The Centre for Creativity and Enterprise Development

The Centre for Creativity and Enterprise Development (CrED) brings together business and education specialists in a pioneering collaboration to focus on the topical themes of creativity and enterprise across the fields of education, business and policy.

A joint venture between the Business School and the Westminster Institute of Education, CrED is engaged in a range of innovative projects based on the vision of a seamless approach to enterprise at all levels of education from schools to universities, and the impact this can have on economic development and social inclusion. CrED's holistic, multidisciplinary strategy brings synergy and creative inspiration to curriculum development, research and the formation of policy.

Objectives

to be a leader on the local, regional, national and international stage in the development and promotion of creativity and enterprise in the field of education, business and within the policy environment
to be a catalyst for creative thought and creative learning
to develop and showcase new initiatives including new research

News

Richard Beresford was asked to present to the recent International Enterprise Educators' Conference in London. The topic of Richard's presentation was 'Enterprise Education in the FE Sector'. During the presentation Richard took the opportunity to draw attention to the lack of synergies between and within the UK's educational sectors when it comes to enterprise education - the subject being effectively 'lost in translation'.

CrED thinking

Projects

CommercialiSE Fellows Training +

CrED has the lead role to develop and coordinate the CommercialiSE Fellows Training Programme. This offers a free package of support for university staff, students, alumni, SMEs and entrepreneurs in the south-east to develop business ideas into a fully worked, realisable business plan.

For more information on the Fellows programme and the wider benefits of Commercialise see: www.commercialise.org.uk
Enterprise Exchange Academy programme +

CrED is part of this EU GROW-funded project, developing and delivering enterprise and creative CPD courses for school enterprise coordinators and teachers in Key Stage 4.
Writhlington Business and Enterprise School +

CrED is also involved in a strategic collaboration with Writhlington Business and Enterprise School (Bath) to develop a range of accredited CPD modules for teachers within the school as well as wider enterprise-related opportunities for students.

For more information download the flyer about professional development for teachers in Creative and Enterprise Education.
QuASS-Quality Assurance Project +
CrED is a partner in the QuASS-Quality Assurance pilot project, developed as part of the EU objective to improve the levels of quality and innovation in education and vocational training systems, to the benefit all those involved in learning.

The project aims to create and validate a series of training quality indicators. These will help analysts and training designers to diagnose training needs, and to develop training courses that are up-to-date, efficacious, and that ensure the acquisition of missing competences.

The project has the following objectives:
- develop quality indicators to evaluate vocational training opportunities, in particular for staff working in SMEs
- define agreed standard procedures to evaluate the coherence and correspondence of courses with respect to competence gaps identified and with respect to company needs to be competitive in the market
- identify guidelines to implement defined standard procedures
- define the competences of the vocational needs analyst in companies, the training designer and the trainer
- define mechanisms to gather feedback from the client system and from interested parties.
Enterprise Education in the South East FE Sector +

CrED has a won a three-year contract worth £200,000 from the National Endowment of Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA).

The aim of the project is to help build the capacity and capability of further education (FE) colleges to foster a culture of enterprise and innovation in young people. The challenge is concerned with opportunities for students, but also (in line with the recent government white paper 'Innovation Nation') with helping senior staff in the FE sector to be more enterprising in their vision of the future. For FE institutions, building a reputation for enterprise will be vital to drive college improvement, improve student retention and employability, enhance employer engagement and secure diverse funding streams. NESTA views this as a pilot project which can be rolled out nationally.

This project builds on CrED's successful work in schools, and is part of the Centre's aim to lead thinking in the identification of creative approaches to organisational innovation and change.