SurreyIDEA officially launched
Surrey Business School’s ground-breaking new Surrey Innovation and Digital Enterprise Academy, SurreyIDEA, has now launched. This pioneering academy is the first of its kind in Europe, providing a novel and progressive learning experience which enables students to gain valuable skills in an interactive format.
Programmes will be delivered at undergraduate (2 year programme) and postgraduate level (1 year programme) and you’ll be one of just 20-25 students on your course, working intensively in small groups, they’ll become your friends for life, as well as potential future business partners. Plus, you’ll have support from your tutors after you leave, as part of our investment in your business idea.
SurreyIDEA is inspired by, and developed from, our highly successful Young Person’s University programme, which we’ve run here at the Surrey Business School every July since 2015. The 30-40 Year 12 and 13 students who attend each year are bright, motivated and often incredibly entrepreneurial, but many don’t come from traditional university-going backgrounds, so are dropping out of the system after A-levels. We think this is a terrible waste, so we give them a chance to see if university really is for them. After a week with us, most go on to apply to university – and usually get in.
This initiative is being led by Professor Andy Adcroft, Head of School, William Lanham-New, Programme Director, Gavin Whichello, established entrepreneur & Visiting Professor and Donna Shanks, SurreyIDEA Manager.
Founder and Head of the School, Professor Andy Adcroft, said:
"We want to create a new generation of digital entrepreneurs that we call the Disrupters, the people that will transform the way we learn and get noticed in a less conventional way. University should be a life changing experience, if you leave the same person you were when you arrived, we have done it wrong.
I know what it is to be met by a preconceived opinion based on my postal code, it’s an unfair judgement and doesn’t reflect the individual’s capabilities and strengths. This must change. Equality of opportunity should be a running theme in all areas of education and business to prevent the distance between the wealthy and poor from increasing further, and SurreyIDEA aims to help encourage this.”
Find out more at surreyidea.co.uk
