Manchester Enterprise Summer School QAA 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

Objective(s): Residential Summer school for postgraduates and postdocs of any subject area

• Designed for those interested in enterprise but no previous experience and an existing business idea not needed
• Aim to give students enterprise skills they can apply when they return to their work / study environment
• Topics include opportunity recognition, market research, business models, basic finance and intellectual property
• Gain skills around team working, analysing varied information, presentation skills and reflection
• Centres around looking to test a business idea that solves a problem in the Lake District (can be a social enterprise)
• Course is very practical with students expected to speak to potential customers, businesses and locals
• Being residential increased engagement compare to non-residential activities where students can drift away by day 4
• Groups pitch their ideas for prizes at the end

Introduction:

The Enterprise Summer School is a 4 day residential course for 40 postgrads or postdocs in the Lake District who are interested in entrepreneurship but don’t have an idea they are working on yet. The course essentially aims to build skills – especially opportunity recognition – and groups put together a pitch for an idea addressing a problem in the Lake District. The course aims to be as practical as possible, with students speaking to potential customers, locals and businesses as well as getting feedback from entrepreneurs to validate their ideas. This activity has now run for many years in its current format in different locations around the Lake District – the 2019 iteration is described.

Activity:

The 40 students spend 4 days in the Lake District in groups creating and testing a business idea that addresses a problem or issue in the local area. The Lake District represents a varied area for different problems and issues which should be of interest to many students – from seasonal businesses, aging population, brain drain of young people to cities, waste management, lack of transport, many foreign visitors, environmental concerns and the nuclear industry nearby. Natural resources include scenery, hills and lakes for various sports and high quality local food produce.

• Pre Reading – Students are expected to read up on the area including demographic data, visitor information, news stories and information from the local chamber of commerce to get a better idea of the area and its potential problems and resources. A number of links are provided, but students are expected to explore further. Once on site, sessions are generally a plenary followed by students working in groups to apply what they have just learned. Plenary sessions tend to be “How to” e.g. introducing models the students can use, where to find data and are interactive. Mentors specialising in different aspects of enterprise are on hand to visit each group to give advice and entrepreneurs are available on day 2 and 3 when the groups’ ideas are more fully formed for further feedback. Students are each given a loosely structured reflective journal which they are encouraged to fill in privately.
• Day 1 – Students arrive and are out straight away looking around town observing and making notes/taking photos to get a better idea of what the area is really like and making lists of problems and issues they see or hear about from speaking to locals. Back at the hotel problems identified are listed and students are able to choose a problem to work on – groups are self selecting by students wanting to work on the same problem. After an ice breaker and session on opportunity recognition, groups spend the day validating the problem with data from secondary resources and speaking with local people and businesses in the town. Evening activity of a local guided walk or “Pub Quiz”.
• Day 2 – With each group having a validated problem, groups begin to explore possible solutions collecting data from databases and from going into the town to speak to potential stakeholders after a session on market research. Three entrepreneurs arrive and give brief talks before a Q and A session and dinner at the hotel where the entrepreneurs mix with the students informally. Evening activity of a local guided walk or “Pub Quiz”.
• Day 3 – The day starts with “Speed networking” with entrepreneurs and mentors (10 mins with each group) for feedback on the groups ideas. Sessions on basic finance, business models and intellectual property then allow groups to think more on the practical and financial feasibility of the idea. Free evening for students and staff to socialise in the local area.
• Day 4 – Brief session on pitch presentations than a final bringing together of work for groups to produce their final presentations (10 mins each). Presentations are pitched to a panel of judges – with judges and the other groups able to ask questions after each presentation. Judges choose a winner and there is also a public winner from the votes of the students. Students were then given some time to relax before return to Manchester.

Impact:

We have attempted to measure impact in several ways in previous years and have completed some longitudinal studies from previous iterations of the Enterprise School, to allow us to try to measure self efficacy, start-up rates and also whether students are using their new skills. A questionnaire was filled in on completion of the course which determined whether students enjoyed the course, whether they found it useful and also used to gauge their enthusiasm to start a business having completed the course. On a scale on 1-5, students on average rated the Content (4.132), Usefulness (4.113) and Enjoyment (4.302). Also 64% said they were more likely to start a business having attended the course, with none saying less likely. A further questionnaire administered after 8 months was used to ascertain whether students intended, or had started a business, but also tried to examine whether the students were using their skills on return to university. We found that about 10% of students had started a business since attending the course. In terms of their new skills, we found that as expected they had been using soft skills such as presentation skills, group working and networking but also many of the other skills such as spotting opportunities from their research and most reported a greater degree of commercial awareness since their return. Full details on how we assessed impact is described in Phillips (2017) in the below references.

Learner outcomes: 

The attendees gained skills in opportunity recognition, business models, basic finance, market research, intellectual property and also soft skills such as analysing information, group working, networking and presentation. Full details on learner outcomes are described in Phillips (2017) in the below references.

Resources:

• Residential conference facility
• Mentors and guest entrepreneurs
• General stationary for groups such as flip chart, post-it notes, marker pens
• Session Booklet with useful databases, websites and general information  

References:

Phillips, R. A. (2017). Measuring entrepreneurial outcomes from a Residential Enterprise School for postgraduate researchers. Journal of Asia Entrepreneurship and Sustainability, 13(2), 62-89.

Both 2019 Report and 2018 Report contain further details (including impact - as video)