Empowering careers professionals in enterprise and entrepreneurship

New research highlights the barriers affecting careers professionals' confidence in entrepreneurship support and how targeted training can strengthen capability

As universities increasingly promote entrepreneurial thinking and self-employment as graduate pathways, careers professionals are taking on a growing role in supporting enterprise and entrepreneurship. However, many are expected to provide guidance in this area despite limited formal training.

Drawing on survey and focus group data, this report examines the barriers practitioners face and explores how targeted professional development can strengthen confidence and capability.

Key findings

• Careers professionals are increasingly expected to support students exploring enterprise, entrepreneurship, freelancing, and self-employment pathways within higher education.
• Despite this growing responsibility, confidence levels remain low, with many practitioners reporting limited knowledge, training, and practical experience in entrepreneurship education.
• The main barriers identified were lack of time, limited resources, competing institutional priorities, and uncertainty around enterprise-related language and terminology.
• Practitioners were most confident in signposting students to external support networks, but less confident in advising on business planning, self-employment, and entrepreneurial activity directly.
• Focus group findings highlighted that entrepreneurship is often perceived as linked primarily to business schools and start-up culture, creating barriers for practitioners working in other disciplines.
• Participants expressed a strong preference for short, accessible, practice-focused, and flexible online training resources that could easily fit within existing workloads.
• Early evaluation of the prototype training materials suggested that concise, modular resources improved practitioners' conceptual understanding, confidence, and ability to engage in enterprise-related guidance conversations.
• The findings demonstrate the importance of targeted professional development in strengthening careers practitioners' capability to support entrepreneurial graduate pathways across higher education.

About the report

This Jisc-funded research explores the growing role of careers professionals in supporting enterprise and entrepreneurship education within higher education.

The project addresses the following research questions:

1. What are the key barriers faced by careers professionals in fostering enterprise and entrepreneurial confidence in students?
2. How can targeted training materials enhance the confidence and effectiveness of careers professionals?

The study used a mixed-methods approach, including a survey of 92 careers professionals, which examined responsibilities, confidence levels, and perceived knowledge gaps in entrepreneurship support.

The findings then informed the development of four prototype training resources for careers practitioners, including short explainer videos, key concept summaries, and practical guidance tools designed for use in one-to-one guidance and employability programmes.