Teacher Feature – Professor Prem Kumar tells us how he’s enterprising

Professor Prem Kumar is the Director of Education in the College of Medical and Dental Sciences and also Director for the Institute of Clinical Sciences. The B-Enterprising team went along to find out how he brings enterprise into his work.

What does the term "enterprising" mean to you?

‘I guess enterprising can mean a lot of things. For me, it means having a sense of self direction. It means to be able to pursue a task, either that I have developed myself or a task which has been ascribed to me and working out the best way to achieve the aim’. ‘In a way, it’s about taking a brief and making the best you can from it.’

I’d often describe enterprise as using one’s initiative and driving change. How do you do this in your work?

‘My day to day work as a Director is about supporting other people which requires me to translate my tasks and the things I need to do into things other people can do’. ‘For me to be enterprising, being self-directed is crucial. It doesn’t always have to drive significant change; incremental change is also part of what we do. It is also about working within a huge complex system as we do at a University, and understanding how all the various components work together’.

How would you encourage students to be more enterprising at University?

‘I think the key must be that students have to make the transition from school to university where the onus is much more on the individual to take control of their future. Whilst you may have a certain number of students on a programme or a module, the outcomes for all of those students can be very different depending on how they pursue their interests and how they choose to allocate their time’.

‘I would encourage students to take every opportunity that there is to explore the subject that they’re studying. Also to look extra-curricular for other things that interest them, to become more proficient and to be challenged - because these are the things that will develop the skills you need for the challenges ahead.’

‘For me, students becoming enterprising is really the key to university’.

A big thank you to Prem for sharing his thoughts and insights. It’s evident that the enterprising skills Professor Kumar has developed and nurtured over the years are continuing to help him and the success in his work today.

Rachel Kahn,
Student PR Team