A programme to teach college lecturers how to make their students more entrepreneurial has been launched by CREATE, the Highland Centre of Enterprise and Innovation, and the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education.

The Scottish Enterprise Educators Programme (SEE) will teach participants how to develop their students’ enterprise and employability skills. Courses will be split into four modules, with the first three contained in a three-day residential to minimise staff absence from their institutions.

The modules will teach areas of the subject including the “enterprising mindset” and how to establish a network of contacts in the business and education world who could provide opportunities for students.

It is “going to provide something which makes them informed, flexible and professional enterprise educators”, says Carol Langston, head of CREATE and programme director of SEE.

It is unique, she says, because of its 100 per cent focus on enterprise and entrepreneurship, and it has grown out of a need identified in government and market research. It would also help to build a “strong network of enterprising educators in Scotland able to exploit opportunities for their learners in the UK and beyond.”

“There are so many research reports talking about the need for our students to be more entrepreneurial,” says Ms Langston. “Employers are looking for young people to show initiative, be creative, be problem solvers - all of these are about having an entrepreneurial mindset. SEE is designed to help them develop the skills and practices to do that confidently.”

Paul Hannon, acting CEO of the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education, says the development is a “true innovation for the tertiary education sector”.

The first SEE programme is fully booked and will start with 17 participants next month, but people can sign up now for the second course later this year.

www.createhighland.com.