When UTS graduates Samuel Hordern and Ajay Bhatia gave a combined $125,000 to UTS Startups, they had no idea their gift would go on to transform the future of entrepreneurship education in Australia.
But that’s exactly what it did.
In the four years since, their donation of $125,000 has unlocked $1.85 million in additional funding and built one of Australia’s largest school entrepreneurship programs – providing tens of thousands of students across Australia with entrepreneurship inspiration and education.
Empowering the next generation
Called UTS Startups @ School, this singular education experience is designed to get students in years 9 and 10 thinking about technology-enabled entrepreneurship at a crucial time when career choices are being made.
Since 2021, UTS Startups @ School has reached over 25,000 high school students. And it comes not a moment too soon – in a global landscape where technology is driving rapid change, today’s students will likely enter a world of work that looks vastly different to that of the last few decades.
The goal of UTS Startups @ School is to prepare students to think beyond traditional employment pathways, and to create their own way of working using the opportunities technology provides today.
From philanthropic gift to an education movement
The early stages of UTS Startups @ School were focused on in-school visits led by UTS Startups founders. The impact and momentum of the program quickly led to $500,000 in NSW Government funding to expand the program’s reach.
But this was just the beginning, with the program going on to secure a further $1 million in NSW Government funding to implement a new approach to entrepreneurship education, set to become a NESA-approved Year 11 entrepreneurship subject, delivered to 100 NSW schools in 2026.
Laying the foundations for future success
The vision of UTS alumni, Samuel Hordern and Ajay Bhatia, was the catalyst for a paradigm shift in entrepreneurship education.
“If you’re giving a gift to get a program off the ground, supporting an organisation with entrepreneurship experience like UTS makes sense,” says Ajay Bhatia, CEO of mobile.de, Germany’s largest vehicle market.
As a graduate of the university, it’s a privilege to leverage my own success to potentially lay the foundations for someone else’s.
Image caption: A high school student in the UTS Startups @ School program speaking at the 2024 Startup Summit event at the International Convention Centre, Sydney.
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