News

Developing Entrepreneurial Life Skills

(15 May 2003)

A non-residential Summer School for 15 to 19 year olds residing in County Durham will be held at the University of Durham from the 4-8 August, 2003.

The Summer School is funded by One NorthEast, the Regional Development Agency, and is organised and managed by The Foundation for Small and Medium Enterprise Development, Durham Business School at the University of Durham.

The aims of the Summer School are to:

Develop participants enterprising life skills (ICT, teamwork, networking)

Raise awareness of the personal and career benefits of higher education

Promote self-employment as a career option post graduation

Develop the skills, behaviours and attributes required of employees in the SME sector

The Summer School will comprise two strands of 30 young people, giving a total of 60 participants. They will be divided into 10 groups of 6 and each group will be assigned a young student mentor who will act as a role model and facilitator of learning.

Each group will be asked to generate an idea for a business, which may be for profit or not for profit. They will use the development of this idea as the framework for ‘learning’ for the week. Guest speakers will include local entrepreneurs and small business advisors from the banks and local enterprise agencies. There will also be visits to businesses/enterprises in the region to open students’ eyes to the various ways that enterprise ‘happens’.

On the Friday afternoon each team will make a presentation explaining their business idea.

For further details please contact the programme director, Dr. Brian Jones, b.t.jones@durham.ac.uk, tel: 0191 334 5133