Project Impacts

In 2019, there were 112 new start-up enterprises with a combined annual turnover (2019) Rp115.3bn (£6.5m) working through the seven GITA Growth Hubs

Professor Neil Towers, Project Lead

The Indonesian Ministry of Education recognised the need for enterprise, small business creation in the economy, and public service organisations for social science and science education that produce undergraduates with developed entrepreneurship and innovation capacity. Research at the University of Gloucestershire has been used to change Indonesian universities’ approach to entrepreneurship and innovation education using a novel triangular framework and associated methodology that has significant economic and social impact at a local, national and international level. The sustainable national Indonesian Higher Education Institute multi-stakeholder learning model integrates entrepreneurial curricula development, enterprise skills and incubation creation, and university-enterprise cooperation.

With a population of  266 million and over 740,000 graduates in 2018 across Java alone, Indonesia needs to develop an entrepreneurial eco-system that integrates regulatory frameworks, universities, as well as advisory and funding support systems.

Rina Indiastuti, Directorate General of Learning and Student Affairs at Indonesia’s Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education

Research by the Project Leadership Team (Towers et al., 2020) has reconceptualised the entrepreneurial learning context as well as the role and contribution of staff, students and external industry partners to add significant value in the combination of integrated experiences typified by an empirical approach rather than a theoretical reductionist approach. The pedagogy identifies, develops, and assesses entrepreneurial opportunities to create social and economic value and analyse both the local and global context as they relate to entrepreneurial opportunities. An integrated framework was developed with a triangular approach that embeds entrepreneurship in curricula design, the development of university-enterprise collaboration to gain applied knowledge, and creating enterprise incubation capacity. The research demonstrates that student entrepreneurial capacity building needs to be combined with real world enterprise creation activities through university incubators and business creation units that support real-life projects and real-life engagement with external industry partners.

A framework designed to increase entrepreneurial graduate capacity building was developed as part of research led by the University of Gloucestershire, culminating in a three-year Erasmus+ GITA Project from 2017 to 2021 (Grant value: €998,732) The three corners of the triangular approach involved: 1) embedding entrepreneurship in all study programme curricula design, 2) the development of university-enterprise collaboration to gain applied knowledge, and 3) developing enterprise incubation capacity.

Impact is seen at three levels, all directed at entrepreneurship development at the national governmental level coordinated through the Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology (now the Ministry of Education and Higher Education); at the HEI (university) level has seen as significant structural organisational changes, engagement with external partners, mapping entrepreneurial learning outcomes and the development of three specific competences (initiative taking, understanding resources, and idea exploitation) at the study programme level; and with start-up enterprise incubation activity supported by external partners.

The Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology, responsible for developing national education policy with regard to human capacity building, as well the provision of funding for entrepreneurial activity, has endorsed the significant gains made from the coordinated approach by implementing the GITA triangular methodology. Engaging academics, students, and both commercial and social enterprises had gained a significant impact.

Impact at the institutional level for Indonesian universities is gained by creating career-ready students with entrepreneurship embedded in their studies, enterprise creation as part of their undergraduate learning and new Growth Hub resources created in 2018 for enterprise and start-up incubation, overseen with engagement with external partners.

The entrepreneurship learning gained from the triangular approach has had a direct impact in enterprise creation and development for student entrepreneurs, alumni and local businesses. To date there are 112 new start-up enterprises with a combined annual turnover (2019) Rp115.3bn (£6.5m) working through the seven Indonesian partner HEI Growth Hubs reported in the GITA portal. The Growth Hub acts as a dedicated resource to access skills, knowledge and competences for students and academic staff involved in enterprise creation e.g. marketing and industrial internships, and from alumni, external partners, and providers e.g. identifying prospective customers, possible funding opportunities, and business network development.