Bridging the gap: The collaborative impact of enterprise education and small businesses on student skills development

In recent years, various reports have examined how businesses are responding to technological advancements and demographic shifts in the workplace. This case study explores the responsive pedagogical and practical approaches to enhancing students’ preparedness for this dynamic job market through a 30-credit module, ‘Employer-led Interdisciplinary Project’. This module is offered to penultimate year undergraduate students in the School of Social Science at the University of Aberdeen. Students studying the module are from non-vocational degrees such as Politics and International Relations, Sociology, and Anthropology. In this case study analysis, the 10-year development of this flagship module is explored, reflecting on its pedagogies, collaborative partnerships, projects, and strong emphasis on enterprise education. A central tenet of the 12-week module is the experiential learning opportunity offered via a group project provided by a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), start-up business, or third-sector charity. These external project providers play a key role in beneficially impacting students’ self-development and growth, while supporting students’ competency building.

In this case study, the benefits of university-small business partnerships in supporting students’ skills development are illustrated through an exemplar alliance with Interface. This organisation is funded by the Scottish Funding Council to facilitate business access to academic expertise. In this module, Interface plays a pivotal role in sourcing a diverse range of real-world projects from small businesses, enabling students to understand current practices in a wide range of employment sectors and organisational sizes. For individuals aiming to enhance or initiate externally-sourced project-based learning within their own context, a range of key learning points are offered, alongside the challenges and benefits of partnership working with external organisations. The case study content is likely to be of particular interest to educational developers, degree programme directors, module leaders, and employers alike.