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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to obtain a shared understanding of entrepreneurship education and to evaluate the effectiveness of employability and enterprise division in current fashion courses and amongst the students between a British and a Chinese university (UClan and SCAU). Design/methodology/approach – It is a three-stage action-oriented PMI2 project (Second Prime Minister's Initiative for International Education) in fashion entrepreneurship, which was funded by the British Council. This paper presents the findings of the first stage of the research project. A combination of literature reviews, participant observation, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were employed to deliver the results at this stage. Findings – The findings represent similarities and differences between UClan and SCAU related to enterprise entrepreneurship education: identify rationale of evaluating fashion entrepreneurship education; and clarify a shared understanding of entrepreneurship education and the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness. Research limitations/implications – Due to geographical restrictions and limited resources, smaller-scale samples were selected to gain a deeper insight into different approaches to fashion enterprise and entrepreneurship education between UClan and SCAU. Practical implications – This research will be valuable to academics who wish to develop or enhance fashion entrepreneurship education, in particular with regards to forging links between universities in the UK and China. Social implications – This paper will increase awareness of fashion entrepreneurship amongst students, graduates and academics. Originality/value – This research contributes to the current knowledge and best practice of fashion entrepreneurship education.