To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to encourage universities to support students who have started, or plan to start, a business venture while at university.
Answered on
11 March 2016
This answer is a correction from the original answer.
Government fully supports and actively encourages students who wish to start a business. This commitment was reiterated in the recent grant letter from Ministers to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) where we welcomed the Council’s commitment to:
- The continued funding and support for the work of National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB), which we see as key to promoting enhanced university and business activity. NCUB gathers evidence and brings together university and business leaders, sharing best practice. The NCUB’s work covers all aspects of the interaction between Businesses and Higher Education, including addressing skills shortages, work experience and graduate recruitment.
- To continue to promote knowledge exchange through the Higher Education Innovation Fund, which is focussed on promoting entrepreneurship and enterprise education, as well as the commercialisation of research.
In addition to this, the QAA issued guidance to Higher Education Institutions in 2012 to promote best practice in developing enterprise and entrepreneurship education.
According to HESA, support provided by universities led to 4,600 graduate start-ups in 2013-14[1] an increase of 1,100 on the previous year.
[1] HE-BCI (Higher Education – Business Community Interaction) survey
Original answer
Government’s Start-Up Loans scheme supports people wanting to start a business and has provided over 35,000 loans worth over £200 million. We’re committed to supporting start-ups by cutting taxes on small businesses, extending rate relief and increasing the Employment Allowance.
In Cambridge, Government has invested £4.8m in the establishment of the Sir John Bradfield Technology Centre to support business incubation on Cambridge Science Park. This is in addition to a range of other growth-enabling investments made through the £500m Greater Cambridge City Deal, the £109.1m Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Growth Deal and a three year funding package to support development of a local business Growth Hub