Huddersfield University underlined its status as Entrepreneurial University of the Year by hosting a special conference.
The university welcomed delegates from all over Europe to an event held as part of the Entrepreneurial University Leaders Programme.
A packed day of discussions was led by senior figures at Huddersfield, which is currently the Times Higher Education University of the Year and a holder of the publication’s Entrepreneurial University of the Year title.
The four-day event, which shuttled between Huddersfield and Leeds, was one of the 2014 modules in the Entrepreneurial University Leaders Programme, organised by the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE).
The aim of the programme is to emphasise the importance of entrepreneurship within the context of higher education and to learn how universities are responding to the challenge.
It was the first time that NCEE has held one of its events at Huddersfield. The university’s head of enterprise, Dr Kelly Smith, said that this was in recognition of the achievement of winning the Entrepreneurial University of the Year title.
She said the event was a great success and had attracted a large number of top university executives from throughout the UK and from Europe, particularly Scandinavia.
The event included a discussion session with the university’s vice-chancellor, Prof Bob Cryan, and a dinner held at its 3M Buckley Innovation Centre, which supports businesses and student start-ups.
Other sessions featured contributions from the university’s director of estates and facilities Colin Blair; its deputy director of finance Paul Cropper; and its director of international development Andrew Mandebura.
A session on entrepreneurial initiatives at Huddersfield was led by Stephen Boyd, head of careers and employability, with contributions from academic staff, including Liz Dobson, senior lecturer in music technology.
Prof Liz Towns-Andrews, director of research and enterprise, and Dr Barry Timmins, head of business development, led a discussion on research, enterprise and business development at the university.
The NCEE is running three modules in its 2014 Entrepreneurial University Leaders Programme.
The first took place in January at the Oxford University.
The module at Huddersfield event will be followed in July by a session at the London headquarters of Universities UK.
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