Priorities:Lancaster University Student Priorities
After interviewing students and researching the I&E ecosystem of our campus, we found that many students are missing out on events they might be interested in, due to a missing connection between different parts of the university. We came up with a few possible solutions on how we could inform students about events, workshops and people outside of their degree, that they might be interested in.
Strategy 1: Guide to ensure that students know where they can get advice and further information about business ideas and innovation
As there are lots of resources on campus but many students are not aware of them, or are confused because of all the different websites, emails and contact points, a small flyer with the most important information could help: an easy and condensed guide for students about where they can get advice about business ideas and start-ups, have an overview of the resources available and where they can get further information and ways to develop their skills.
Using a window of the “Work in Progress” space, which is located in the centre of campus, would be perfect to put a big timetable with all the events, workshops, competitions etc. that are related to innovation, entrepreneurship, start-ups and design thinking. Students would walk past it everyday, can have a quick overview of the events and if they´re interested in an event they can scan the QR-code next to the event to get further information about it and book their place. To keep the timetable up-to-date, we would create a template which can be filled out by the people responsible for the event and once a week the timetable would be renewed.
Strategy 3: To ensure that Innovation and Entrepreneurship opportunities didn’t go amiss by students who either lacked the confidence to get involved or who studied subjects which aren’t traditionally creative
There was a need to develop something that encouraged students who aren’t already involved in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem on campus but have the urge to get involved and don’t know where to start. When prototyping, the strongest idea was an ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship kick-starter.’
When testing this idea the main feedback received from first and second-year students were that it needed to be short and straight to the point, they didn’t want the filler that often led to them becoming uninterested in lectures, they wanted something fun and engaging. Other feedback was that it should also be a chance for people to meet one another, and there could be some icebreakers included helping like-minded students build their network and feel part of a community, especially in the first year.
After gathering the feedback some changes were made, the duration these Kickstarter classes should be 30 minutes, the first half being a rapid class on design thinking its value, and the second half is an overview of what is on offer for students and who is there to help them. These sessions will be quick in order to keep students engaged throughout and to maximise their learning in a short space of time. The point of these sessions will be to not only give them some guidance on what is available to them but also the confidence to engage and contribute in these communities, to help them to expand their own skills and experience.
Strategy 4: Provide role models and sources of inspiration and advice from the student body
Providing access to tools and resources to students wouldn't be enough to build a strong environment of I&E at Lancaster. Students would also need to see others who were actively engaging and promoting competitions and workshops that focused on innovation and creativity. This group of students would be called Changers. They would exist to document student innovation and generate projects for students to apply their studies in a real world scenario.
After consulting members of administration who had experience with students doing work on campus for feedback, they explained that students would need to be paid for work done in this role if it were to be rolled out to the general student population. Also, they emphasized that the creation of teams of students from across different faculties was where Changers could have the biggest impact on the university and its reputation.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5RqlzTa1IBZY004alhsTzBqczQzWDhZMzVVM0RkN0JhaTRJ/view?usp=sharing
Strategy 5: Making Meaninghful Connections in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
<span style="font-size:larger;"Networking is a key component of a healthy lifestyle, it gives people something to wake up and look forward to and days that otherwise may lack excitement. It fulfills the idea of living to work rather than working to live. Meeting with people for a coffee can lead to great possibilities however in the UK I feel that some people are reluctant to do this with people they don’t really know and so in order to give people the confidence that a 30 minute coffee will be beneficial we have created a window display where people can create a short personal profile with details about the kind of people they are looking to meet on campus, this can be as refined as possible such as a computer programmer with skill using Javascript or as broad as possible such as any student at Lancaster who is exploring setting up their own business</span>
Strategy 6: The Hive House
Often at University people end up living with housemates that are just convenient to live with or are dumped in living with.
The Hve House is a way to bring students with an entrepreneurial action mindset together and give them the platform to live together. Exciting conversations and possibilities would now no longer be restricted to designated times and spaces but they would be able to spring up and arise over simple and every day tasks that are made more dynamic by living in the Hive House
Watch this video for more information about who we are and what our aims are: