EEUK and NCEE announce the 2013 winners of the National Enterprise Educator Awards
The UK’s top enterprise educators were announced at Sheffield’s Cutlers’ Hall for the National Enterprise Educator Awards. The ceremony brought together educators showcasing their excellence in enterprise and entrepreneurship education as part of the International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference (IEEC) Gala Dinner on the 12th September.
Student Educator Award
The winner for the Student Educator award, sponsored by Amersham and Wycombe College and the Next Gen Skills Academy, was announced as the ‘Apprentice Challenge’ team from Aston University. The judges were impressed with how Sepher Eslahi, President of the Aston Entrepreneurs Society, and his fellow students have developed a regional entrepreneurial competition run by students for students in the Midlands into the national student ‘Apprentice Challenge’ for 100 students from 40 Universities.
Simona Popa and Sepher Eslahi celebrate their success with Keith Burnley, NCEE and Professor Elena-Rodriguez-Falcon, University of Sheffield and EEUK.
Enterprise Educator Award
The Enterprise Educator award sponsored by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) went to Neil Coles of Cardiff University. The trophy and prize money was presented by Richard Atfield of the HEA.
Neil explained, “I’m from a fabulous team who support innovative students and work with other staff to enable enterprise learning through the disciplines. I have to say a big thank you to the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education, Enterprise Educators UK and all Cardiff University staff who are individually helping to advance their students’ enterprise capability through research led teaching.
I’m totally humbled by this Award from the enterprise education community, and will now take some time to consider how best to spend the money, but you can be sure it’ll advance the agenda in some way!”
Enterprise Champions Award
Siobain Hone of the University of Bath Students’ Union was awarded the Enterprise ‘Champions’ accolade with the trophy and prize money being presented to Sorella Smith from the University of Bath by Peter Harrington, Director of the award sponsor SimVenture. This award recognises extra-curricular work and the judges were particularly impressed with the ‘real-life’ experience offered by the initiative which exposes students to real risks and the opportunity to make real profits whilst they test and develop their entrepreneurial skills.
L-R: Keith Burnley, NCEE; Sorella Smith, University of Bath; Peter Harrington, SimVenture; Elena Rodriguez-Falcon, University of Sheffield & EEUK.
Enterprise Society Champion Award
The final award of the evening, the Enterprise Society Champion award, went to Rosy Jones of Southampton Solent University who was recognised for her continued support for Enterprise Societies. Hushpreet Dhaliwal of NACUE, sponsors of this award, presented the award and prize money which will be used to further grow Solent’s Enterprise Societies – Sparks and Enactus.
Keith Burnley, CEO from NCEE said “The 2013 NEEA was a terrific showcase of the depth and variety of excellent work taking place across the sector in UK. This year has seen the successes of enterprise educators and their supporting institutions celebrated as well as true innovations and long-standing and successful projects recognised; but for me the awards evening is the true celebration of all the short listed candidates and their inspiring work across the sector.” The award organisers would like to thank all of the award category sponsors as well as Sheffield based innovative engineering company, Gripple Ltd who sponsored the drinks reception at the award ceremony.
Notes to Editors The National Enterprise Educator Awards (NEEA) started in 2008 and are run by Enterprise Educators UK (EEUK) and the National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE). The winners are selected by the EEUK and NCEE awards committee. The winning prize is £1000 funding per category. The International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference (IEEC) is a leading international conference on enterprise and entrepreneurship education run in partnership between EEUK and NCEE. Over 300 enterprise educators from across the world gathered in Sheffield for IEEC2013, hosted by the University of Sheffield, to share experiences and engage others in enterprise education. www.ieec.co.uk Enterprise Educators UK (EEUK) is the national network for enterprise educators with the purpose to support their members to increase the scale, scope and effectiveness of enterprise and entrepreneurship teaching within their institutions www.enterprise.ac.uk. The National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education (NCEE) is an organisation which aims to stimulate and encourage a more entrepreneurial education sector and create the opportunities for more graduates and learners to develop the capacities they need for an entrepreneurial future http://www.ncee.org.uk/. Additional information including the full shortlist is available on the NEEA website: www.neea.org.uk
For photos from the event please contact: Lisa Hunt, NCEE lisa.hunt@ncee.org.uk 02476 158 126