Academy of Business and Enterprise looks to the future of the Birmingham's success
Sep 2 2009 by Alun Thorne, Birmingham Post
The new Metropolitan Academy of Business and Enterprise which will form part of the new Birmingham Metropolitan College is the first of its kind anywhere in the country. Head of Business Alun Thorne spoke to those behind the initiative and found out how the region’s businesses are the key to its future success.
The new Birmingham Metropolitan College will welcome thousands of students through its doors this term and for at least 40 of them it could be their first step towards business success.
The 40 students will be the first intake at the Academy – a new initiative at the college aimed at providing a unique business-focused education for a specially selected group of would-be entrepreneurs.
The initiative, which is the first enterprise-focused educational establishment to be granted Academy status, is the brainchild of Debbie West, the current head of the college’s Business School, and she said the new Academy is not about finding the most academically gifted students but nurturing those with an early passion for business.
She said: “This is not about students with 10 straight As. These students just need five Cs with English and maths but they have to be passionate and committed – we are looking at finding the future Birmingham Young professionals of the Year.”
The 40 students who have all received scholarships to the Academy have already been through a rigorous selection process and Ms West said they were desperately trying to break the mould of “white middle-class males” who traditionally dominate the business world. She said the college’s ethos was to offer opportunities to young people with the right attributes who may not have been able to access them previously.
She said: “In the first intake we have a young Latvian as well as somebody who is quite dyslexic, but what they all share is a huge amount of passion and spirit.”
The Academy, which is being funded through the Business School, a government funding stream called Aim Higher and Advantage West Midlands, has joined forces with some of the biggest business names in the region to offer six-week internships for each of the students as well as mentors who will guide and motivate the students.
