Business Project Report

7/31/2019 Business Project Report

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H R Response to O rganisational Change 1

G raduate Busin ess Star t-upsPro jec t Repo r t

the Institutefor Employment

Studies

I E S


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GRAD U ATE BU SIN ESS START-U PSPRO JECT REPO RT


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August 19 99

G rad uate Busin ess Star t -ups:Pro ject Repor t

N ii D jan Tackey

the Institutefor Employment

Studies


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The report which is thesubject of this review is published by IES as:

Gr aduates M ean Business , Tackey N D, Perryman S. IES Report 357, 1999ISBN 1-85184-268-1

THE INSTITUTE FOR EMPLOYMENT STUDIESMantell BuildingFalmerBrighton BN1 9RFUK

Tel. + 44 (0) 1273 686751Fax + 44 (0) 1273 690430

http:/ / www.employment-studi es.co.uk

Copies may be obtained from Grantham Book Services, priced 35.00.Tel: 01476 541080

Crown Copyright 1999

The report Gr aduates M ean Busin ess was produced under contract with theDepartment for Education and Employment. The views expressed are those of theauthors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department for Education andEmpl oyment or any other government department.


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v

Contents

1. Graduate Business Start-up 1

1.1 Introduction 11.2 Review of the background 1

2. Aims and Objectives of the Project 3

3. Organisation of the Project 53.1 The project team 53.2 Project management 53.3 Steering group 53.4 Methodology used 63.5 Expected outcomes 93.6 Dissemination strategy 9

4. The Resul ts of the Project 10

4.1 Main findings from the research 10

4.2 Lessons worthy of dissemination 174.3 HEI plans to bui ld on the project and outcomes 204.4 Possible follow-up of the project 21

Annex 1: Good Practice Guide 22


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Graduate Business Start-ups: Project Report 1

Graduate Business Start-ups

Int roduct ion

This report summarises the work undertaken during thedifferent phases of the Graduate Business Start-up project. Thiswork was produced under contract with the Department forEducation and Employment. The views expressed are those ofthe authors and do not necessarily reflect those of theDepartment for Education and Employment or any othergovernment department. The Department for Education andEmployment, nevertheless, holds the copyright over all thematerials produced under the project.

Section 1 reviews the background to the project, and places thisexercise w ithin that context.

Section 2 sets out the aims and objectives of the project, as setout i n the HEQED Prospectus .

Section 3 discusses how the project was organised and describesthe methodology employed to achieve the aims of t he project.

Section 4 discusses briefly the results of the project; in particularthe extent to w hich the aims of the project were achieved, as wellas the difficulties encountered in the course of the project. Thesection also draws on the previous sections to highlight thelessons which are worthy of dissemination to researchersundertaking similar work, and for policy makers in HEIs,government departments and other funding organisations. Thesection concludes by providing suggestions on how to build on

the project and its outcomes.

Review o f the backgrou nd

There is li tt le evidence of the extent to which self -employment is,or has become, a significant career destination for newgraduates. This, despite the growth in self-employment withinthe general population since the 1980s, as well as the changesthat have taken place in the graduate labour market. Inparticular, it is increasingly acknowledged that graduates can nolonger expect stability and a linear career progression in largecorporate organisations, and so need to be alert to the growingrange of graduate opportunities, often in non-traditional areas.


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Graduate Business Start-ups: Project Report2

However, the conventional view is that self-employment is aminority interest involving only a small fraction of newgraduates. This view is based on data produced by HESA whichrelate to their initial destination (HESA, First Destination Surveys ).

It is against this background that HEQEDs developmentprogramme on Graduate Business Start-up is timely, as it pavesthe way for research into the potential for developing businessstart -ups as a fi rst or earl y career desti nation for new graduates.In particular there is a need to examine the extent to whichhigher education identifies the existence of such potential, andprovides support and guidance to overcome some of the readilyidentifi able obstacles to increasing take up.


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Aim s and O bject ives of th e Proj ect

The main aim of the project w as to assess the extent of andpotential for graduate business start ups as a significant careerdestination, and whether there is a need for this to be reflectedmore explicitly in the higher education curriculum. Morespecifically, the main objectives of the research, as set out in theHEED Prospectus , were to:

! Identify the main defining features of graduates who go intoself-employment, in particular their personal characteristics,family background, degree subject, and type of highereducati on insti tut ion attended.

! Explore self-employed graduates early post-graduationemployment experiences, the different routes into self-employment and the key pull and push factors whichinfl uence a graduates decision to set up their own business.

! Investigate the characteristics of the jobs and workingenvironments of self-employed graduates, including:occupational group, sector, hours of work, earnings, theextent to which they regard their work as their main activityor as part of a portfolio of activities, whether they are inbusiness on their own or employ others, their satisfactionwith their job ( eg whether the job requires graduate levelability and their skills are utilised to the full) and their futureexpectations.

! Identify self-employed graduates views on the help highereducati on instituti ons (HEIs) could provide to graduates whowish to set up their own business, including equippingstudents with relevant skills ( eg business, enterprise andcareer management skills) and providing a range of careeradvi ce and guidance activ it ies.

! Identify and disseminate guidance on good practice amongHEIs in the provision of careers advice, education andguidance to students seeking self -employment.

The research aimed to provide both quantitative and qualitativeinformation on the whole graduate self-employmentexperience. The quantitative data would help identify thepatterns of self -employment among graduates who have been i nthe labour market for di fferent peri ods of time. This would all ow

us to explore the success of early self-employment experiencesand give an indication of if, and to what extent, self-employment


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levels increase over time. At a more detailed level, thequantitative information would explore other issues such asgraduates routes into self-employment, the characteristics oftheir jobs, incenti ves and barr iers to self -empl oyment, ski ll needsand gaps, satisfaction with their careers and their futureexpectations.

Qualitative information w as requir ed, on t he other hand, to helpfocus on the total self-employment experience. To this end itwas important to seek the views not only of a cross section ofself-employed graduates, but also of key players from careersservices and enterprise support organisations involved inhelping graduates embarking on this course. The objective herewas threefold. First, to gather information which would informthe design of the graduate survey, and thus provide usefulcontextual and in-depth data to complement the quantitativedata. Secondly, to gather information ( eg incentives and barriersto self-employment, skill needs and gaps) which would be usedto develop good practice materials. The third objective was touse the information-gathering process to identify experts for theDelphi exercise employed for the development of the goodpractice materi als.


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O rganisation o f the Proj ect

The pro ject team

The project team consisted of Nii Djan Tackey (IES ResearchFellow and Project M anager), Sarah Perryman (IES ResearchOfficer) and Helen Connor (IES Associate Fellow). Jim Hillage(IES Principal Research Fellow) acted as Project Director.

In addit ion to I ES, the Uni versity of Sussex Careers DevelopmentUnit (CDU) and the London Institute Careers Service wereinvolved in the project as partners, wi th part icular responsibi li tyfor the development of good practice materials. These wereintended to draw on the findings of the main research study andpracti ce elsewhere among HEIs.

Project m anagem ent

The IES Project Manager had overall responsibility for the day-

to-day running of the project and liaison with the DfEE ProjectManager. The Project Director was responsible for overallquality control, and ensured that the project ran to time andbudget, and also met its objectives. The project team membershad clear responsibilities for discrete elements of the project, andhad regular meetings to review progress and discuss issuesarising from the study. These were fed, together with interimresults from appropriate stages of the project, into ProgressReports which were then presented at the Steering Groupsmeetings. Taken together, the chain of responsibilities formedthe backbone of the IES evaluation strategy for the project, thusensuring it was delivered to t ime, specif icati on and at the level ofquality required.

Steering group

A Steering Group was formed to oversee the project. TheSteering Group comprised, in addition to the project team, theDepartments Project Manager (Ron Allen), and the HE adviserto the DfEE (Dr Myszka Guzkowska). A specialist in smallbusinesses (Marc Cowling of the Centre for Small and MediumSized Enterprises at Warwick Business School) provided

specialist advice. The Steering Group met four times over thecourse of the project and deliberated on its various stages. In


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particular, the Steering Group discussed the development of theresearch instruments, agreed on timing of delivery of outputs,and commented on the dr afts of reports.

M ethod ology used

The research methodology used contained a number of elements.

A review of literatur e and d ata

A comprehensive search and review of the relevant andavailable literature and data on graduate employment and skillneeds was undertaken. The findings from the review informedand assisted the research design.

Explorator y interviews

There were interviews with a wide ranging list of key opinionformers and experts, including careers advisers in HEIs,representatives of AgCAS, TEC-funded enterprise programmes,and charities and other organisations which provide enterprisesupport to young people who want to set up their own business.The main aim was to explore the respondents views on theirexperience of graduates going into self-employment, and aboutthe role of enterprise activities in higher education generally. Onthe whole, all the respondents contacted were co-operative, andprovided the project team with detailed information on theiractivities, their links with HEIs, as well as their views ongraduate self-employment, and on enterprise activities andhigher education in general. As might be expected, there wassome variation in the range and quality of information obtainedfrom the key players.

Interview s w ith self-emp loyed graduates

The main aim of the interviews with the self-employedgraduates was to find out about their self-employmentexperience. The information gathered was used as an input to

the design of the research instruments. The IES outline bid forthe study proposed that t he respondent self-employed graduatesto be interviewed for this stage of the research, would beselected from among participants in earlier surveys carried outby IES for Sussex University and the London Institute. Inpractice, it was difficult to contact as many graduates from thosetwo institutions, as over the elapsed time some had changedaddresses. Consequently, the list of those with whom contactwas possible was supplemented with other self-employedgraduates identified during the exploratory interviews with keyplayers.


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Postal survey of H E careers servi ces

A list of addresses, including named heads of the services wasobtained from the Directory of Careers Service and used for thepostal survey. The primary objective was to identify and selectHEIs to be included i n the survey of graduates. At t he same time,though, the exercise was used to gather some basic informationon the proportion of graduates from different cohort years whowere in self-employment. A total of 152 questionnaires wereadministered; and 65 valid and 17 invalid responses werereceived, translating into a response rate of 48 per cent. Amongthe explanation for non-response and invalid response was thefact that some of the HEIs were specialist colleges who did notprovide a separate careers guidance service. In other cases too,colleges had merged with universities, or were part ofuniversities, and now had a common or shared careers advisoryservice.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, the response rate of almosthalf of all HEI career services was high for this type of survey. Itwas also satisfying, as it included HEIs with higher proportionsof graduates entering self-employment. More importantly, thiscensus survey enabled the researchers to identify those HEIswil li ng to participate in the main survey of graduates.

Postal sur vey of grad uates

This constituted the main data collection element of the research.It was envisaged that the survey would cover 4,000 graduatesdrawn from eight to ten HEIs that w ould agree to co-operate withthe survey, and could provide a list of graduates according to IESspecif ication. The intention was that the participating HEIs wouldrepresent a broad, but not necessarily representative, cross-sectionof insti tutions with a higher than average proportion of graduatesentering self-employment.

The HEIs included in the initial samples were self-selecting,therefore, having ind icated their w il li ngness to part icipate in thisstage of the research from the earlier survey of careers services.In practice, the HEIs from which the sample was drawn eitherhad higher than average proportions of graduates entering self-employment overall (as was the case of the London NewUniversity and Midlands New University), or had specif ic coursesfrom which a relatively high proportion of graduates enteredself-employment (as was the case of the Northern Red BrickUniversit y, Southern HEI and N orthern Technical Universit y). Itbecame apparent early on at this stage that a sample drawnstrictly on the self-selected basis would not generate sufficientcases for most of the relevant variables required, or allow formore rigorous analysis of the data generated. Consequently, itwas decided to include only HEIs that indicated their institutionsas a whole, or individual departments or courses, had a higherthan average proportions of graduates entering self-employment.


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As there was still a risk of shortfall in the achieved sample ofself-employed graduates from these HEIs, it was decided toapproach know n organisati ons which provide support for youngpeople who want to start their own business, and see if theywould be willing to help with the research. A sample ofgraduates was drawn from the database of young people, heldby two such organisations, to complement that provided by theHEIs. A sample of 3,479 graduates was generated to be includedin the survey, as shown in Table 1. Questionnaires were sent outto all the graduates in the sample initially, and blanketreminders sent four weeks later. The questionnaire remained inthe field for approximately eight weeks. The survey yielded 656useable responses, a response rate of 21 per cent.

D evelopment of G ood Practice Gu ide

This aspect of the project w as undertaken by the project partners

at Sussex University CDU and London Institute. The GoodPractice Guide (GPG or the Guide) sought to make existingexpertise in provision of support for aspiring entrepreneurs,more widely available to careers services throughout highereducati on. It was intended that some of the inf ormati on gatheredfrom the interviews and surveys would be used to develop goodpractice materials. Using the Delphi approach, a panel ofexpert s (from within and out side HEIs) selected from the init ialint erv iews woul d be used to develop furt her and refine the goodpractice materials. It was proposed to use either discussiongroups or postal questionnaires for this stage of the research,depending on the locati on and availabil it y of t he part icipants.

Table 1: The composi ti on of the parti cipati ng HEIs

Inst itu t ions/ organisat ions N

Higher Education Institution

London N ew U niversity 778

M idlands N ew U niversity 677N orthern Technical U niversity 330

N o rthern Red Brick U niversity 60 0

Southern H EI 644

Total 3,029

Ent erpri se O rganisation

O rganisation A 200

O rganisation B 250

Total 450

Source: IES Survey, 1998


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Expected outcomes

A number of out comes were envisaged f rom the project.

! A research report which would provide for the first time,comprehensive information on the level and patterns of self-

employment among graduates, variations between differentgroups, the circumstances which are more likely to lead toself-employment, skill and career support needs among self-employed graduates, and if and to what extent self-employment might become a more important careerdestination for future HE leavers.

! Good practice on the provision of careers education andguidance to graduates potentially seeking self-employmentwould be identified and disseminated in the form of a guideor other materials. These would highlight the lessons andactions for careers and teaching staff in HEIs. In particular, it

would point to the range of ways that careers services andacademic staff could bring the idea of self-employment totheir students.

! A series of events to raise awareness in H E about the leveland nature of self-employment among recent graduates andthe type of support thi s group w ould benefi t f rom.

! Staff from the partner institutions involved in the projectwould learn more about self-employment options forgraduates which would positively inform their futureactivi ti es ( eg research programmes and client advice).

D issem in ation strategy

It was proposed that a research report and good practicematerials would be published by IES under its higher educationseri es. Press releases and the wide cir culation of fr ee researchsummaries would help maximise the impact of thesepublicati ons. In addi tion it was proposed t hat:

! copies of the report and good practice materials would beprovided t o all HEIs in the UK;

! a forum for HE careers advisors and teaching staff would beheld to launch the research r eport ;

! a series of short and longer articles would be written bymembers of the project team for careers, higher educationand TECs publi cati ons;

! presentation of papers at national conferences ( eg AgCASand SRHE conferences) and DfEE and SRHE networks.


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forwardly because it could be used to describe two types ofsituations, viz :

! the legal form of a business arrangement, such as sole trader,partnership or company, or

! a process which describes the development process of the life

cycle of a business.

In the specific context of graduate self-employment, one of thedifficulties for research was to find appropriate comparatorsagainst whom to measure the level of activity. An appropriatecomparator could enable conclusions to be drawn about the truelevel of graduate self-employment.

Other difficulties encountered in researching graduate self-employment were associated with methodology. First, self-employment was not considered a static condition or status;increasingly, for some graduates, it had become part of aportfolio of career activities. Second, there was constant entryand exit w hich made it di ff icult to measure the true level using aparticular point in time as a point of reference.

Against this background, however, it was possible to arrive at aworking definition of what constituted graduate self-employmentand business start-up. The former referred to graduates whoconsidered themselves to be self-employed, in the sense that theyhad more than one customer or client. The latter referred toentrepreneurs who complied with the legal forms of a businessarrangement, trading solely, or in partnership, or as a company.This included people who had started a business, even if theywere now technically employees of that business. But thedefinitions excluded people who described themselves as self-employed because it suited their sole employers taxarrangements.

Chapter 3 described the characteristics of the graduates in thesample surveyed. To help assess the likely career patterns ofdifferent types of graduates, the sample was divided into threedisti nct groups:

! those who had any experience of self-employment sincegraduating;

! those who had considered self-employment as a career optioneither on entering higher education, or at the time ofgraduation; and

! those who had no interest i n self-employment.

What emerged from the analysis of the characteristics of thegraduates was that the level of self-employment among thepurposive sample was high. A relatively high proportion of

graduates had also considered self-employment as a careeroption, although they were not yet so at the time of the survey.


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Thi s means, as well , that w hen these graduates decide to enterself-employment, they would do so as people who have giventhe idea thoughtful consideration. More specifically the surveyshowed that:

! Women were more likely than men to have some experienceof self-employment. They were also more willing to considera career in self -empl oyment.

! Self-employment was influenced by the degree course. Themajority of those in self-employment graduated in thecreative arts and design.

! There was some association, albeit slight, betw een degreeclass and self-employment. Graduates with better classdegrees were more likely to have experience of self-employment.

! A family background in self-employment was a significant

factor influencing a labour market status in self-employment.Chapter 4 focused on the career patterns of the graduates, inparticular their early career experiences. The initial destinationof the graduates, when assessed one year after graduation,showed that:

! The majori ty of graduates were in employment as employees;but one out of every eight w as self -empl oyed.

! Self-employed levels varied according to the subject of study;self-employment was highest among media and film

graduates; self-employment among art and design graduateswas about the average for the sample.! Self-employment was significantly high among science

graduates, although the numbers inv olved here were small .

The significant finding here was that although the subjectstudi ed has some inf luence on self -employment levels, there wasgreater willingness by graduates (of all disciplines) to includeself -employment i n their portfolio of l abour market acti vi ti es.

Two years on:

! The level of self-employment had increased from one in eightgraduates to less than one in seven.

! There was greater movement from further study into self-employment, more graduates with first class degrees madethis transition.

! There was less movement from unemployment into self-employment.

Three years on:

! The level of self-employment had increased for graduateswho had been out in the labour market that long.


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! The labour market status of all groups of graduates hadstabilised, and there was little variation according to gender,age or subject of study.

At the time of the survey:

! the majority of graduates were in employment, about three-

quarters as employees; and! two out of every five graduates were self-employed.

The evidence from the analysis of career patterns showed risinglevels of self-employment over time. The level of self-employmentfor the sample increased at each successive sampling point, andwas considerably higher in comparison with the graduatepopulation as a whole. This suggests that self-employment wasincreasingly becoming an important career destination for thosegraduates. Our findings also showed that the decision to enterself-employment was taken at an earlier stage in the careers ofgraduates. The aspiration for self-employment and businessstart-up was also high, and was underlined by the fact that asignificantly high proportion of graduates had a business ideathey would have liked to pursue. But the evidence also pointedto the fact that aspiration did not necessarily translate into deed.The issue for poli cy is to harness, sti mulate and nur ture the ideasand t ranslate them into businesses.

Chapter 5 looked at the graduates experience in the labourmarket, in terms of their jobs and utilisation of their highereducati on quali fi cati ons in those jobs.

! Job changes were, on the whole, l ess frequent.! The majori ty of graduates worked full time, but t he incidence

was highest among graduates with no interest in self-employment; by contrast, graduates with experience of self-employment were more likely to work part time in their first

job.! The self-employed graduates were the most transient

employees, and spent the least t ime working in that capacity .! Utilisation of degrees varied, although on the whole, the

majority of graduates thought a degree was helpful in gettingtheir first job.

! The majority of graduates worked in the other servicessector.

What emerged from the analysis of their employment experienceswas that graduates with no interest in self-employment weremore likely to follow a traditional employment route, with a full-time job in a large organisation. By contrast, those with self-employment experience opted for smaller organisations.Importantl y, the fi ndings here lend support to our earl ier findingabout how graduates make decisions about their careers veryearly on and stick to those decisions.


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Chapter 6 presented the data on the sub-sample of graduateswho were self-employed either at the time of the survey, or hadbeen at any time after graduating with their first degrees.Analysis of the combination of career profiles of the wholesample showed the most common career routes of graduates.

! One-fifth of graduates entered self-employment, and this wastheir main activ ity.

! Between four and five per cent of each of the cohorts were incontinuous self-employment.

! More graduates entered self-employment after a spell asemployees than from unemployment.

! There was only li tt le movement out of self -empl oyment.

The graduates in the sub-sample chose self-employment for anumber of factors:

! Independence/ autonomy and fl exibi li ty were the pri ncipalmotivation.

! Financial rewards were not very high on their list ofmotivating factors, nor was security of employment.

Extrinsic factors which influenced the choice of self-employmentincluded:

! Fami ly background, in particular parental i nfl uence.! Work experience, in particular placement in small

organisations.

The graduates were engaged i n a combinati on of acti vi ti es ratherthan only one type of self-employment:

! The most popular form of self-employment was providingserv ices to customers.

! Production activity was the next most popular, withgraduates producing things to sell.

! Very few w orked wi thin a family business.! There were more women freelancers than men.

! Three in five self-employed graduates worked on their own ( ie with no employees).

! The graduates were signi fi cant employers, and had altogether just under 2,000 employees.

! The majority worked an average of 40 hours a week, but asmall proport ion worked i n excess of 60 hours.

! Earning levels were skewed; the median annual salary was8,000, and three-quart ers earned 18,000.

! Variations in earning levels reflected the length of time in thelabour market.


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From their characteristics, two types of graduate self-employmentemerged. One was the self-employed business which was likelyto only support the owner-manager. The second was the newbusiness start-up with employment growth potential. Theselatter were more likely to be started by graduates whosemotivation stretched beyond the immediate, and to the long-term. The survival rates for these businesses also appeared to behigh, given that their owner managers had been so engaged forthree years or more.

Skills issues were important to the self-employed graduates.They relied extensively on their innovative and creative skills,which also they believed they had developed to a considerableextent at university. Other than this, there were significant gapsin acquiring and developing generic business skills such asaccounting, book-keeping, product pricing, selling and,importantly, business planning. The skill deficiencies weresignif icant constr aints on business start -up.

Self-employed graduates relied on a variety of informationsources for business advice and support:

! The initial information sources were in higher education, fromthe course and tutors.

! A high proport ion of self -empl oyed graduates did not use thecareers serv ice for informati on or adv ice.

! The most frequently used formal sources of advice werebanks, solicitors, TECs and Business Link.

! The graduates also relied on more informal sources, such asfamily and friends and other personal networks. The latterremained important to them, and was shown by theircontinuing, on-going relationship w ith t hese.

! Graduates rated the informal sources as the most useful forinformation, and for business advice and support.

! The graduates considered higher education sources, inparticular careers serv ice staff , the least useful for informationon business advice and support.

Taken together, the results from the analyses of skills andbusiness advice and support pointed to signi fi cant gaps betw eenwhat self-employed graduates expected from higher educationinstitut ions, and w hat w as actually provided.

The self-employed graduates had mixed views on differentaspects of their careers. Overall, however, they were satisfiedwith the way their careers had developed to date. Specif ically :

! they were sati sfi ed w ith the level of r esponsibi li ty they had intheir self-employment, and the autonomy enjoined with it;and


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! they were looking to the future with considerable optimism,and saw their careers continuing in self-employment.

The issue of whether self-employment should be reflected in thecurriculum in higher education was one of the objectives of thestudy. Continuing on the theme of self-employment as animportant career destination, Chapter 7 focused on thecontribution that higher education makes towards such a career.The need for self-employment to be reflected in careers adviceand guidance was considered to be important, particularly as itis acknowledged to have an impact on determining career choiceand destination. Drawing on a blueprint by Hailey, the studyidentified four principal areas where careers advisers in highereducation could play an import ant role:

! promoting business awareness! fosteri ng entr epreneurial att ri butes among graduates

! contributi ng towards ski ll s training! helping in business planning.

The specific contribution careers services could make in eacharea was considered to depend on t hree factors:

! Prevailing cultural attitudes and ethos careers serviceswere widely perceived by some enterprise agencies as well asself-employed graduates, to look less favourably on self-employment as an important career destination; and this, inspite of the fact that a majority of the careers services

surv eyed indicated it was important.! Available access to expertise, internal or external careers

services were perceived to lack expertise in-house to enablethem to provide relevant advice and support for graduatescontemplating self-employment.

! The resources devoted to self-employment very little of theresources of careers services was devoted to activiti esconnected with self-employment.

The conclusion that emerged from the review of careers servicesactivity was the need to develop expertise among staff to reviewand provide access to support, both internally and externally,that graduates contemplating self-employment would need orfind useful. Although there are examples of good practice, in thisrespect, they are too few and far between. The need for goodpractice to be more widely disseminated is one of the principalobjectives of this study. To that extent, thi s research report formsone part of the studys dissemination. Good practice materialshave also been developed, drawing on the findings of this studyand practice elsewhere among HEIs, and will be widelyavailable to practitioners.


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Lesson s w or th y of dissem in ation

As might be expected fr om a large-scale study of this kind , somedifficulties were encountered in the course of the project. Someof these have been alluded to in Section 3. In the main, theyrelated to processes, products and outcomes. These are discussed

in detail below .

Q ualitat ive interviews

A great deal of resources (in terms of man-hours) was used inidentifying the key players to be included in the exploratoryinterviews. Because there was a concurrent HEQED project onGraduate Business Start-ups, it was necessary to encourageparticipation, whil st at the same time avoiding interv iew f atigue,by the two research teams visiting the same respondents. In thecase of this project, it meant excluding representatives of TECs,

Business Links and Enterprise Agencies, where they existedseparately, from these exploratory interviews. This in turn meantthe project team had to contact a much larger sample oforganisations than was anticipated in order to achieve the aimsof that stage of the project.

Although the representatives of the organisations were co-operative when the initial contact was made, it was not alwayspossible to determine before the scheduled interviews that theorganisations themselves or the individuals to be interrogatedwere actually involved in the provision of support or other

acti vi ti es relevant for the cli ent group under study , or could talkconfidently about the subject matter under consideration.Consequently, and as might be expected, there was variation inthe range and quality of information obtained from the keyplayers. In some cases it was clear that the key players had onlysuperficial contact with HEIs, as their services were targeted atdifferent client groups than graduates.

Although much valuable information emerged from theinterviews with representatives of the key organisations, thiswas not counterbalanced to the same extent by information fromthe perspective of HEIs. The information for the HE sector wasprovided by representatives of selected careers services only. Itwas not possible to solicit the views of a much broader range ofstakeholders within the sector. Consequently, it was not alwayspossible to gain a clearer view of what constituted existing goodpracti ce, part icularly from H EIs which made special provision orsupport for graduates contemplating careers in self -employment.In some HEIs, too, it was evident that the provision and supportwas provided not by the careers services, but individualdepartments/ facult ies. It would have been more helpful , in suchcircumstances, to obtain the views from representatives of suchdepartments about t heir current pr acti ce.


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One way of dealing in future with some of the difficultieshighl ighted f rom this stage of the project would be to undertakea pre-interview vetting exercise, using a short structuredquestionnaire to establish both the organisations and therespondents capabilities to provide the required ( ie relevant)information.

Q uantit ative surveys

We have already alluded to the problems encountered in thesampling strategy adopted for the survey of graduates from theHEIs included in the sample. The response from the surveyhighlighted some of the difficulties involved in undertaking alongitudinal study of this kind. A large number ofquestionnaires were returned by the Post Office, where theintended respondent was no longer at the address to which theywere sent. The highest returns (and hence the low est response)

were among the oldest graduate cohort. This suggests clearlythat HEIs may have difficulty in maintaining up-to-dateaddresses of their past graduates. A study of this kind could beuseful in helping HEIs update their database of alumni ifprovision could be made to inform the HEIs of graduates whocannot be traced at their last known address. To this end, IESwill endeavour to collate the Post Office returns and pass on theinformation to the respective HEIs to enable them update theirdatabase accordingly.

In terms of the response rate, it is possible that this could havebeen boosted by sending out a second reminder targetedspecifically at the non-respondents. Indeed, a considerablenumber of completed questionnaires were returned well after thesurvey w as closed, but could not be used in the data analysis. Inpractice, though, it was difficult to target non-respondents, asthe project team did not have direct access to the addresses ofthe graduates. Consequently, it was considered inappropriate tosend out a blanket second reminder.

In future, it would be important for researchers undertakingsuch a study to w ork closely w ith H EIs, to enable addresses to bematched to numbered questionnaires which can, subsequently,be checked off when questionnaires (both completed andundelivered) are returned. This, in turn, will ensure remindersare targeted more specifically at non-respondents.

D evelopment of G ood Practice Gu ide

The final product from the development process was intended tobe a document which, among other things, would help raiseawareness among HE practi ti oners of self-employment, and giv epractical advice on better linking with sources of support andassistance for business start-ups. The methodology adopted forthis stage, the Delphi approach, was intended to ensure that thefinal output also reflected the views of a wide range of experts


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and opinion formers. The Guide utilised information gatheredfrom the interviews and surveys, on the skills identified asneeded by graduates who wanted to start their own business orgo into self-employment, matching these against the provi sion ofbusiness and enterpr ise support throughout higher educati on.

In practice, there were difficulties during this stage of theproject, throwing into relief some of the problems which arisefrom w orking in a research partnership. More part icularly, therewere diff icult ies relati ng to the timing of deli very and the quali tyof output. A number of possible reasons could explain some ofthese difficulties, although two stood out clearly. First, it wasundoubtedly the case that the Steeri ng Group focused more of it sattention on the main research and the production of theresearch report. As a result, less attention was given to thedevelopment of the Guide, particularly within the (short)timescale available. Secondly, compared with the main research,the specification for the Guide did not spell out in detail whatwas expected, in terms of phasing of the work and quality ofoutput. Thirdly, and arising mainly from the two precedingfactors, there appeared to be a misunderstanding on the part ofthe partners, of what was required and the amount of work(man-hours) that this phase of the project demanded.Consequently, it was not possible for the partners to carry outthe Delphi exercise to the extent that would have elicited a widerrange of views and current practice. This, in turn, meant that theGuide reflected mostly the partners views of limited practiceonly.

A draft of Good Practice has now been completed. The resultswill form a Working Paper which will be made available to allHE career services, AgCAS and other stakeholders for moreexhaustive comment. The Good Practice Guide is appended tothi s report as Annex 1.

Among the lessons to be learned from this experience is thatsuccessful partnership arrangements require clearly statedobjectives and outputs, and how these are to be achieved. It isimportant that project teams, and for that matter steering groupsas well, anticipate the di ff icult ies that are li kely t o ari se from all

aspects of a project, including the minor outputs. This isparticularly so where project partners have limited researchexperience.

Collaboration and netwo rking

At an early stage of the project, the project team establishedcontact with other researchers studying the role of TECs andtheir partners in supporting graduate enterprise. Thiscollaboration was helpful, and enabled the project team toidentify, for inclusion in the exploratory interviews,

representatives of TEC-sponsored initiatives aimed at graduates.This was one aspect of a more formal network (set up by the


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HEQED) of researchers working on a number of DfEE projectson Graduate Business Start-ups and Creativity & Innovation. Asa concept , the idea of a netw orking arrangement of this kind wasuseful in so far as it raised expectation of exploration of possiblesynergies between projects. In practice, the timing of thedifferent projects was such that it was not always possible toshare the resul ts of research as they emerged, nor to di scuss theirimplications for other on-going studies. Nevertheless, thenetwork meetings enabled discussion and drawing up ofevaluation and dissemination strategies for the di fferent projects.It is likely that as the different projects are completed, commonissues and themes may emerge which will enable the problemsfaced by new graduate entrants to business to be addr essedthrough more appropri ate action.

Dissemination

As was mentioned at the beginning of this section, the mainresearch report was publi shed as an IES report in July 1999,titled Gr aduates M ean Business: a study of graduate self-employment and business start-ups (IES Report 357, ISBN 1-85184-268-1).Practical difficulties made it impossible to launch the report at aforum for HE careers advisors and teaching staff, as wasoriginally intended. Instead, the report was launched with apress release and circulation of free research summaries to allnati onal newspapers, specialist business press, and to businesseditors of radio and television media. Following its launch, thereport has been given further publicity through interviews onnational radio (BBCs PM programme) and local television(Meridi an TV).

Copies of the report and good practice guidelines will be givento all HEI career services. The timing of this widerdissemination, however, will depend on how quickly the Guideis developed.

The possibility of presentation of the findings of the researchreport at the biennial conference of AgCAS (in September 1999)was explored, but was found to be impractical, as the theme forthat conference was concerned principally with other issuesconcerning higher education. It is still intended that project teammembers will write articles for careers, higher education andother relevant publications.

H EI plans to bu ild on the project and o utcom es

It is expected that the outcomes, in terms of the research reportand Good Practice Guide, would be disseminated throughoutthe wider HE community. In particular, HE careers serviceswhich have little or no experience of issues of self-employment

among its graduate population would be encouraged to draw onthe findings from the project as a means of addressing some of


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the problems they are likely to encounter when providingcareers guidance and advice.

Possib le follow -up o f th e proj ect

The project has broken new ground by drawing attention to the

fact that self-employment is becoming an important careerdestination for new graduates. As a development programme, itwas inevitable that the study was on a comparatively smallscale. There is scope for a more extensive study to be undertakento explore in greater detail evidence of self-employment levelsamong a more representative sample of new graduates in highereducati on throughout the UK. This would provide policy makersan opportunity to determine the impact of specific regionalfactors on self -empl oyment opportunit ies for graduates. It wouldalso enable an assessment of whether and how self-employedgraduates differ from the rest. For example, whether there are

likely to be inherent advantages which lead to more successfulbusiness start -ups.


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An nexe 1:A G oo d Pract ice Gui de for H igher Edu cation Careers Services

1. Introduct ionBackground and Purpose of the Guide

2. Existing Provision wi thi n H igher Educati on Careers Servi cesCurrent provision, described by Careers Services whoresponded to the Graduates Mean Business questionnaire

Provision to raise awareness, and provision to meet theneeds of those already considering self employmentBackground to Good Practice

3. Graduates Views:In retrospect w hat graduates in the study would have liked:Information, Training, Changes in Cultures

4. Developments Under WayPoints to factors affecting the design of provision andillustrates the breadth of provision across a range ofdiscip li nes and instituti ons:Projects designed to develop Entrepreneur ial Ski ll sEntrepreneurial Skills within Career ManagementProgrammesOther Entrepreneuri al Activi ti es on Campus

5. Exampl es of Good Practi ce: Undergraduate FocusInsti tuti onal and Resource Issues, and Student A tt it udesCareer Management & Enterpri se Ski ll s and Course ProvisionExamples of Good Practice & Possible Models

Use of Information Technology

6. Postgraduate Provision:Research, Masters and Business Toolki t.Organisati ons offeri ng Training in Business Start -Up

7 Resources Avail able:A Review of the Resources available to those hoping to starttheir own business

8. Recommendations

Operational & Policy Recommendations for Careers servicesin Higher Education, and others.


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1. In troduc tion

This Guide has been produced with funding from theDepartment for Education and Employment (DfEE), under theGraduate Business Start-Up theme of the 1997 Higher Educationand Employment prospectus. It aims to set out for CareersServices in higher education:

! examples of the provision for business and enterprise skills,within and without the higher education curriculum, whichhave been developed over recent years

! sources of information for students and careers services! the range of postgraduate prov ision

It refers to findings from the companion survey undertaken bythe Institute for Employment Studies (IES) for DfEE andpublished recently in the report, Graduates mean Business(Tackey and Perryman 1999). Inter alia, this examined theprovision available to graduates interested in starting their ownbusiness, through both higher education careers services and

other agencies, asked them to reflect on their own experiencesand produced evidence for the characteri sti cs of those who w eresuccessful in establi shing their own enterprise.

Self employment, as an immediate or subsequent destination forgraduates, has enjoyed a higher profile over the last few years.This is the result of various factors including:

! introduction of policies by government to encourage theestabl ishment of small businesses

! swings in the volume of unemployment experienced by newand recent graduates

! increase in freelance working and portfolio careersespecially in buoyant sectors of the economy eg creative arts,media, Information Technology.

This has brought fresh challenges to some higher educationCareers Services, notably those with a significant proportion ofstudents on art, design and computing courses. In someinstitutions between 10% and 15% of their graduates may workfreelance or for their own business within a couple of years aftercompleting their studies. As a result some students are seekingto explore the implications of working in this way before


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graduation, while others return to higher education CareersServ ices in the hope of accessing information about thi s opt ion.

However, interest in self employment remains patchy acrosshigher education and only 1% of graduates are recorded asworking this way in the First Destination Survey produced bythe Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and reflectingthe position on 31 December of the year of graduation. This isreflected in the findings of the survey undertaken by IES intoexisting practice by higher education Careers Services. Becausetheir students express comparatively little interest in selfemployment, many services target hard pressed resources atareas of greater demand. In only a few institutions has therebeen extensive provision of information and advice about thisoption.

The Good Practice Guide seeks to make careers servicesthroughout higher education aware of some of thesedevelopments and to offer advice to those services who wish toexpand provi sion w ith l imit ed resources. It is clear both from theresul ts of the research undertaken by IES and from other surveysthat many graduates, interested in self employment, finddifficulty in accessing appropriate support, information andadvice. We hope that our colleagues will find the contents of theGood Practice Guide helpful in enabling them to cater moresatisfactor il y for these graduates w ithi n fi ni te resources.

We work in very different institutions one a universityfounded in the Sixties, the other, a federation of five colleges,

specialising in art, communication and design. Although wehave appr oached thi s task from different perspectives, we have acommon aim. We are keen to ensure that those of our graduateswho wish to set up their own business whether on leavingcollege or subsequently can do so successfully. We have bothstriven to improve provision for students interested in thisoption and see the Good Practice Guide as a way of exploringideas and extending knowledge amongst colleagues.

We would like to thank our colleagues from the Association ofGraduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) for their

assistance in compiling this Guide. Their contributions of time,both to this exercise and the completion of the IES Survey,expertise in commenting on the draft contents, andencouragement, have been much appreciated.

Carolyn MorrisSelina Spr ingbettJuly 1999


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2. Exist ing Provision within H igher Educat ion CareersServices

Current p rovision

In responding to the Graduates Mean Business questionnaire,Careers Servi ces describe provision

! to raise awareness.

The most common are:

! talks by specialists, such as Business Initiative! Business Link briefings! including self employment in Careers Fairs

! workshops run by Careers Advisers

These are mentioned with equal frequency. Others include

careers education options for current students and one dayworkshops for past students.

Careers Services often include graduates who have set up theirow n businesses in career events. These may be targeted atspecific groups such as a Careers Day for 2nd yearundergraduates in Sussexs School of Cognitive and ComputingSciences, where recent graduates who have set up multi-mediaand systems companies have been among recent presenters.

These may be part of a mainstream programme of career events:with speakers from the Princes Youth Business Trust, recentgraduates talking through their own thinking and their ownexperiences there are a number of ways in which CareersServices tackl e the questi ons of r aising awareness, and ofproviding stimulus and introductory information, people andresources.

Another approach is to include features on Working forYourself in vacancy publications, to make sure job seekers arethinking about the possibility of self-employment as well asbeing employed. For example, Sussex Universitys graduatevacancy list ran a feature 42 of last years Sussex graduates areworking for themselves.... The article pointed to both expected,(computer consultant, journalist) and unexpected, (Alpaca stud


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farmer) examples, and ran through: Why Work for Yourself ? IsSelf-employment for Me? Where do 1 start? and Finance andUseful Contacts.

! To meet the needs of those students already considering self-employment Careers Serv ices are providi ng

! information on w here to get help! workshops and presentati ons! li nks with Enterpri se Agencies/ Business Link! speakers at Fairs! ind iv idual discussion of plans! involvement with Young Enterprise

! Alumni databases! Start your Own Business courses and! introductions to other staff members in the Institution

with particular li nks wi th enterpri se.

Backgrou nd to G ood Practice

Traditionally Careers Services have acted as enablers andfacilitators , providing signposting expertise: the knowledge ofwhere and how it is appropriate to refer students to specialistagencies. This is particularly salient to the needs of this group,not least because of the other attributes which would-beentr epreneurs requi re.

Perhaps this is not surprising. Its not thought to be adisadvantage that Careers Services operate without staffexperienced in the several hundred other career optionsavailable to their student cli ents. Their professionali sm is seen tolie elsewhere.

Can we learn anything about good practice from our analysis ofthe constraint s Careers Serv ices report ed?

Given finite resources, Careers Services have to make decisionsabout provi sion w hich relate to demand. The concern for CareersServices is how to balance provision on opportunities mostrecognise as important, against the demand from students forinformation on other areas. In this context, to most Services itmakes sense to advertise and make links with other agencies inthe communi ty w ith specialist expert ise and resources.

Im pli cation s for Careers Services W or k w ith Past Stu dent s

Graduates Mean Business found many becoming self-employedafter periods of employment/ further study . Careers Serv iceprovision for graduates a year or two out is patchy and


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unpredictable. But our evidence suggests there is a substantialgroup of graduates who move into self employment some yearsafter graduation.

For some graduates the idea of becoming self employed comesonly after experience of the work place; for some, the notion hasbeen around for longer, perhaps since University, developingwith experience of the business world, perhaps in employmentin an SME. It may, as we know fr om Graduates M ean Business,be fostered both by good experiences in the work place, and bybad, f rustrating ones.

Some graduates have consciously been garnering skills, as itmight be hard edged ski ll s in know ledge of markets and pricingstrategies; or skills in executing their particular specialism ordiscipline, eg web design, in editing text, in manufacturing or ingraphic design. Working in both large and small companies canprovide helpful experience and skills.

When graduates are ready to look for information and support,then Careers Services may no longer be able to help them,because they are no longer eligible for their services.

Current proposals by AgCAS and CSU to extend the network ofprovision and strengthen Careers Services for graduates in theearly years after graduation are particularly welcome forpotential entrepreneurs, as it seems that this group may beparticularly prone to fail ing betw een gaps in provision.


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Som e want m ore inform ation on how to apply exist ing skil ls

! H ow to employ the ski ll s we learnt in t he business world

O thers wo uld h ave l iked

! indi vidual contacts wi th people doing it now! a self -employed v ersion of work experience! other i nformation inputs on fu ture business activ ity, point ing

to new markets and changes in the economy affectingbusiness opportuni ti es.

Another group w ant changes in instituti onal cultur es:

! The whole ethos of the coll ege was anti-commercialism. Thenotion here is that Universities should be seeking to createentrepreneurs, rather than being geared to graduate jobs:

! Training people to work for a company, rather thanourselves, sums up the cri ti que here.

But it must also be pointed out that there is another view. Iwasnt actually taught business skills in my degree and Imvery glad that was the case. Whilst at university I was active increating societies, activities that required business skills forme this is far more important than teaching!

Other unpublished research reinforces much which is reflectedin this survey. However, many graduates recognise that, while

studying, they did not always take advantage of or value theprovision which was available, and that their aspirations,attitudes and requirements change after leaving education. Insome cases, experi ence of f reelance work or sett ing up i nbusiness is the trigger for seeking support. One of the issuesfamiliar to Careers Services is the difficulty of ensuringappropriate advice, guidance and information is available whenthe student or graduate wishes to have access and could derivemaximum benefi t.


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4 . D evelopments U nder Way: Some In it iat ives

Over recent years, a number of institutions have pilotedini ti atives which aim to encourage students to identify and/ ordevelop entrepreneurial skills through a range of activities. Wehave included some examples below which have been selected toillustrate the breadth of provision available across a range ofdisciplines and institutions with contrasting missions andstudent populations.

One of the messages from careers and academic staff involved indeveloping these initiatives is the importance of ensuring thatprovision reflects the aspirations and interests of the studentsinvolved. In practice, this means that provision, whetherembedded in the curriculum or offered as a bolt on, should bedesigned w ith t he follow ing in mind:

! the profi le of the student body at the instit uti on! the di scipl ine base of the students involved! their learning styles! their aims and aspi rations post graduation! the structure of the market place which they are likely to

enter.

Some of these themes are explored in subsequent chapters of theGuide

There are a number of initiatives in existence: here are someexamples of the range of initiatives which are available in Art,Science and cross-cur ri cular, f rom a range of i nsti tuti ons.

Projects designed to develop Entrepreneurial Skills:

The G allery Initiative

This is a University of Portsmouth initiative designed as anopportunity for students to develop business skills throughmanaging an exhibition in a gallery Art Design and MediaIl lustr ation students are spl it i nto three teams, each support ed bya Business Adviser: a Management Team, Promotions andMarketing team and an Operations / Technical/ Hanging team.


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Support includes business seminars and seminars by gallerymanagers, team building and business exercises. Advice onwriting a business plan and presentation of team plans are alsoinvolved.

Students are also responsible for generating finance for theproject through sponsorship or whatever means they identify.

The Bio techn olo gy You ng Ent repr eneur s Schem e (Biot ech YES)

This is a competition developed to introduce students andresearchers in the Biosciences to the commercial potential ofscientif ic and technological

discoveries and, to the requirements for the development of abiotechnology company.

It is jointly organised by the BBSRC (Biotechnology andBiological Sciences Research Council) and the University ofNottingham. This scheme introduces Bioscience students to thekey business ski ll s important i n sett ing up a Biotech company.

YES begins with intensive regional weekend inductionworkshops where teams of undergraduate and postgraduate/ postdoctoral scientists are introduced to the key aspects ofpreparing a business plan and setting up a Bioscience company

Postgraduate teams spend a further 2 days developing theirplans, with advice from a team of mentors, and then make oral

presentations of their plans for the start up company to a judgingpanel of Venture Capitalists. Undergraduates return to theiruniversities to prepare written business plans, submitted for

judging after 6 weeks.

Undergraduate and postgraduate teams are then selected fromeach of the regions to present their plans. In 1998 teams from theUniversities of Aberdeen, Cambridge, Leeds, Surrey, UCL andthe John Innes Centre, Norwich were invited to present theirbusiness plans at the Postgraduate/ postdoctoral f inal.

Entr epreneurial Skills within Career M anagem entProgrammes

A curriculum based programme developing generic careermanagement skills with explicit focus on the self-employedsector is Personal and Professional Development at theUniversity College of Ripon and York St. John. The modules area compulsory part of the Colleges combined Honours schemes.They aim to give students knowledge, skills and experiencesrelevant to a variety of careers in the private, public, voluntaryand self-employed sectors .


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Studying a business plan is part of what is on offer. There is anemphasis on experiential learning and skill development, andstudents taking responsibi li ty for t heir learning.

A Revitalised Ent erpr ise Cult ur e?

The Chancellor has announced a series of measure designed tobuild stronger links between Higher Education and Industry,through eight 8 new Institutes of Enterprise in Universities. Thegovernment pr oposes to put 25 mil li on into these.

Incubator Uni ts alr eady exist on a number of campuses: CampusVentures is one example. Manchester Universitys hightechnology business incubator, offering a range of businesssupport services to start-up businesses. Its mission is to enableHEIs to play an increasing role in the creation of wealth andemployment through the provision of a place of support, inwhich technologists and scientists can develop skills, throughparticipation in the origination and development of businesses.

The Sussex Innovation Centre, based on the University of Sussexcampus, was established to encourage and support the creationand growth of technology-based businesses in the Sussex region.One aspect of this support is to provide incubator space for newtechnology and knowledge-based companies. The aims andserv ices are typi cal of many, with customi sed serv ice, laboratoryspace, personnel who can provide technical, management,marketing and other specialist support, and networking. TheCentre works closely with the Universities of Sussex andBrighton, Brighton College of Technology, local companies andindi vidual i nventors.


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5. Exam ples of Good Pract ice: U ndergraduate Focus

From the survey of higher education careers services, it is clearthat there is a w ide range of activ it y avail able across the sector tothose students interested in becoming self employed or settingup in business after graduation. However this provision ispatchy, delivered by a range of agencies both within and withouthigher education, and frequently perceived as of interest to onlya small proportion of the student body .

There are a number of factors influencing the level of provisionat individual higher education institutions, some of which wereidenti fi ed in Graduates Mean Business.

In stit ut io nal I ssues! mission and purpose of the institution . HEIs cater for different

markets both i n terms of students and employers. Some havea research focus, others a commitment to wideningparticipati on, for exampl e.

! organisation of the curriculum . In the experience of manycareers advi sers, it is more feasibl e to offer expl icit enterpr iseand career management skills provision as part of a modulardegree scheme.

! attitudes of staff . Some staff see their role in the context ofacademi c teaching and research based i n their owndiscipline, with provision for issues germane toemployability the responsibility of other parts of theinstitution.

Resource Issues! Level of Careers Service and other funding . Levels of funding

vary considerably with predictable consequences for thebreadth of provision available.

! Success in attracting appropriate external funding . In a numberof HEIs funding from the Enterprise in Higher EducationInitiative, and recent programmes supported by DfEE, forexample, have facilitated the piloting of career managementand enterpr ise activit ies within the curr iculum.


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Attitudes of Students! Some students come to university primarily for an

educational experience or to enhance their creativedevelopment, for instance. Others have more specific aims,having chosen a course which offers exemptions from

professional examinations or provides a vocational training.The number of such courses within an institution canradically affect the culture and therefore the recept iv eness toenterprise provision within the curriculum.

! lack of awareness amongst students about the facilitiesavailable.

! lack of interest amongst undergraduates in these options.While many consider self employment as a possibility, fewactively explore the implications. In this, self employment isno dif ferent f rom the number of options which most studentsconsider and discard or defer until a more appropriate time.From a number of the responses to the survey of graduates, itis clear that students are ambivalent about the inclusion ofbusiness options in undergraduate programmes. Someconsidered that business options, variously defined, shouldbe taught as part of their degree, others regarded their timein higher education as an opportunity to explore exclusivelyacademic and creative options.

Against this background, a number of HEIs are making usefulprovision in support of students aspirations to work asentrepreneurs. In some cases, this has been developed inpartnership with external agencies such as the Princes YouthBusiness Trust (PYBT) or Shell LiveWire. The Seven Skills ofEnterprise identified by the latter have formed the basis of apilot project, funded by DfEE, at Camberwell College of Arts.Creative Futures 2 introduced students to many of the skillsrequired to work as a freelance practitioner in the creativeindustr ies and included the producti on of a business plan.

However, even agencies such as PYBT and LiveWire, who werehighly rated in the graduate survey, were used by only between15% and 40% of respondents. This raises issues about the needfor more effective signposting of the resources available andpossibly a re-examination of the remit and modus operandi of allthe agencies involved and their assumptions about the attitudesand awareness of potential entrepreneurs.

Career M anagem ent and Enterp rise Skill s

Students have various opinions about the skills, opportunitiesand di ff icul ti es faced by those seeking to run their ow n business.In part this can be seen in the responses to the graduate survey.


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This identified two clusters of skills: those which can be definedas career management skills and, as such, are of value to allstudents and enterprise skills, which are of particular interest tothose hoping to establish their own businesses or work asfreelancers. There are various definitions of both careermanagement and enterprise skills available, including that byLiveWire referred to above. For the purpose of this Guide, wehave distinguished between the personal skills, many of whichwould appear on any list of Career Management skills and aregeneric, and business skills, many of which are technical andknowledge based.

Course Provision

Provision to enable students to identify and develop careermanagement skills is becoming widespread. It takes variousforms:

! careers modules as a compulsory/ opti onal part of a degreeprogramme

! bolt-on programmes offered by Careers Services ordepartments, often in collaboration

! free standing career exploration workshops run by CareersServices, often in concert with the opportunity to useProspect(HE) or similar computer based careers explorationprogrammes.

The opportunity to acquire enterprise skills is available tostudents in some of the following formats:

! as an accredi ted module/ option i n a degree programme! through workshops offered by Careers Services, sometimes

in coll aboration w ith external agencies! through programmes run by student societies, eg Student

Industrial Society or external agencies.

The focus of these options can vary from the acquisition of skillseg book keeping to information about potential sources ofpractical support. In some HEIs, students are enabled to identifyand develop the personal skills necessary for success in thissector eg netw orking, negotiation, self promoti on.

Networking is a good example of a skill critical to success as aentrepreneur. Learning to use your networks and developingskill and confidence in so doing can be encouraged and taught.Its importance is reinforced by the findings of the graduatesurvey where various personal networks and forms of supportwere identified as important by respondents.


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Exam ples of G oo d Practice

There is some excell ent provi sion in higher, educati on, which hascertain characteristics:

! relevance to t he aspi rati on of students

! designed and delivered in a manner sympathetic to theirlearni ng sty les and t he context of their studi es

! delivered by staff who are credible in this context, whethersalaried or visiti ng tutors

! capacity to enable students to identify and develop the skillsrequi red w ith confidence.

Possib le M od els

The most appropriate model will vary from institution toinstitution. From the survey of Careers Services, the followingmerit consideration:

! Enterpri se/Entrepreneur M odule : usually available tostudents in t he penultimate/ fi nal year of their programmewith a focus on the identification and development ofvarious enterprise skills including networking, decisionmaking; the acquisition of business skills and procedures eg book keeping, taxation and the producti on of a business planincluding market research, cash flow forecasts. Such modulesmay include scope for appropriate work experience ormentoring (see below).

! M entor Schemes : These can link students with selfempl oyed/ small business people wi th a view to providinginformation, guidance and advice. For success, thoroughpreparation of both students and mentors is important. Therelationship can be time consuming for both parties unlessclear parameters are established. At the London College ofPrinting, students on HND Sound Music DesignTechnologies have been linked with mentors from varioussectors of the music industry in London. This has enabled

them to identify and develop some of the skills required tomake a career in the industry with the support and guidanceof established figures.

! Briefing Sessions/Forums : Often by representatives fromBusiness link, other support agencies and newly fledgedentrepreneurs in attendance. The experiences of the latter areof particular interest and immediacy to students.

! Fairs : These can bring together the agencies offering support,alumni running their own businesses, banks and otherexperts in an informal setting. They offer a forum both forthose committed to this option and the student undertakingtentative exploration. The universities of Westminster and


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in which local Business Links operate for example. It provedchallenging for staff, skilled in eliciting information and with aknowledge of the context, to discover details of the provisionavailable. In this situation, it is hardly surprising that recentgraduates experience difficulties. One of the unpredictedrecommendations of the report on the Institutes project will bethat there should be stabili ty in the provi sion for both graduatesand others seeking to set up in business, both to improve accessand facil it ate ongoing qualit ati ve and quanti tativ e evaluation.


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6 . Postgraduate Provi sion

Over recent years, there has been a significant increase in theopportunities to study enterprise and acquire business skillsthrough higher, further and adult education. The coursesavailable vary considerably in their aims, focus and content.There are tw o broad categories:

! those offering the opportunity to undertake primarilyacademic research and exploration ie PhD and Masterscourses

! practical diploma and certificate courses which provide anintroduction to business techniques and procedures.

However, with the introduction of credit rating and transfer, it isbecoming easier for students to move from one kind of provisionto another. Some of the latter now offer a route for students tomove from a practical to a research qualification. With thecurrent stress on the importance of lifelong learning, it isincreasingly likely that provision of this kind will become more

widely available not only on a full time and part time basisbut also through distance learning, delivered through a varietyof media.

The current p rovision can be di sti nguished as fol low s,

! Research : the opportunity to undertake research into issuesrelevant to small businesses, entrepreneurship, IT and smallfi rms, self employment etc. This usually leads to PhD/ MPhil and i s avail able at about 20 universiti es

! M asters Courses : these vary in content. Many include the

opportunity to study for a postgraduate certificate or diploma,should students wish to concentrate on the acquisition ofbusiness skills rather than produce a dissertation. About 10HEIs offer this provision, some of which is targeted atparticular sectors of the economy eg London InstituteMA/ PGDip/ PGCert . Creative Arts Management. Many ofthese courses are available on both a full and part time basis.

! Business Toolkit : There are a large number of organisationswho offer training to graduates seeking to acquire businessskills. The content of these course and eligibility variesconsiderably. Nevertheless all are intended to providesupport and business skills eg book keeping, marketing forthose hoping to establi sh their own enterpr ise.


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O rganisation s O f fering Traini ng in Busin ess Start -up ,

There are a large number of organisations who provide supportand training to enable graduates to acquire a business toolkit.The courses can vary in length from a day to several months usually on a part time basis in the case of the latter. Many also

provide IT support, office facilities and access to financial andother practical advice. Some of the most important sources ofhelp, available nationwide are listed below.

Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) most TECs provide arange of services including support for business start-up,Setting Up in Business seminars, access to appropriateexpert advice eg finance, law, tax. TECs are likely todisappear over the next couple of years if the proposals in arecent White pare are implemented.

Business Link : Government backed, Business links aim to helpbusinesses of all sizes on a range of issues eg raising money,arranging training.

Small Business Centres : often connected to Business Links andTECs, these offer professional advice and help fromcounsellors with business experience. They frequentlysupport business start-up in particular geographical areasand may have knowledge of local grants and f acili ti es.

Trade Associati ons/Prof essional Bodies : many trade associationsand professional bodies offer support and training with afocus on assistance for new entrants to the market. They willconcentrate on entry to the industry in which they are active.Areas with a high number of small businesses and freelancestaff eg design, media are well represented.

Princes Youth Business Trust (PYBT) : one of the largestorganisations in this field, PYBT offers a range of support topotenti al young entr epreneurs.

Shell LiveWire : LiveWire provides support and advice topotential young entrepreneurs and hosts regional and

national events to promote their businesses.

Further and Adult Education Colleges : many colleges offer full,part time and short courses for local residents interested instart ing their own business. Courses are usually practical andinclude details of the support available from localorganisations.

Specialist Business Organisations : there are a number ofbusiness associations who aim to support entrepreneurs fromparticular parts of the community eg Elephant Enterprise

(start-up courses specifically for women), Black Business


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Association (Waltham Forest) and Asian Business Association(Waltham Forest).

Local Authorities : a number of local councils support BusinessVentur es/ Enterpr ise Centr es which aim to encourage thegrowth of new businesses through the provision of support,advice and training.

While this plethora of support illustrates the considerablecommitment by government and other agencies to the provisionof appropriate support for new entrepreneurs, it also highlightsone of the issues identified by respondents to the graduatesurvey difficulty in identifying sources of advice andguidance. We referred earlier to the experience of staff from theLondon Institute Careers Service in undertaking research intothese organisations. There are arguments in favour ofrationalising the provision available in order to improveaccessibi li ty to an important client group w ho are more li kely tobe at ease using these netw orks because of t heir educationalexperience than other potential entrepreneurs.

Further details of additional resources available for businessstart up appear i n Chapter 7.


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7. Resources

There is a wide range of resources available to those interested insetting up their own business or working freelance. Theorganisations responsible for assisting those interested inbusiness start up offer v arious facil it ies:

! financial support includ ing l oans, grants! business advice, eg assistance in drawing up a business plan! premises, eg studio or workshop space! training courses! legal advice! marketing support! netw orking and peer support or mentoring.

Some of the organisations active in this field have a nationalnetw ork, others reflect t he particular composit ion of the workingpopulation in their own area and may offer targeted support to

groups within the community .

Set out below are details of some of the organisations active inthe support of t hose hoping to w ork as freelancers or to establishtheir own business. This list is illustrative rather than exhaustive,being based on research which the London Institute CareersService has undertaken as part of a DfEE funded projectBusiness and Enterprise Skills for Art, Communication & DesignStudents.

! Princes Youth Business Trust (PYBT) 18 Park Square East,London NW1 4LHPYBT offers advice and loans to young entrepreneursthrough a national netw ork of centres

! Shell LiveWire Hawthorn House, Forth Banks, Newcastleon Tyne NE1 3SGLiveWire helps young people take a more enterprisingapproach to their future careers and enables those who wantto set up in business turn their ideas into reality http:/ / www .shell-li vewire.org

! Clearing Banks The major banks have Small Business Advisers who canassist in drawing up business plans, help identify sources offinance etc.


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! Business Link Government-backed and run by partnerships of commerceand other agencies, Business Link aims to help businesses ofall sizes with a range of issues

! Tr ainin g and Ent erpri se Councils (TECs)TECs offer a range of services which can include advice,

counselling and training. TECs often work closely withBusiness Link and also fund a number of agencies offeringsupport to small businesses in their community.

! London Enterprise Agency (LENTA) 4 Snow Hill, LondonEC1A 2BSLENTA offers a range of support which is targeted at thoseentering self-employment or operating a micro business,includ ing start up t raining and financial support

! Port obell o Busin ess Cent re This is an excellent example of a business centre which offers

a comprehensive support and training programme for newbusinesses.! N ational A ssociati on of M inori ty Cont r actor s and Businesses

It s objectives include encouraging and assisting l ocal peoplein starting their own business and ongoing business tobecome successful. Support includes skills training, debtcoll ection, management and technical suppor t.

! A ssociati on for Busin ess Sponsor ship for t he A r ts (A BSA)Works with regional Arts Boards to offer advice, seminarsand workshops. Also runs the Business Sponsorship IncentiveScheme which can match sponsorship w ith grant aid .

! Clerkenwell Green Association (CGA)Through the Clerkenwell Award , newly trained crafts peopleand designers can receiv e up to 50% of t he cost of a studi o for18 months plus a complete business package includingongoing consul tancy adv ice

! Fashionworks Enterprise Partnership Islington EnterpriseCentre, 64 Essex Road, London N1 8LRThis programme supports and assists unemployed fashion/ textile designers interested in starting their own business orfreelancing inter alia

! Crafts Council 44a Pentonvi ll e Road, Islington, London N 19BYThe Craft s Council run a Sett ing Up Scheme which compr isesa maintenance grant and an equipment grant http:/ / www.craftscouncil .org.uk

! Br it ish Franchise A ssociati on offer advice and information on running a successfulfranchise

! Industr ial Common O wn ership M ovement (ICO M )Information and advice on setting up a business as a co-operative


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Many of the organisations offering support to potentialentr epreneurs also have their ow n w ebsites, including:

! Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have put details ofthe provi sion w hich they fund on their sit e, Enterpri se Zone.This includes information about Business Link.http:/ / www.enterpr isezone.org.uk/

! National Federation of Enterpri se Agencieshttp:/ / www .pne.org/ cobweb/ NFEA/ default.htm

In addition there are sites which bring together much of thisinformation, includ ing

! Liverpool John Moores University Careers Advi sory Serv icehttp:/ / cwis.li vjm.ac.ukl careers/ sae/ hpage.htm

! Sussex University Career Development Unithttp:/ / ww w.susx.ac.uk/ Units/ CDU

There is also a wealth of publications available for thoseinterested in establishing their own business. Examples of somehelpful titles are set out below. Depending on the needs of theindividual there are many others which could be useful

A lt ern ati ve Work Styles in cluding self-employment AGCAS

A Gui de to help for Small Fir

Business Project Report

Documents

Transcript of Business Project Report