September 22, 2022
First digital Harrison Centre is now Open
The Harrison Foundation has opened its first online learning centre aimed at giving millions of people across the United Kingdom the opportunity to upskill and improve their employability prospects.
The new digital Harrison Centre for Social Mobility is a partnership with the internationally recognised Open University. A suite of education and development courses are now available free of charge to members of the public and can be accessed by visiting the Open University’s OpenLearn platform.
Courses include Managing My Money for Young Adults; Managing My Investments; English: skills for learning; Entrepreneurship and Commercial Awareness as well as courses looking at different types of businesses.
The first digital Harrison Centre for Social Mobility builds on existing Centres, the first of which opened in partnership with Sunderland football club in 2018. More Harrison Centres have been announced this year, including those in partnership with Newcastle United football club and a purpose-built Harrison Centre for Social Mobility in the Caribbean.
Harrison Foundation trustee, David Harrison, is himself an Open University alumnus having achieved an MBA through the Open University. David Harrison is also the founder of Fintech business True Potential based in Newcastle, which manages over £22bn of assets. In 2013 the firm donated more than £1.4 million to the Open University to create a suite of financial literacy courses that have been accessed for free by one million people to date.
David Harrison said: “I’ve always been a big believer in the power of a job to improve social mobility and that has also been my personal experience. Education is the building block to achieving that and it’s why I am proud of the work that we are doing through the Harrison Centres with our partners. I’m particularly pleased to add the Open University to that list.
“Businesses themselves are great drivers of social mobility and many of the digital Harrison Centre courses are aimed at creating an understanding of the commercial world. Other courses support people with household finances, investing and budgeting all of which are particularly relevant at this time in our economy.
“The courses are freely available on the OpenLearn platform to everyone across the UK and I’m sure people find them both enjoyable and valuable.”
Professor Devendra Kodwani, Executive Dean, Faculty of Business and Law at the Open University added: “The Open University is delighted to have worked with visionary entrepreneur David Harrison over many years, from his time as a student on our triple accredited MBA, to partnering with his organisation True Potential to set up an innovative Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance providing free personal finance learning at scale.
“We are now continuing the relationship through the Harrison Centre. The Harrison Centre’s focus on societal impact, social justice and social mobility means that together we can support more people in new ways to achieve their ambitions.”
To access courses at the digital Harrison Centre for Social Mobility, please visit https://www.open.edu/openlearn/education-development/the-harrison-centre-social-mobility