Industry leaders gather to upskill next-gen innovators
More than 300 high school students from across QLD and northern-NSW will workshop Australia’s most in-demand skills for jobs of the future when they meet in Brisbane for the QUT Future You Summit.
The group of Year 11 and 12 students – who have been selected from metro and regional schools for their academic and future-ready potential – will join industry and academic experts in science, business and creative industries for the annual QUT Future You Summit.
Rashan Senanayake, CEO of Inspired Education Australia; Rowena Barrett, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Entrepreneurship; and Damián Cardona Onsés, Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Canberra, are part of the lineup of leading minds selected to share their knowledge, skills and first-hand on-the-job experience with students.
“Data science and digital communication, robotics, materials science, health care design and delivery have all been identified as some of Australia’s most in-demand fields for future growth, and as these industries continue to change at a rapid pace, it’s imperative that our future workforce is prepared,” QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Sheil AO said.
“This future-ready workforce is exactly what we’re looking to unlock with the 2024 Summit. By providing these high school students with first-hand insight into the most applicable careers for our current and future industries, we’re both supporting their individual career pathways and our wider workforce preparedness.”
Students will be grouped into different streams based on their interests, with all addressing specific industry needs, like business innovation, AI and leading technologies and creative thinking.
Kirwan State High School Student, Tara Budai, is travelling from Townsville to Brisbane for the Summit where she’ll learn about advertising, fashion and industrial design.
“Choosing your whole career path at 17 can be extremely daunting, particularly when moving away from home for uni, so I’m excited to learn from some of the most successful minds in Australia, get a taste for what university is really like and most importantly, know which skills I should be focused on to prepare for future jobs,” Tara said.
The spotlight will also be on upskilling students from regional areas to support greater opportunities outside of metro areas, which QUT Pro Vice-Chancellor of Entrepreneurship and Regional Innovation, Professor Rowena Barrett, says is imperative to ensuring a more diverse entrepreneurial future.
“This year over a quarter of our attending students (27%) will hail from regional Queensland and New South Wales. This will really help us showcase the raw opportunity across regional Australia,” Professor Barrett said.
“To be truly innovative, entrepreneurialism needs diversity, and balancing regional and city thinkers is critical to this. We often find that students from remote hometowns are more naturally innovative thinkers, and when they return home as graduates, they can make a real impact in unlocking new possibilities within the region and supporting their direct community.”
Throughout the Summit, students will meet with over 50 experts from a range of disciplines – as they participate in a variety of interactive sessions, presentations and networking events.
The experts will encourage students to tap into their innovative mindsets over the 4-day experience, with an Entrepreneurship Bootcamp on the final day of the Summit. Students will apply a design-led thinking process to develop an innovative and entrepreneurial solution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Working in teams, students will participate in a rapid ideation and pitching session giving students a real experience of boardroom pitching.
The QUT Future You Summit will be held at QUT’s Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove campuses from 1 – 5 July. Prospective students can learn more about studying at QUT by visiting the QUT website.
QUT Media contact:
Debra Bela: 0412 417 552 | debra.bela@qut.edu.au
After hours: media@qut.edu.au
