Embrace a change to higher education

The pandemic has sparked an entrepreneurial revolution as the business sector has adapted to consumers’ rapidly changing needs, with nearly half a million businesses launched in the UK between March and December last year.

This national surge of entrepreneurs — enabled by ongoing technological development, together with a national shortage in practical skills — begs one to question whether the traditional university route will best prepare our young people for their future careers.

There will undoubtedly always be an important place for traditional university degrees but a blinkered focus on this as the only viable option for further education will, I believe, disadvantage career and earning potential in the future. Recent statistics are already showing this.

Alternatives to traditional university courses, such as apprenticeships with companies including PwC, Deloitte and JP Morgan, together with really interesting degree apprenticeships now being offered by universities, should be taken seriously.

It is the responsibility of schools to ensure that our students (and their parents) embrace these new opportunities and make the right decisions for higher education within a landscape that will undoubtedly continue to change.

It is an exciting time to be preparing the next generation for the world of work and at Benenden we are committed to being at the forefront of this.

Entrepreneurship, digital, technological and practical skills are something we have deliberately embedded throughout our curriculum in recent years. This starts with the Year 7 pupils taking part in the 10X Challenge, which is aimed at developing an enterprising mindset, and runs through to every Sixth Former participating in the Professional Skills Programme, which teaches valuable skills for the workplace and life and which includes the annual Enterprise Challenge in which teams of students compete to run the most successful business.

Earlier this year, we were delighted to trial a pioneering new enterprise award from tech entrepreneur and Benenden alumnus Amber Atherton. Amber began her career while still at Benenden, founding an online jewellery business in the Sixth Form computer room in the noughties. Now based in Silicon Valley, she hopes to inspire the next generation of female entrepreneurs by rolling out this award across the UK.

The inaugural Atherton Award went to a Sixth Former for her incredible efforts to launch a non-profit organisation called STEM in Africa which serves disadvantaged communities in Nigeria. Other submissions included a 15-yearold who founded her own company selling hand-block printed wrap skirts and a girl who started her own micro-bakery aged 13.

Reading the submissions for this year’s Atherton Award made me incredibly proud that we have so many young women putting into effect what they have learned and taking a risk to set up their own enterprises and charitable endeavours.

The entrepreneurial revolution is here to stay — we need to make sure this generation are ready for it at school and in their higher education choices.