Enterprise in the Humanities Curriculum

1. Enterprise in the Humanities Curriculum Val Butcher

2. Enterprise In the Humanities Curriculum • What? • Why? • Whether? • How?

3. What? • Philosophy • History of Art • The ability to work with and in relation to others through the presentation of ideas and information and the collective negotiation of solutions. • Apply knowledge and experience so as to make appropriate decisions in complex and incompletely charted contexts

4. What? • Drama • Religious Studies • Manage personal workloads and meet deadlines under pressure with flexibility, imagination, self-motivation and organisation • Ability to gather, evaluate and synthesise different types of information.

5. Reference • Student Employability Profiles 2002 – 2006 • Higher Education Academy Subject Centres and Council for industry and Higher Education • http://www.cihe-uk.com/publications.php • http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/learning/employability/disciplines

6. WHY? • Student don’t recognise they are developing these attributes • The Leitch report – challenging the validity of non-vocational higher education? • As traditional pathways proportionately shrink, new opportunities are emerging

7. Leitch on Enterprise “An environment that encourages enterprise and supports people who take opportunities and risks is a crucial ingredient of productivity improvement.  A strong entrepreneurial base is an essential driver of growth and prosperity in a modern economy. New and more dynamic businesses increase competitive pressures in markets and facilitate the introduction of new ideas, technologies and more efficient working practices.”

8. Whether? • It’s just a political game – it will pass • This isn’t what higher education is about • I don’t have enough time • The students aren’t interested • Graduates in my discipline are trained for a job; they don’t have to set up a company. • I don’t know how to “do” it

9. How? An Enterprise Audit is a good way to initiate discussion and development on an issue. It enables you to make clear the range of activities which may contribute to the issue and the process can reassure colleagues that quite a lot of work may already be developed in the area. The process can also recognise departmental autonomy, within an institutional frame-work, and can: • Encourage development of a departmental, School or Faculty strategic plan to clarify how enterprise and entrepreneurship can be developed in relation to their own disciplines. • Identify how far and in what area each department, School or Faculty would wish to develop • Give recognition to, and disseminate, existing work.

10. How? An Enterprise Matrix can be supplied to students as part of their course handout for the year and could be discussed during the personal tutorials sessions and/or within PDP. It can enable students to identify, articulate and evidence their learning. Specifically, it can: • help students identify what elements of their course relate to enterprise; • help students identify where they are taught and practice elements of learning which contribute toward enterprise and to reflect on their performance in these; • help staff identify enterprise elements which are present or absent in their courses.

11. Reference • ftp://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/Resources/enterpriseaudit.pd • ftp://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/events/repforum06/matrixfilled.pdff • Ian Hughes, Director Bioscience Subject Centre 2006

12. How? What do I mean by “enterprise”? In the context of: • My discipline • My students’ expectations and aspirations • My institution’s policies and practice • My values What do I want to help to happen? What methods and materials are available? How can I find them?