Incoming University of New England Vice-Chancellor and innovation champion Brigid Heywood believes universities could better equip students with the entrepreneurial skills they'll need.
Fresh from a study tour of Chile and Denmark, Brigid is eager to explore the role that graduate enterprises might play. These enterprises are programs, formal and informal, that enhance a graduate's entrepreneurial skills and employment prospects in a future, high-tech world. Typically they encourage positive enterprising thinking, self-reliance and creativity.
"A proportion of our graduates will have to create the jobs of the future themselves," Brigid said. "They've got to be entrepreneurial and innovative as they step into the workplace. Australia is relatively new to this, but the winds of change are blowing. I think UNE is well placed to meet this need."
The global interest in graduate enterprises was inspired, largely, by the 2014 report by Lord David Young, a successful UK businessman and advisor to the British Prime Minister on small business and enterprise. Enterprise for All outlined how educators from primary school to university can help students develop the professional skills and capabilities that future workplaces will demand. For universities, he recommended offering enterprise modules, establishing supported enterprise societies and dedicated start-up programs.
"It's about reinventing our skills and materials for new purposes, and giving our students the opportunity to think in new ways," Brigid said. "My experience of graduate enterprises overseas is that they produce people who are genuinely thirsty to make a difference - people who want to contribute to mitigating climate change, managing resources more sustainably, and creating devices or apps that will help people with disabilities."
In a university context, graduate enterprises can be an opportunity to take advantage of cutting-edge research and development, facilities and resources, and close ties with business. "The enterprises help graduates to develop strong team behaviours," Brigid said. "And even if that graduate doesn't spin out to running their own business, their innovation mindset makes them unbelievably attractive to employers. Lord Young put a compelling case for the value of graduate enterprises to students, businesses and economies in social and financial terms."
