Alumni-Reported Employability Competency Development in a Higher-Education Enterprise Programme: Young Enterprise Start Up (2021)

Enterprise education in higher education is often justified through claims about employability and transferable competency development; however, programme evidence is commonly based on small evaluations and post-participation self-reports. This article reports indicative findings from a small, self-selected alumni survey (n = 40) examining the perceived competency development associated with participation in the Young Enterprise Start Up Programme. Alumni rated the perceived programme impact across 11 competencies using a four-point scale (not at all, minor extent, moderate extent, and great extent) and identified the single competency they felt was most impacted. Across most competencies, responses clustered in the upper bands, with the strongest perceived impacts being organisational competence, communication, problem solving, confidence, teamwork, and working responsibly. Financial capability was the clear outlier, with responses concentrated to a minor extent and with zero selections as the single greatest impact competency. A brief free-text component (positive and negative aspects) helps interpret the quantitative profile, highlighting confidence gains linked to public-facing tasks, alongside pressures associated with time compression and uneven contribution in teams. The findings are framed as perceived developmental contributions rather than measured skill changes and are used to derive practical implications for programme design and evidence-aligned claims-making. The findings should be read as cohort-specific perceptions rather than generalisable effects.