Could self-employment become a genuine option for new graduates in the UK? Are there opportunities for bright young people to stay in their communities and plug the gap created by a shrinking public sector?
Promoting resilience, self-reliance, innovation and ingenuity; putting students in charge of their own learning – that’s the aim of Akatemia CIC, a not-for-profit company formed to bring a radical approach to business education from its heartland in Finland into the UK. It’s called Team Academy and it has a simple philosophy: Learning to work entails working to learn.
The results in Finland have been impressive.
In 2009, 91% of students were in employment within six months of graduating. Typically almost half of all graduates go on to run their own businesses.
In Jyväskylä the results have been impressive. In 2009/10 the 200 Team Academy students generated turnover of €1.5million and paid taxes of €330,000 – almost half the cost of running the programme.