Problem Solving based on Creativity in the UK - Essay Example

?Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise in Markets Table of Contents Introduction 3 2. Industry Analysis 4 3. UK Universities- Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise 5 3.1 Learning Based on Problem Solving Activities 6 3.2 Problem Solving based on Creativity 7 3.3 Employability 7 4. Conclusion 9 5. References 10 1. Introduction The report is based upon the concept and importance of innovation, creativity and enterprise in a particular industry chosen for the study. The objective of this report is to conduct an analysis of the various principles and practices that are undertaken in the selected industry as regards to the application of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial traits. The industry that has been selected for fulfilling the objective of this study report is that of the universities in the UK. The report will be composite of the selected university analysis so that the relevance of the selected study can be established. The most essential sector of the report will be composite of evaluating the various approaches being followed in the UK universities for the effective utilisation of the concept of innovation, creativity and enterprise. The report, at the end, will draw up essential conclusion regarding the key issues being identified from the entire survey with respect to the concepts. 2. Industry Analysis The industry consisting of the various universities in the UK offers the most valuable services to the people not only within the local region but also to the people all around the world. The UK universities are open to students coming from all around the world with the required skills and potentials demanded by the universities. The industry players or the number of universities in the UK are all concentrated on providing quality education to the students with proper assurance and dignity. The universities conduct routine analysis of the various courses that they offer so as to making sure that the form of education that they offer are up-to-date and essential for the betterment of the students. The UK is considered to be holding the most capacity to attract international students among the western countries of the world. Although seven European countries have been identified to be placing stiff competition to the UK’s position, the extremely competitive advantageous position of the UK with respect to providing education to the international students have assisted this country to remain at the topmost position. Autonomy, funding, staffing of international students and assistance of the funding council are the four most advantages of the universities in the UK (Becker & Et. Al., 2009). However, in the future, the competition within the UK universities will increase since the recession has put a triggering blow upon the people striving for application for achieving degree from the UK universities. During September 2009, 465,000 people had applied for the acquisition of degree (Curtis, 2009). 3. UK Universities- Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise Innovation, creativity and enterprise are the traits that the European countries like that of the UK aim to foster among the people. The universities have been evaluated to be the best source through which these traits can be injected into the students or the prospective future entrepreneurs. The UK universities follow a number of principles, practices and processes for creating the entrepreneurial mindsets among the students. In this section of the report, the analysis of those principles, processes and practices will be undertaken so as to evaluate their effectiveness. The various noteworthy universities in the UK have adopted the process of innovative learning through creative thinking in order to develop upon the characteristics of an entrepreneur among their students. The practices undertaken within the universities are composed of various policies and guidelines for carrying out innovation management and enterprise skill development among others. The practices handle the several societal, economical, entrepreneurial and managerial dimensions of the technologies related to communication as well as information and take into consideration their important impacts upon the society. The UK universities think critically of the various implemented practices of innovation, creativity and enterprise with respect to the various dimensional consequences that these can bring about within the society and hence plays an important role within the various communities where it serves (Newcastle University, 2011). With regards to the notions that are followed throughout the universities in the UK, the following practices have been found to be indispensable. 3.1 Learning Based on Problem Solving Activities In order to be creative, the students should be in a position to spot the problematic areas and derive solutions for those problems. Since the beginning of the decade of 1970s, throughout every corner of the world, the various universities have begun to explore and in a number of occasions, adopted problem based learning tools (PBL). These forms of learning provide guidance to the students through engaging them in learning activities where they are to deal with complex organizational issues through case studies. The students work with the problems depicted within the case studies and explore their knowledge intermingled with skills in order to identify prospective solutions for the problems. In successfully handling the problems within the case studies, the students should have to utilise relevant resources required for generating the solution. The students are required to possess efficient abilities of demonstrating skills and expertise through competent communication process both verbally as well as in the written format (Allen & Et. Al., 2001). The students or the learners who take active participation in the process of problem based learning are evaluated on the basis of their attitudes, talents and knowledge. Various integrated tasks are followed for assessing the abilities of the students in the process of solving problems. It has been found that the students who gather skills through problem based learning processes can better solve problematic situations within the organizations during their later stages of life. This practice of the universities is essential from the perspective of the modern day organisations as they search for employees who can think critically and derive effective solutions to the problems (Major & Palmer, 2001). 3.2 Problem Solving based on Creativity Problem solving activities on the basis of creativity is another version of the previous practice described as this is also based on finding solutions to problems. The variation is this case is that the students are presented with certain real life problems, the solutions to which are expected from the innovative thinking of the students. The decisive preliminary step of the students in this case is to identify the problems in the real life situations being provided to them. The most advantageous feature of this practice is that the students are made to feel that the presented problem is their own and when they feel so, the urge to solve that problem grows stronger with due course of time (Boomstrom, 2005). The creative problem solving practice should, however, be carried out with the following up of certain systematic steps: mess finding, data finding, problem finding, idea finding, solution finding and acceptance finding (Kowalik & Mitchell, 1999). The practice is considered to be extremely advantageous because it makes the students to think and ask questions and challenge various issues and critically analyse every issue for selecting the one best solution among several options (Craft, 2005). Since it is not possible to anticipate what sort of knowledge will be essential for the students, it is measured to be more effective to prepare the students to be ready to learn every trait of creative thinking in their student levels’ studies (Holt, 1965). 3.3 Employability Employability is such a skill among the people that assists them in not only acquiring employment within an organization but also grow within the organizations and contribute towards the strategic moves of the organizations. The employers across various sectors around the world have seldom complained that the impending employees lack adequate personal skills along with behaviours and attitudes. The absence of these traits debars the employees to achieve success within the organizations (Deloitte, 2009). Thus, from the context of the employers along with the various universities in the UK, the factor of employability has to be instigated among the students in order to make them comprehensively skilled and knowledgeable for the entire world (Knight & Yorke, 2006). It has been found to be essential for the universities in the entire world that they derive the best possible way for their students in order develop all entrepreneurial traits. The universities should be able to depict the exact process through which the students can develop every traits of becoming successful in their working life in the organizations (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2009). The universities in the UK strive for generating the urge among their students in order to remain employable throughout their life (Winter, 1995). The challenges of the modern environment are vast different from the past and at present, the skills of remaining competitive throughout the life should be instilled among the people from their student life (Covey, 2004). 4. Conclusion From the discussion undertaken about the various practices, processes and methods being followed by the universities in the UK for generating innovativeness, creativeness and entrepreneurial traits among the students, the universities have been found to be effective in the context of the modern environment. The report suggested that innovation and creativeness are such traits that have to be developed among the people right in there student life and hence the universities play tremendous role in this aspect. The universities in the UK have been evaluated to be utilising various tools and practices for instigating the traits among their students. The evaluation of the practices and methods applied by the universities for providing knowledge and learning to their students provided the basis of stating the practices to be effective. 5. References Allen, E. & Et. AL., 2001. The Power of Problem Based Learning. Stylus Publishing LLC. Becker, R. & Et. Al., 2009. UK Universities and Europe: Competition and Internationalisation. Resources. [Online] Available at: http://www.international.ac.uk/resources/UK%20Universities%20and%20Europe%20Competition%20and%20Internationalisation.pdf [Accessed October 31, 2011]. Boomstrom, R., 2005. Thinking, New York. Teachers College Press. Craft, A., 2005. Creativity in Schools: Tensions and Dilemmas. Routledge. Covey, S., 2004. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Simon & Schuster UK Ltd. Curtis, P., 2009. Universities Warn of Stiff Competition as Recession Prompts Big Rise in Applications. The Guardian. [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/16/university-applications-recession [Accessed October 31, 2011]. Deloitte, 2009. Employability Skills - About the employability initiative. Employability. [Online] Available at: http://www.deloitte.co.uk/employability [Accessed October 31, 2011]. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2009. Higher Ambitions – The Future of Universities in a Knowledge Economy. Publications. [Online] Available at: http://www.bis.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/publications/Higher-Ambitions.pdf [Accessed October 31, 2011]. Holt, J., 1965. How Children Fail. New York, Dell. Knight, P. & Yorke, M., 2006. Embedding Employability into the Curriculum. York: HEA. Kowalik, T. & Mitchell, W., 1999. Creative Problem Solving. Directorates. [Online] Available at: http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/sgc/learning/Resources/Managingstress/Filetoupload,119297,en.pdf [Accessed October 31, 2011]. Major, C. & Palmer, B., 2001. Assessing the Effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning in Higher Education. Lessons from the Literature Academic Exchange Quarterly, 5(1). Newcastle University, 2011. Centre for Knowledge, Innovation, Technology and Enterprise. KITE. [Online] Available at: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/kite/ [Accessed October 31, 2011]. Universities UK, 2008. Quality and Standards in UK Universities: A Guide to How the System Works. Understanding the Sector. [Online] Available at: http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/44806UniUK_guide_lores.pdf [Accessed October 31, 2011]. Winter, J., 1995. Skills for Graduates in the 21st Century. Cambridge: AGR. Read More