As I write this post, I write it with much hesitation and mixed emotions because of the turmoil that is occurring in South African Higher Education at this moment. It’s hard to be upbeat about an education trip when Higher Education is in such a state of unrest! As a provider of educational services, this makes for a very troubled and introspective time for both myself and my organization.

Most people with whom I have spoken about the fees-must-fall protests have assumed that we AdvantageLearn.com, as providers of education services, and as a for-profit education company must be delighting in the protest! We are deeply saddened by these sentiments and could not be more in conflict with our core mission as an organization. We, Advantage Learn, want to help enable the best education for every South African! And this means a stable and robust public education system that benefits all South Africans no matter their background, history, creed or ability.

AdvantageLearn.com exists to help fill some of the critical gaps that exist in the public education system, and there will always be gaps because education is not a one-size-fits-all model! Humans are different, and thus the way we learn and teach must be appropriate for all. An accessible and relevant education that allows children to become the best global citizens they can be is a mission I believe in and agonize over every day.

On the 22nd of August, I (James) received a mail from Nic Spaull Nic blog’s here suggesting I apply to be part of a trip for for-profit education entrepreneurs from South Africa that is run by En-Novate and Investec. more here.

Nic is one of the most respected minds in South African education at the moment, and, in my opinion, one of the major thought leaders. I have major respect for Nic and the sterling work he does and so naturally when I get an email from Nic I sit up and take note of it.

The trip plans to take for-profit, South African education entrepreneurs to Helsinki, Finland to learn from Finnish educational organizations and educators as well as connect with them. The goal of the En-novate program is to expose entrepreneurs first-hand to the Finnish approach to education, entrepreneurship, and technology.

After receiving the mail from Nic, I applied and was fortunate enough to make it through the rounds of interviews and to be selected as one of the scholarship candidates to participate on the trip.

We leave tomorrow (19 October 2016) for Helsinki at 11:30 pm CAT and I feel honoured to be representing my team and organization.

I will be documenting my trip every day to try and record my experiences, thoughts, and learnings and so I will be posting every day about my trip under some broad headings:
– what I did
– who I met
– what I learnt
– my thoughts

So here goes, some well needed international education experience. A big thank you to Investec and En-novate for putting this trip together and helping entrepreneurs in RSA. As an entrepreneur, I (we) appreciate it.