The research, to be undertaken over the coming months by students themselves, will explore the attitudes of 16-21 year old students to their economic prospects, the importance of enterprise and flexible working opportunities, and the relevance of their education to the world of work.
The Carnegie UK Trust has recruited and trained 50 Carnegie Student Interns across the Partner Colleges throughout the UK to undertake face–to-face field research with more than 1500 students. A further 500 students will be surveyed through a comparison eSurvey carried out at 6-8 additional colleges.
Carnegie UK Trust Chief Executive Martyn Evans says it’s time to listen carefully to the hopes and ambitions of young people to ensure creative and entrepreneurial sparks are not doused by fears about not getting a job:
“Carnegie UK has a long heritage as an innovative funder of the UK further education sector, helping to set up Carnegie College in England, Newbattle Abbey in Scotland and Coleg Harlech in Wales. We also have a tradition of promoting thinking and research into the priorities and opportunities for younger people.
“Through this study, the Trust hopes to make a real contribution to live contemporary debates about enterprise and vocational education quality, and the preparedness of younger citizens for a changing and challenging economy.”
Project leader at Carnegie UK Trust, Jim Metcalfe, says the hope is to come up with a realistic assessment of whether this generation wants to be more enterprising than the ones that have come before:
“One of the areas we are keen to explore is whether, if jobs with established companies are thin on the ground, young people are willing to consider setting up their own businesses.
“We’ll also be looking at attitudes to entrepreneurs and the world of work, and whether students feel they are given enough insight into what working life is really like.”
The findings are likely to be published in the early summer.
The 12 Carnegie UK Partner Colleges are:
- City of Glasgow College
- Barony College (Dumfries & Galloway)
- Carnegie College (Fife)
- Middlesbrough College
- Dearne Valley College (South Yorkshire)
- New College Nottingham
- Ealing, Hammersmith & West London College
- Filton College (Bristol & South Gloucestershire)
- Bridgend College
- Deeside College
- South Eastern Regional College (Lisburn & Bangor)
- North West Regional College (Derry)
More information on the Enterprising Minds research project is available here.
For more information on our work in this field, please contact Jim Metcalfe on 01383 721 445 or by emailing jim@carnegieuk.org.