Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, recently unveiled plans for setting up the United Kingdom’s first ever enterprise education school. The said school is expected to be officially launched next year.
The UK government will launch about 11 Enterprise Summer School pathfinders in all of the regions in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The school is scheduled to begin admitting students by the summer of 2006, the chancellor revealed.
The initial schools will then be monitored and evaluated in preparation for a national rollout in 2007.
The pathfinders are also expected to test different residential and non-residential models. The pathfinders will be focusing their attention on individual development of attitudes and qualities that are beneficial for enterprise, as well as in forming and operating a business.
It is estimated that about 600 students from the ages of 14 to 16 will take part in the test run scheduled for next summer. Among the pioneering students’ tasks will be to interact with local business leaders, teachers and enterprise advisers that deal with various entrepreneurial activities.
In a talk he recently gave in Manchester, Chancellor Brown expressed hope that the schools will be a big help to young people who have the ideas, energy and talents that are very vital in realising their ambitions and eventually become the next generation of successful British entrepreneurs.
Brown also said that his Pre-Budget Report, which is due to be released next month, will be a vehicle for announcing further measures that are expected to boost Britain’s enterprise culture.