Photo caption: Bridging together. Business leaders on the right and students and teachers on the left are bridged together by council leaders Mick Henry (left) and Nick Forbes as they sign the Young Enterprise ‘Build a Bridge Charter’.
TODAY, (25.05.11) young people across the region joined thousands of other youngsters around the country to launch the Young Enterprise ‘Build a Bridge’ Charter, which calls on local businesses, government and educational establishments to recognise the importance of enterprise education for every young person in Britain.
Students from Walker Technology College and Tyne Metropolitan College gathered on the Gateshead Millenium Bridge to launch the Charter in the North East. They were joined by business leaders Bill Midgley OBE, leading financier Peter Wagstaff from Coutts Bank, Newcastle City Council leader, Councillor Nick Forbes and leader of Gateshead Council, Councillor Mick Henry who were there to support the initiative.
Young Enterprise believes that bringing teachers, employers and employees together with young people to share their skills will help inspire them to become the future business leaders, entrepreneurs and enterprising employees of tomorrow. The Charter calls for action now to equip the next generation with the skills to compete globally and drive the UK’s economic growth in the future.
Young Enterprise director Catherine Marchant said: “It’s vital that young people have the the enterprise and entrepreneurial skills to drive our economic growth as well as to stand out in a very competitive market place and ensure they succeed in the workplace. To do this, we need to work together to build relationships between education and business and we need the Government to help facilitate this.
“This Charter is all about building bridges. We need to bridge the gap in enterprise education in schools by making it a part of the curriculum. We need to build bridges between young people and the business community by encouraging skilled employees to volunteer their time to teach young people about key business and entrepreneurial skills through hands-on experience. Finally, we need to help young people successfully cross the bridge between education and work.”
The Charter aims to help employers dedicate 10,000 voluntary days to enterprise education during 2011/12 and for 500 schools, colleges and universities to commit to a dramatic increase in their employer engagement during 2011/12.
Antony Josephs commercial services partner at Gosforth-based accountancy firm RMT said: “I am ploughing my support behind the Young Enterprise Charter as I strongly believe that only by bringing business and schools together can we help equip young people to be leaders of the future and help to drive economic recovery.”
Young Enterprise will also deliver the Charter to the Government at a Westminster reception to be held in October.
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