Dr Pauric McGowan, Director of NICENT, with Professor Brian Keating, Chairman of the NICENT Advisory Board and Richard Millen, Head of Research and Regional Services for QUB, at the launch of the NICENT report in UUJ.

Northern Ireland’s universities are leading the way in teaching students the facts of life about the real world of business, it was revealed today.

The Northern Ireland Centre for Entrepreneurship (NICENT) - a partnership between the University of Ulster, Queen’s University Belfast and Loughry/CAFRE - is:

·    Equipping record numbers of students with the skills needed to create globally competitive businesses in Northern Ireland.

·    Using innovative web CT teaching methods that are the envy of universities in the UK and Europe.

·    Seeking to build partnerships with Further Education colleges to promote entrepreneurship at grass roots level.

Launching NICENT’s first annual report today, Director Dr Pauric McGowan said: “At one time Northern Ireland was the economic powerhouse of the UK, with its ropeworks, shipyards and heavy engineering firms among the finest in the world. Those industries withered, partly because others learned to do the job better and more cheaply and partly because they did not change to meet new challenges.

“Now we have an economy which is overly dependent on the public sector. However that public sector is also being squeezed and we need to rediscover our culture of enterprise and innovation. We cannot depend on companies coming in from outside to bolster our economy. We need to do it ourselves and that is what NICENT is attempting to instill in the next generation of business leaders - our students”.

At the end of 2003 the Global Enterprise Monitor put Northern Ireland at the bottom of the UK entrepreneurship league. The authors suggested that the higher education sector was not doing enough to push the entrepreneurship agenda amongst students and staff

But Dr McGowan said NICENT has risen to that challenge. In the last year a total of 2,635 undergraduates and postgraduate students in engineering and science underwent entrepreneurship training, 50% more than the target figure.

It is anticipated that by the end of 2005 more than 6,300 students in Northern Ireland will have learned about entrepreneurship and the skills required.

“Entrepreneurship is not just about starting new companies, although it is important that research ideas are brought to commercial reality. We also need to equip our students to bring fresh ideas and up-to-date skills to existing companies, where most of them will end up. Northern Ireland companies need to be innovative if they are to succeed globally. What we are trying to do is change attitudes and build entrepreneurial competencies. We cannot rely on others to develop our economy. We have to do it ourselves and that is what NICENT is all about”.

He pointed to the success of UU students who took the top three prizes in the £25K Awards for new entrepreneurs in October in the face of competition from 32 other teams and the winning performance of a Queen’s University team in a UK-wide competition to design a racing car.

Dr McGowan said it is vital that the Northern Ireland Assembly gets back in business as soon as possible.

“NICENT is one of 13 Science Enterprise Centres throughout the UK. However unlike the rest of the UK funding must come as part of a local arrangement. We need to look to local politicians for the necessary support to continue this effort of equipping our students for the challenges that lie ahead.”

For further information, please contact:

David Young
Telephone: 028 90366074
Email: David Young