Graduate Business Start-ups Project Report - The Institute for ...

This identified two clusters of skills: those which can be defined
as ‘career management skills’ and, as such, are of value to all
students and ‘enterprise skills’, which are of particular interest to
those hoping to establish their own businesses or work as
freelancers. There are various definitions of both career
management and enterprise skills available, including that by
LiveWire referred to above. For the purpose of this Guide, we
have distinguished between the ‘personal’ skills, many of which
would appear on any list of Career Management skills and are
generic, and ‘business’ skills, many of which are technical and
knowledge based.
Course Provision
Provision to enable students to identify and develop career
management skills is becoming widespread. It takes various
forms:
! ‘careers’ modules as a compulsory/ optional part of a degree
programme
! ‘bolt-on’ programmes offered by Careers Services or
departments, often in collaboration
! free standing ‘career exploration’ workshops run by Careers
Services, often in concert with the opportunity to use
Prospect(HE) or similar computer based careers exploration
programmes.
The opportunity to acquire enterprise skills is available to
students in some of the following formats:
! as an accredited module/option in a degree programme
! through workshops offered by Careers Services, sometimes
in collaboration with 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 skills
eg book keeping to information about potential sources of
practical support. In some HEIs, students are enabled to identify
and develop the personal skills necessary for success in this
sector eg networking, negotiation, self promotion.
Networking is a good example of a skill critical to success as a
entrepreneur. Learning to use your networks and developing
skill and confidence in so doing can be encouraged and taught.
It’s importance is reinforced by the findings of the graduate
survey where various personal networks and forms of support
were identified as important by respondents.
Graduate Business Start-ups: Project Report 35