Samsung Announces the Return of Not a School, the Unorthodox Educational Experience

London, UK –7 September 2020: Now in its second year, Not a School offers young people the chance to explore how technology can help solve the most significant issues facing young people today and learn skills to bring their creative solutions to life. This year, the course has moved online in partnership with FutureLearn, Europe’s leading online learning platform, to open up money-can’t-buy access to unconventional mentors, activists, entrepreneurs and business leaders to 18-25-year olds across the country for the first time.

Not a School is fronted by British Rapper, Singer and Songwriter Lady Leshurr, Editor-in-Chief of gal-dem, Liv Little and Filmmaker and Climate Activist, Jack Harries. Course contributors include experts in their field including; Andy Middleton – Founder of TYF group, Chloe Pierre – Founder of Thy.Self, Adah Parris – Futurist and Cultural Strategist, Matteo Bergamini- CEO of Shout Out UK and Samia Dumbuya – climate justice activist, to name a few. All course themes have been curated with a Youth Advisory Board comprising of inspiring young leaders including members from the Not a School 2019 alumni.

The course will cover four key themes:

• Respecting Our Differences Online: How can difference of opinion bring us closer together online? 
• Turning Climate Anxiety into Positive Action: How can technology unlock activism in everyone?
• Solving Inequality in Education: How can technology allow us all to be ‘educators’? 
• Building Human Connection in a Digital World: How can we use technology to end isolation?

The launch of Not a School 2020 coincides with the release of Samsung’s Compassion Nation Report which reports that 90% of 18-25-year olds believe that technology is key to achieving a more inclusive, fair and sustainable society with ‘tackling climate change’ and ‘job and economic security’ highlighted as the biggest concerns.

In a year that has seen young people across the UK taking action to address some of the most pressing issues that we currently face, new research shows that nine in ten 18-25-year olds feel that using technology to channel compassion is key to creating a better world for everyone.

Jessie Soohyun Park, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Samsung Electronics UK said: “2020 has been a year like no other. Despite the future looking more uncertain than ever before, the compassion and drive in young people to make the world a better place is just incredible. Our research shows they find immense hope in continuing to learn and sharing knowledge to achieve this and that tech is also key to this picture. Not a School gives them the chance to connect with inspiring peers and mentors from a very diverse range of backgrounds and fields of expertise and we hope this will equip them with the support, skill and know-how to get started on their tech for good journey.”

Not a School forms part of Samsung’s global commitment to educate and empower future innovators to develop their creativity, collaboration and problem-solving skills, empowering them to become the next generation of leaders to pioneer positive social change.

To find out more and sign up to Not a School, visit: www.samsung.com/uk/notaschool 

Notes to editor

The Compassion Nation Report research was carried out by Ketchum Research and Analytics, on behalf of Samsung. A total of 2001 individuals (aged 18-25) were surveyed in the UK from 18th June – 6th July 2020. Fieldwork was conducted by Vitreous World.

About corporate citizenship at Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung is committed to #EnablingPeople by empowering future generations to achieve their full potential through education. The company operates educational programs around the world to create more inclusive, quality learning experiences for young people across society and nurture the next generation to become pioneers driving positive social change. To find out more about UK initiatives, please visit : http://csr.samsung.com/en-gb/localMain.do