White Rose has been awarded £4.5M to establish a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) in Enterprise. This Higher Education Funding Council for England initiative is one of 74 in the UK, of which just three focus on enterprise. The CETL will enable students to develop enterprise skills so that they are equiped to make an impact in the future as social entrepreneurs, enterprising employees and successful business owners.
A distinguishing feature of the CETL is that University faculties take ownership of the materials that are developed, and enterprise is embedded within modules and programmes, rather than it being an additional activity. Learning materials develop in context and become discipline specific. This has the key benefit of teaching materials that are more relevant and interesting for the students, and academic staff become more aware of the value of enterprise within their own subject. As a result many academics develop into local champions for the initiative. The initiative will expand embedded enterprise across the whole curriculum for all three universities, with a focus on social sciences, arts and humanities.
Each university also has an Enterprise Zone: a dedicated enterprise teaching and learning facility that forms an institutional focal point for students, researchers and staff interested in enterprise. The three WRCETLE teams meet regularly to co-ordinate activities and share expertise and practice.