Entrepreneurial and business education
The strength of virtually any national economy will be reflected in the durability of its Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The growth of indigenous businesses is especially important for countries with a youthful population – countries like Egypt and Nigeria, where the development of entrepreneurial skills is essential, a priority that could provide opportunities for partner schools running the right kind of specialised programmes in the UK already.
Low-cost hybrid programmes
UK partner schools have been reluctant to position themselves to meet the growing demand for low-cost international education. This might be about to change. Hybrid education, in which a potential UK partner school may have developed a special expertise in recent years, might have rather different applications in a developing economy, where the majority of the population cannot afford a full international education. Online enrichment and weekend classes embedded in a newly-founded premium school might open pathways for many, while helping to identify talented students who could qualify for scholarships and bursaries to help them attend the school as a full-time student.
Greater variety
The predominant 3 – 18 broad-based partner school is not going to disappear. Far from it. However, greater variety is likely and partner schools from the UK, the Americas and Australasia are certain to play an important role as these trends evolve.
And there is one other advantage in developing a specialist proposition: it may help to focus the search for a new partner, which in turn brings us back to solving the question of ‘where’?