Business school helps local students pursue entrepreneurial ambitions
Keele Business School is celebrating the first anniversary of an outreach programme launched to raise students’ entrepreneurial and academic aspirations at schools and colleges across the region.
The ICAN competition was launched a year ago by experts from Keele Business School, to encourage students coming from underrepresented backgrounds to consider applying to higher education, and helping them discover their entrepreneurial ambitions with a Dragons’ Den style competition.
In its first year the programme has seen academics engaging with more than 300 students from schools and colleges across the region, with 110 of them taking part in the final competition.
Some of these schools are based in areas where significantly lower numbers of students progress to higher education compared to the national average. The ICAN programme was established to change that, with Keele Business School seeing a 17% increase in applications from the targeted schools and colleges following their participation in the programme.
The competition saw groups of Year 12 students collaborating with classmates to come up with a business proposal presentation around one of six potential themes, including concepts such as reducing inequality and poverty across the region, or designing a new sustainability initiative for the West Midlands.
They then presented these ideas to an expert panel of “Dragons” from Keele Business School with prizes for the top performing teams, who were then also invited to present their ideas in a Staffordshire-wide competition held at the University.
Dr Tolu Olarewaju, Lecturer in Management and coordinator of the ICAN programme, said: “We welcome all students who are curious about studying business related disciplines at university and encourage schools and colleges to get involved. It’s been inspiring to see students grow in confidence and ambition. This is just the beginning of a movement to show young people that they belong in higher education and can shape the future.”
Dr Scott Bambrick, Director of Keele Business School, added: "A fundamental part of the School's mission is to inspire future leaders - this initiative aims to raise educational aspirations in the region by inspiring students in schools and colleges to realise their potential and that they can make it to university and go on to have a successful career.
“We were hugely impressed with the standard of all the presentations and the wonderful business ideas put forward by these fantastic students. A massive thank you to all the wonderful students and staff who attended the day."
