£2.5 Million Funding Announced For Enterprise Education in Yorkshire and Humber

Yorkshire Forward Chair Terry Hodgkinson has today announced a new £2.5 million scheme and officially launched the ‘Enterprising Yorkshire’ campaign, aimed at ensuring young people in the region have the enterprise skills they need to succeed in the world of work and self employment.

Delivered over a three year period the scheme will see the agency working with Young People’s Enterprise Forum (YPEF) – who already work on initiatives like Enterprise Week and the Real Business Challenge – to embed enterprise education across the region’s schools, colleges and universities.

The announcement was made at Yorkshire Forward’s Leeds offices today, where members of the YPEF executive and Hodgkinson met with young people from Leeds and Bradford who have already benefited from enterprise education initiatives.

Students from Laisterdyke School in Bradford have been involved in the Northern Enterprise in Education Programme (NEEP) and Ingram Lane Primary School in Leeds have taken part in Just the Job/ Right to Read activity.

Terry Hodgkinson explains; “If our regional economy is to continue to grow then we need a pipeline of ambitious and entrepreneurial individuals with the right skills for the workforce and the confidence to turn their business ideas into reality - we have a new business support service for the region, now we want to create a new generation of entrepreneurs to use it.

“To make this happen it is vital that we embed enterprise education in our young people from an early age and continue to develop their enterprise skills as they move up through the education system. We also need to ensure teachers have the skills and support to nurture their talents.

”Added to this, we can use enterprise education as a tool to raise levels of attainment amongst our young people, by giving them a focus for their studies and their aspirations for their future careers.”

The programme will look at all aspects of enterprise education, from primary school level to FE colleges and universities, and will work with Teacher Training providers to embed enterprise development techniques in teacher training.

YPEF will act as a neutral broker for enterprise education in the region, looking to identify examples of best practice amongst enterprise education providers and develop a comprehensive education programme that teachers can use in schools and colleges, whilst continuing to build on successful initiatives like Enterprise Week.

YPEF will also look to work with employers to ensure enterprise education initiatives remain in touch with the demands of industry, and to encourage employers to become more involved with the development of their future workforce.

Martin Hathaway, Chair of YPEF explains, “Enterprising Yorkshire is creating an environment that allows enterprising behaviours to flourish. We need to be encouraging young people to be creative, resourceful and resilient – they are the ones who will be the driving force of new business.

“Nurturing enterprise talent and making sure young people have the right skills and confidence to succeed needs co-ordinated input from business, education, government, voluntary organisations and the media. Enterprising Yorkshire -Inspiring Young Minds is working in partnership so that young people are not only equipped, but are hungry for the risk and challenge needed to make things happen.”