era

‘How will we create the new jobs?’ is a vital question facing us for the next few years. We must look well beyond low-cost retailing, fast food, financial and public services for the answers. Connecting the intellectual resources of universities with business expertise and public sector agency can develop understanding and action to create new enterprises, innovations, sources of value and employment. There are increasing possibilities for ‘upside opportunities’ to create new enterprises from the latent assets of people, knowledge, technology, property and even finance made redundant by the old economy.

Universities have a crucial role in promoting and enabling learning for the new era, integrating business and community interactions into teaching and learning to enhance student learning in active, social and engaged ways. The networks of public agencies, local businesses of all sizes, community groups, students, graduates, staff and others clustered around the university can contribute to economic and social regeneration, creating future enterprises and jobs. Universities are intellectual and creative arenas where different models of enterprise, economic activity and value creation can emerge and be taken forward by students. They cannot do this alone and must work with business, communities and public sector agencies. No-one, least of all government, has all the answers.

In conclusion, many of the enterprises which will provide future jobs in an eventual economic upturn will be created during the slowdown and will be very different from the casualties of the recession. The jobs they create are likely to require graduate skills. These ventures may feature collective enterprise; environmental sustainability social responsibility and ethical practices; increasing rates of entrepreneurship by women and people from ethnic minorities; cultural, technological and knowledge-based entrepreneurship and innovation. The question is what we will do to help them.

© David Rae 2009

Comment on this article on the HECSU blog

David Rae is researching the effects of the economic change on graduate enterprise and employability and may be contacted at drae@lincoln.ac.uk

The Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship runs an annual conference featuring best practice and research in enterprise education, works closely with other organisations including the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship, Enterprise Educators UK, and the Higher Education Agency to ensure enterprising learning is both increasingly available and responsive to the changing needs of students and the economy. www.isbe.org.uk

References:

What do Graduates Do 2008?, HECSU, Manchester. www.prospects.ac.uk/links/WDGD.