Partnership of universities in the UK and Kazakhstan as a part of the British Council Creative Spark programme

March was a seminal month for the development of entrepreneurship education in universities in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Within the framework of the Creative Spark programme, Creotalents promotes the partnership of universities in the UK and Kazakhstan, aiming to support higher education reforms and help solve the problem of unemployment making use of UK experience.

From 18 to 21 March 2019, the project coordinator from Eurasian National University (Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan), Doctor Armiyash Nurmagambetova, visited the University of Birmingham and Oxford Brookes University (UK) to learn and share entrepreneurship education practices.

The purpose of the visit was to become familiar with the activities of the universities regarding the teaching of entrepreneurship and business, instilling entrepreneurial skills among students, teachers and researchers, thus helping to create business ideas and aiding them develop their own businesses, commercializing research results.

Dr. Endrit Kromidha organized a series of meetings:

March 18, 2019: Meeting with Professor of Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development at the Birmingham School of Business Kiran Trekhian, the Business Startup Manager Mohammed Ali, and Alison Sharp, Assistant Director for Innovation. During the meeting, colleagues from the University of Birmingham shared their advice for an effective business education system, what kind of assistance would be beneficial to provide to students and recent graduates in order to start their own business, how to develop strategic partnerships with SMEs and local community organizations and how to provide innovative work aimed at the benefit of all parties and the protection of entrepreneurship.

March 19, 2019:  A meeting was held with the head of the corporate acceleration department David Coleman, Business Partner James Sharp, Chloe Mitchell, Head of Research and Social Sciences, Natalia Vershinina, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, Business School of the University of Birmingham and the Department of Management.

They said Enterprise Acceleration provides training services for companies and novice incubator services, manage funds that bridge the gap between research funding and commercial investment, and provide start-up incubation services that are available to both scientists and SMEs in the Birmingham area. They also explored how the university could attract the business community, emphasizing innovative opportunities for industry-specific partnerships. Other topics raised were how to expand the scope of interaction with business to develop new ways in which research can solve industry problems,  and how to generate income from research and have a tangible impact on support developing as well as  applying for research funding.

The project manager at the University of Birmingham, Endrit Kromidha, also organized a tour of the Birmingham Impact Hub, the Birmingham Art.

Meetings on March 20-21, 2019 at the University of Oxford Brookes were very fruitful and impactful. Professor Levent Altinay, Leader of Researcher work in project Creative Spark, organized a meeting with Dr. Lydia Igwe and Mr. Kevin Maynard. They discussed the university’s activities on supporting and developing student entrepreneurship, explored what services are being created for the projects  and received a full range of advice and assistance on legal issues, finance and accounting, which project competitions exist in the university, crucial university graduates in business, etc.

A meeting with Mr. Giles Orr, Business School Business Development Manager, responsible for consulting and knowledge transfer also took place. The goal of the service is to help business schools interact with organizations and individuals to increase their effectiveness through high quality training and counseling, drawing on the incredible experience of Oxford Brookes University.

The results of the meetings were impressive. The issues of further cooperation, especially for participation in new projects, were discussed. Parties’ partners also discussed the prospects and plans for the implementation of the Creative Spark project.