UWTSD shortlisted as Entrepreneurial University of the Year Award Finalist

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) has been shortlisted as an Entrepreneurial University of the Year finalist at the 2022 European Triple E Awards.

The University is committed to developing the entrepreneurial and creative skills of its students and graduates as a key planning principle and such skills are embedded in our programmes.

The Triple E Awards are a global recognition of efforts towards the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education. Implemented regionally, the Triple E Awards aim to foster change in universities and to emphasize their role in their communities and ecosystems.

The Entrepreneurial University of the Year Award recognises an institution that has designed and delivered an exceptional approach to embed entrepreneurship throughout the university. The institution has developed its own unique understanding of what it means for the institution to be entrepreneurial, aligned with the environment the institution operates in. Entrepreneurship is at the heart of the institution not only nurtured among staff and students, but the institution itself also acts entrepreneurially and positively impacts a wide range of stakeholders.

Dr Kathryn Penaluna, Associate Professor in Enterprise Education and the Director of the International Institute for Creative Entrepreneurial Development (IICED) said: “We entered the competition as part of our 200-year celebration, as our founders were clearly entrepreneurial. Our record of graduate start-ups is consistently amongst the highest in UK statistics, and their survivability over 3 years is currently the top in the UK.

"To back this up, our research in education that develops creative innovative thinkers has just been celebrated through our REF results, and our international reach through projects led by IICED has led to significant international recognition. UWTSD therefore covers all the bases of the award’s criteria, so what a time to celebrate.”

Dr Mirjam Plantinga, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic Experience said: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted as Entrepreneurial University of the Year. We feel this recognises our offer of educational programmes that develop entrepreneurial and creative skills, enabling learners to have the best opportunities to gain employment and to contribute to the prosperity of their communities.”

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) ranked UWTSD in 2019-2020 as: 

#1 in UK for start-ups that are still active after 3-years.

#2 in the UK for total number of active firms.

#9 in UK for total number employed in graduate start-ups.

IICED is an acknowledged world leader in developing future-proof types of education that help learners to succeed. They offer a range of support for fledgling businesses, most of which are inspired by, and designed in collaboration with, these entrepreneurial alumni. Supported by Welsh Government and their Big Ideas Wales initiative, it is a powerful mix.

Commenting on the announcement, Professor David A Kirby, founder of the University Spinout Company, Harmonious Entrepreneurship Ltd said: “This is very timely and much deserved recognition for the University. Over the past forty years or more it has, through its three campuses, pioneered entrepreneurship not just in Wales but internationally. It has done so quietly and effectively and continues do so by not only supporting the Welsh Government’s ambitious plans for the well-being of the country’s future generations, but by continuously researching and introducing new initiatives that lead the development of the subject internationally.”

Further Information

Rebecca Davies

Swyddog Gweithredol Cysylltiadau â’r Wasg a’r Cyfryngau

Executive Press and Media Relations Officer

Cyfathrebu Corfforaethol a Chysylltiadau Cyhoeddus

Corporate Communications and PR

Mobile: 07384 467071

Email: Rebecca.Davies@uwtsd.ac.uk