Undergraduate Venture Creation Programmes: Research Challenges in an Under-Explored Area of Investigation Kelly Smith - Coventry University Matthew Rogers-Draycott - University of Buckingham ISBE - Newcastle 2019 Nov

Investigate the literature on VCPs as a relatively new and underutilised from of undergraduate degree programme in an effort to understand why more investigative scrutiny has not been directed toward VCPs in general and undergraduate VCPs in particular. VCPs are degrees that have “the on-going creation of a real-life venture as their primary learning vessel and thus part of formal curriculum, with intention to incorporate or in some other way indicate future operative status” (Lackéus, 2013, p17). Aim

Goals To explore: 1. What makes VCPs distinct; 2. How they address the need for a different model to teach entrepreneurship; and 3. Where further research effort might be targeted to develop this as a field of study.

A semi-systematic literature review was conducted in order to find and explore literature around VCPs in general and undergraduate VCPs in particular. This included: • Academic literature published in peer-reviewed journals; • Emerging work presented at conferences; and • A general internet search to find non-academic information, reports and literature relating to VCP practice. Method

• Very small number of ‘full’ VCPs globally; • Lackéus and Williams Middleton (2011) identified 17 VCPs between 2010 and 2013 with the majority offered at PG level; • 3 of the VCPs identified were at UG level with all of these offered by UK HEI’s, 1 of which is now closed; • 2 additional UK VCPs started in 2014 and 2016 but have also now closed; • A further 6 (or 7?) UK HEIs currently offer programmes at undergraduate level based on the Finnish Team Academy model (Akatemia, n.d.); and • 2 UG VCPs are also offered in Finland and Spain. Note: that cohorts on VCPs tend to be small. Number of VCPs in 2019

Findings 1 Teaching, Learning, and Assessment • Experiential learning must be embedded within an action learning framework - encapsulating live issues and personal goal setting - in order to support effectual entrepreneurship and sense-making by the students (Moreland and Thompson, 2016); • Reflection and emotion is an important aspect of the learning experience (Smith and Shaw, 2018; Puglis et al., 2015; also Lackéus and Williams Middleton, 2015 and 2018 for PG VCPs); • Team Academy [and other VCPs] is an artificially created learning environment with a local context in which pedagogical and cultural practices coalesce (Tosey at al., 2015); and • Much of the learning in VCPs occurs in informal settings and through self- directed activities, with informal opportunities as important to learning as the formal and more traditional (Blackwood et al., 2015, Puglis et al, 2015, Smith and Shaw, 2018).

Findings 2 Entrepreneurial Outcomes • Increases in self-efficacy and confidence along with the acquisition of competencies associated with entrepreneurship and the disposition towards entrepreneurial activity (Blackwood et al., 2015); • Increased understanding of team dynamics and interactions with colleagues, customers, and collaborators (Blackwood et al., 2015); • Students come to realise what is involved with job and business creation and whether they are suited to pursue this route (Moreland and Thompson, 2016); • Within-course actual business start-up is reported (Davey, 2018; Smith and Shaw, 2018; Moreland and Thompson, 2016); • Dual drivers for students on VCP programmes towards a) business start-up and b) obtaining a degree are from application and remain to near-graduation although the balance between them shifts over time (Smith and Shaw, 2018); and • In common with other types of EntEd initiatives, the longer-term intentions or actions of VCP programme graduates are generally not explored and further research needed here.

Findings 3 Development of Entrepreneurial Identity • Critical self-reflection results in an evolution of entrepreneurial identities and a challenging of initially-held narratives of entrepreneurship (Blackwood, 2015); • Further research needed to explore entrepreneurial identity at the UG level; • According to Donnellon et al. (2014) it is inevitable that [PG] VCP students take on a new identity related to that of an entrepreneur to some extent when they act as entrepreneurs in the course of their studies; • Identity formation [at the PG level] may be just as important in entrepreneurship education as pedagogy, content, knowledge and skills (Nielson and Gartner, 2017; Donnellon et al., 2014; Hytti and Heinonen, 2013; Williams Middleton, 2013); and • Issues may also arise with the development of dual identities for PG VCP participants who are both students and nascent entrepreneurs (Nielson and Gartner, 2017).

Findings 4A Application and Recruitment onto VCPs • Current students on non-VCP programmes reported that they would be generally positive about the potential the VCPs as a mechanism to make learning more effective and memorable, with the potential to aid the drawing of connections between theory and practice (Kapasi and Grekova, 2017); • However, there was risk associated with concerns raised about distancing from the knowledge gained through ‘traditional’ learning approaches, and the need for students to take responsibility for their own learning and to be self-disciplined (Kapasi and Grekova, 2017); and • Students on UG VCPs programmes applied out of a desire to set up and/or run a business, coupled with the ability to obtain a degree (Smith and Shaw, 2018; Puglis et al., 2015); and perceived novelty and innovativeness of entrepreneurship-specific pedagogy (Puglis et al., 2015).

Findings 4B Application and Recruitment onto VCPs • UG VCPs may attract those who feel they lack sufficient experience, or feel too young, to start a business straight out of school (Puglis et al., 2015); • UG VCPs also attract those who might not otherwise have chosen to go into higher education, or who were not enthusiastic about more traditional courses. (Puglis et al., 2015; Smith and Shaw, 2018); • UG VCPs were not generally known about prior to application nor easily discoverable; participants reported finding VCP-type degrees through serendipity and chance, rather than through planned search activity (Smith and Shaw, 2018); and • Evidence of a mismatch between initial expectations and actual experience of the degree with students reporting that the VCPs they were studying on were less practical than they expected them to be (Smith and Shaw, 2018).

Conclusions • VCPs are a distinct form of in-curricula enterprise creation degree course which explicitly bases learning opportunities on the ongoing creation of a real-life venture; • ‘Full’ undergraduate VCPs may help meet the calls of policy makers and scholars to provide innovative curricula based on experiential learning principles; • VCPs can provide a positive learning experiences in addition to leading to actual business start-up; and • VCPs, particularly at the undergraduate level, are rare and niche.

Implications If undergraduate VCPs have the potential to enhance learning, address policy calls, and contribute to economic growth as suggested above: • Why are there so few known undergraduate VCPs at universities around the world? • What factors allows some undergraduate VCPs to become sustainable, and others not? • What additional policy drives or evidence would be required to encourage VCP programme development and/or senior management support for their creation and sustainability? • Are there particular skills and attributes required of course developers, course leaders, and educators that are necessary for undergraduate VCPs? • How can challenges around VCP-specific research be overcome?

Recommendations Research challenges and suggestions for future research were suggested throughout the paper relating to: • The role of experiential learning and emotion; • Teaching, learning and assessment practice; • Use of underpinning theories; • Need to identify and measure appropriate entrepreneurial outcomes; • Development of entrepreneurial (and student) identities; and • Issues around marketing VCP programmes for application, recruitment, and the meeting of stakeholder expectations.

Thank you Questions?