Sydney, 10 October 2024 – Anyway’s Virtual Work Experience (VWE) program has been recognised as one of the top education innovations in Australia.
The nomination for the Australian Financial Review’s Most Innovative Companies 2024 awards saw Anyway’s VWE earn a top 4 finalist position for the education category, highlighting its impact on bringing equal career development opportunities to all young Australians irrespective of their location or background.
Research from Anyway surveying over 3,000 youth found just a third (32%) said high school work experience had helped their career decisions while more than a third (38%) said they never did it at all, signaling a need to make work experience more accessible and useful to school students.
Since its launch in late 2023 the virtual work experience program has had over 18,000 course completions, enabling young people from diverse backgrounds across Australia to gain work experience with some of the nation’s leading employers, including The Australian Defence Force, Microsoft, NBN, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Department of Education Victoria, Bakers Delight and more.
Anyway Co-founder Saxon Phipps said: “With university drop-out rates rising virtual work experience aims to reduce the HECS-debt burden by helping young people make more informed decisions about their post-school pathways. We're grateful that our partnership-led approach, including a national partnership with the Tech Council of Australia, allows us to prepare students for the rapidly evolving workforce. On behalf of Anyway and our partners we're so happy to have our virtual work experience courses recognises as top Australian education innovations by the Australian FInancial Review.”
Anyway National Partnerships Director Annie Mulders said: "Anyway’s Virtual Work Experience program is free for every student nationally, democratising work experience which is particularly important for low-SES, regional and remote students, and youth with disability - who often struggle to find quality work experience placements. For industry and employers with skill shortages the program fuels a connection with young people at scale, providing students with an employer-branded taster of what a job is actually like, before they finalise important pathway and career decisions. To encourage uptake, we launched VWE with a strategic, broad range of employers covering tech, defence, education, trades and hospitality to cater for a range of student interests. We’re expanding with more industries and employers launching in 2024 and beyond.”
About Anyway
Founded in 2011, Anyway is a Gen Z Publisher and Ed-tech whose purpose is to support young people to live happier, healthier and more fulfilled lives, and whose mission is to upgrade the school-to-work transition. Anyway’s suite of brands includes Career Tools, Australia’s largest school to work transition platform, with over 1250+ subscribing schools. In 2023, Anyway acquired Good Education Group, including The Good Universities Guide, The Good Schools Guide and Studies in Australia, together with Australia’s most comprehensive database of schools, universities and training providers.