BSEEN scheme praised for supporting student enterprise

A SCHEME supporting student enterprise at Birmingham’s three universities has been praised for its approach in an independent assessment.

BSEEN, which encourages employability and enterprise among recent graduates, is supporting around 350 recent graduates.

The scheme is a collaboration between Aston University, Birmingham City University and University of Birmingham, and funded by Birmingham City Council’s Working Neighbourhoods Fund.

It was singled out for praise during an assessment by Renew Consulting because of its efforts to retain recent graduates in the West Midlands, while increasing skill levels and helping support innovation and enterprise across the region.
 
Deborah de Haes, of Renew Consulting, said: “BSEEN demonstrated good value for money for the investment of public funds, supporting 90 businesses and helped to create at least 30 new businesses.
 
“As well as these quantifiable outputs, it was also clear that the programme helped accelerate and embed culture change at the partner universities towards understanding the importance of enterprise and innovation as key elements, not only of business start-ups but also of employability. There appears to be a real and growing awareness among students that setting up their own business is a genuine career option.”
 
The 17-month project is due to come to an end shortly but due to its success, the universities are keen to ensure BSEEN continues while alternative funding applications are submitted and processed.
 
Professor Helen Higson, Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor at Aston University, said: “New businesses, whether ‘life-style’ businesses or growth businesses employing others and generating wealth, all contribute to some degree to the regional economy.  

“Even when graduates decide not to continue with their own businesses but to seek employment, they take with them invaluable skills of self-confidence, enterprise and innovation to their new employer, a further long-term benefit to the economy.”
 
She said that before the programme there was a real gap in the provision to support graduates who wanted to take an entrepreneurial career path.

“We’re therefore extremely keen that the programme should be sustained, whether through new public funding or through private or community sector funding,” she added.