I often describe entrepreneurship not simply as starting a business, but as developing the mindset of a problem solver and self-starter. The ability to identify opportunities, navigate uncertainty, take initiative, and bring others with you will remain valuable regardless of industry or profession.

These experiences help students build something equally important: character.

Not character as a slogan, but as a collection of habits and behaviours developed through experience. Resilience developed through setbacks. Confidence earned through challenge. Empathy gained through service. Leadership built through responsibility.

Increasingly, universities themselves recognise the importance of these qualities.

While academic achievement remains essential, many of the world’s leading institutions are seeking students who demonstrate initiative, curiosity, purpose, and the ability to contribute meaningfully to their communities.

This raises another important question. Perhaps we should spend less time asking which university a young person should attend and more time asking what kind of life they hope to build.

For decades, students have often approached higher education through a relatively linear lens: choose a university, pursue a degree, enter a profession.

That pathway still exists. But in a rapidly changing world, passion, adaptability, and creativity may ultimately prove more valuable than optimising for a career that may look very different by the time a student graduates.

Role of education

The role of education, therefore, is not simply to prepare young people for their first destination after school. It is to equip them for a lifetime of growth, contribution, and reinvention.

This requires a partnership between schools and families.

Parents rightly want their children to achieve highly. High expectations remain important. Academic rigour matters. Ambition matters.

But perspective matters too.

The most successful adults are rarely defined solely by the grades they achieved at school. They are defined by their ability to navigate uncertainty, build relationships, adapt to change, and contribute positively to the world around them.

These qualities cannot always be measured in examination results or university acceptance letters.

Yet they often determine the trajectory of a life.

Education is undoubtedly an investment. But its greatest returns are rarely visible on results day.

The true measure of education is not what a young person achieves at 18. It is who they become at 30, 40, and beyond.

Heath Monk

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