Andy Penaluna, a professor of Creative Entrepreneurship at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), has been recognised for his UK-wide contribution to business and enterprise skills by being awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion.

The Queen’s Awards scheme is regarded as the most prestigious business awards in the county and this year marks its 50^th anniversary. The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion is presented to people who have played an outstanding role in promoting enterprise skills and attitudes.

The accolade comes six months after Professor Penaluna won the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs and the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative Enterprise Educators Award at the House of Lords.

Professor Penaluna has made enterprise a valuable and significant part of the educational curriculum with UWTSD being the first in the UK to offer a fully validated PGCE/PCET teacher training module in entrepreneurship education.

Professor Penaluna’s dedication to furthering enterprise in education means he is now working closely with Welsh and UK Governments and advising the European Commission and the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development on enterprise education policy. He has also recently co-authored a report calling for better entrepreneurial skills at all levels of education from primary school through to retirement.

Professor Penaluna said: “Receiving this award on its 50^th anniversary is an incredible honour. What makes it especially so is the support that I have received over the past 30 years from past students. They have passed on their stories and guided us toward more meaningful types of study, ones that are relevant to the world of work and enterprise.

“UWTSD is a special place to work as it has embraced this thinking and included it in its teacher training courses, so that learning to be enterprising becomes an integral part of teaching in Wales and beyond.”

UWTSD has taken a global lead on innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship education. It has challenged many theories of business education and informed the international entrepreneurial community on approaches for engaging and enhancing creativity in an enterprise context. The University has spearheaded international efforts to find new ways of supporting students and to equip them for the 21^st century working environment, where flexibility and adaptability will be key skills.

As a result of its work in this field, UWTSD has become one of the best higher education institutions in the country for producing successful graduate start-up businesses.

In 2014, the University contributed to a major UK Government report, on behalf of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Micro Businesses, which recognised the key role entrepreneurs’ play in the drive for growth, and which looked at the effectiveness of our education system in supporting our entrepreneurs.

The United Nations’ Chief of Entrepreneurship, Fiorina Mugione, recently chose UWTSD to support the UN’s Empretec programme, which inspires entrepreneurs in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

The University’s track record involves significant contributions to major reports relating to enterprise and entrepreneurship education across the UK. This included The Wilson Review of Business-University Collaboration and the Quality Assurance Agency’s (QAA) Guidelines for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education, which UWTSD chaired.

Professor Penaluna is Director of the globally approved International Institute for Creative Entrepreneurial Development (IICED).

IICED, based at UWTSD in Swansea, is an international focal point which brings together a distinguished group of international experts in entrepreneurial education to engage in high-level discussions and to consider global perspectives that can impact, or have impacted, on policy-making. The Institute’s aim is to inform international best practice in enterprise, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial teaching, learning and evaluation.

In recent months, Professor Penaluna has entered a period of significant engagement across Europe helping to craft the development of enterprise and entrepreneurship education throughout the continent.

He has;

• Led the development of new compulsory entrepreneurial education for the Republic of Macedonia
• Provided expert advice for the EU’s SephHE project on best practice / supporting potential for entrepreneurial education in higher education (Wupertal, Germany)
• Provided expert advice for the EU’s new competence framework for entrepreneurial education (Seville, Spain)