In Wales, the role of universities in delivering the skills that knowledge industries require cannot be underestimated. For example, HEFCW indicate that in 2006-2007, the thirteen higher education institutions in Wales (excluding the Open University) will receive over £338 million from the Assembly for research and teaching, an increase of 2.7 per cent on 2005.
Of this sum, just over £5 Million is spent on postgraduate research training in Wales, i.e. in developing graduates with more specialised skills required by knowledge-based industries. Indeed, Wales accounts for just under 5 per cent of the number of postgraduates within the UK – roughly what would be expected for our population. In contrast, Scotland, according to the Royal Society, does proportionally better in attracting proportionally more students to research degrees in key subjects such as medical sciences, biological sciences, and physical sciences.
Whilst Welsh universities will hopefully lobby for greater funding towards developing higher level skills at a postgraduate level to catch up with our fellow Celts north of the border, I believe any increase must be dependent on exploiting a relatively unique and immediate opportunity for Welsh institutions to develop the skills of their postgraduates to make a real difference to the future of the Welsh economy.
As numerous business experts will tell you, the Holy Grail for many economies is the creation of an entrepreneurial, technologically competent workforce that can create high value-added ideas, businesses and products, as has happened in key growth regions such as Silicon Valley and Route 128 in the USA.
Professor Ed Roberts’ detailed study of the concentration of start-ups around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA clearly showed that the majority of successful technical entrepreneurs emerging from this world class technology institution were educated to Master’s level within a scientific or technical discipline. Similarly, the recent GEM study for Wales has shown that the most entrepreneurial group, in terms of education, are those who have Master’s degrees. Postgraduates are almost twice as likely to start up a new business as the rest of the population.
Given this, I believe we need to think outside the box and consider how we can create a new synergy between science and enterprise within our universities. If the Welsh taxpayer is spending millions on postgraduate training, then the Assembly – who supplies this funding – should begin to have a greater influence on how this money is spent within Welsh institutions to improve the economic performance of the nation. If you consider the spin-off impact of MIT – 5,000 firms created, employing over 1.1 million people and with annual sales of more than £125 billion - you can imagine what a small degree of this success could do for Wales.
If the amount of postgraduate research money to universities should be increased in the future, then the Assembly could insist, as a condition of that rise in funding, that every science and technology Master’s student paid from the public purse has to undertake an entrepreneurship management module as part of their course. More importantly, I would also argue that their dissertation should also include a commercial element that is formally assessed.
I am sure that all Welsh universities would embrace the opportunity to make a real contribution towards creating a highly skilled class of enterprising and innovative technologists that would have both the technical and managerial skills necessary to help build up a new Welsh economy.
Not all would create the Microsofts of the future but the type of skills needed to run an entrepreneurial business are also the competences valued by all companies in the knowledge economy, large and small. Certainly, such an action may change the perception of individuals and institutions towards the potential of our vastly underrated university science departments and the crucial role, in partnership with enterprise academics and practitioners, that they can play in developing the skilled entrepreneurs of the future.
Of this sum, just over £5 Million is spent on postgraduate research training in Wales, i.e. in developing graduates with more specialised skills required by knowledge-based industries. Indeed, Wales accounts for just under 5 per cent of the number of postgraduates within the UK – roughly what would be expected for our population. In contrast, Scotland, according to the Royal Society, does proportionally better in attracting proportionally more students to research degrees in key subjects such as medical sciences, biological sciences, and physical sciences.
Whilst Welsh universities will hopefully lobby for greater funding towards developing higher level skills at a postgraduate level to catch up with our fellow Celts north of the border, I believe any increase must be dependent on exploiting a relatively unique and immediate opportunity for Welsh institutions to develop the skills of their postgraduates to make a real difference to the future of the Welsh economy.
As numerous business experts will tell you, the Holy Grail for many economies is the creation of an entrepreneurial, technologically competent workforce that can create high value-added ideas, businesses and products, as has happened in key growth regions such as Silicon Valley and Route 128 in the USA.
Professor Ed Roberts’ detailed study of the concentration of start-ups around the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA clearly showed that the majority of successful technical entrepreneurs emerging from this world class technology institution were educated to Master’s level within a scientific or technical discipline. Similarly, the recent GEM study for Wales has shown that the most entrepreneurial group, in terms of education, are those who have Master’s degrees. Postgraduates are almost twice as likely to start up a new business as the rest of the population.
Given this, I believe we need to think outside the box and consider how we can create a new synergy between science and enterprise within our universities. If the Welsh taxpayer is spending millions on postgraduate training, then the Assembly – who supplies this funding – should begin to have a greater influence on how this money is spent within Welsh institutions to improve the economic performance of the nation. If you consider the spin-off impact of MIT – 5,000 firms created, employing over 1.1 million people and with annual sales of more than £125 billion - you can imagine what a small degree of this success could do for Wales.
If the amount of postgraduate research money to universities should be increased in the future, then the Assembly could insist, as a condition of that rise in funding, that every science and technology Master’s student paid from the public purse has to undertake an entrepreneurship management module as part of their course. More importantly, I would also argue that their dissertation should also include a commercial element that is formally assessed.
I am sure that all Welsh universities would embrace the opportunity to make a real contribution towards creating a highly skilled class of enterprising and innovative technologists that would have both the technical and managerial skills necessary to help build up a new Welsh economy.
Not all would create the Microsofts of the future but the type of skills needed to run an entrepreneurial business are also the competences valued by all companies in the knowledge economy, large and small. Certainly, such an action may change the perception of individuals and institutions towards the potential of our vastly underrated university science departments and the crucial role, in partnership with enterprise academics and practitioners, that they can play in developing the skilled entrepreneurs of the future.
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