21st November 2002

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More university students should be encouraged to start their own businesses, according to Dr Pauric McGowan of the University based NI Centre for Entrepreneurship (NICENT).

Dr McGowan said entrepreneurship should be regarded as a proper career option, and not merely as an alternative to a getting a ‘real’ job.

His call to strengthen our enterprise culture came as a new Regional Innovation Strategy for Northern Ireland was launched by DETINI Minister Ian Pearson.

Highlighting the province’s dependence on the public sector and its risk-averse business culture, Dr McGowan said: “If Northern Ireland is to become more competitive in future then our graduates, from every faculty, must become more entrepreneurial.

“For graduates of the University of Ulster to be able to compete on the global stage, they need to be exposed to a much greater spirit of entrepreneurship - and to be provided with opportunities to develop appropriate entrepreneurial competencies. This is crucial.”

Dr McGowan said: “Entrepreneurs are individuals who calculate their risk. Their decision to establish an entrepreneurial new venture must be seen as a career choice. Universities in Northern Ireland have a responsibility to support those ambitions and, in doing so, to encourage the emergence of an increasingly widespread culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.”

He said the University of Ulster is committed to spreading this message across its four campuses and all its faculties, developing programmes in entrepreneurship that address the future needs of students.

Dr McGowan is working with colleagues across the UU in the development of an entrepreneurship agenda. He said: “It is a fact that entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly embedded in the curriculum of universities throughout Europe and the US: we have to do the same in Northern Ireland.”

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk