Entrepreneurship Education is Strong at DkIT

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A Dundalk Institute of Technology-led project called Accelerating Campus Entrepreneurship (ACE) has received high acclaim from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) in Ireland. According to the HEA mid-term evaluation of the Strategic Innovation Fund II, "all of higher education should be engaged in this work". The Dundalk Institute of Technology-led project was one of two projects singled out as a project of excellence (Please visit: www.hea.ie).

In the HEA report, it is recognised that stimulating entrepreneurship is critical and it is essential to make third level education relevant to the needs of today's graduates. The Strategic Innovation Fund is intended to stimulate innovative thinking and action within higher education institutions and across the Higher Education landscape. It has a particular focus on the quality of teaching and learning; improved graduate education; broader access to higher education; and better managed higher education institutions.

In the HEA report it was noted that the ACE Initiative was "An impressive project that appears to be well-regarded in the private sector". The ACE Initiative addresses the contexts quoted above by embedding entrepreneurial education in non-business disciplines through a four-targeted approach as follows:

Targeted Action 1: Pedagogies, Teaching and Curriculum Development.

Targeted Action 2: Cross-Faculty Multi-disciplinary approach.

Targeted Action 3: Embedding Technology Entrepreneurship into Engineering Education, leveraging of non-curriculum activities from incubation/technology transfer offices.

Targeted Action 4: Educational Organisation and Culture Change towards the development of more Entre- and Intra-preneurial approaches.

The Accelerating Campus Entrepreneurship (ACE) Initiative is funded by the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF II) and it is joint collaboration of Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, Cork Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Sligo and National University of Ireland Galway and is being led by Dundalk Institute of Technology.

Also this week at Dundalk Institute of Technology, a new programme specifically designed for engineering graduates was successful in the course validation (Stage 2) process which was judged by an expert panel made up of eminent academics and private sector entrepreneurs. The panel emphasised the importance of preparing engineering graduates for the real world and creating strong linkages with industry. They indicated the importance of developing entrepreneurial skills such as personal time management, technical selling, costing and pricing for new venturing, seeking venture capital, risk taking (as distinct from risk analysis) and developing strong communications skills.

For more information please visit the project homepage (http://www.aceinitiative.ie) or direct queries to Dr Cecilia Hegarty: cecilia.hegarty@dkit.ie