The International Start Up School will open in June this year in Vancouver teaching students business start-up concepts as well as enabling them to begin their own project through a peer group and mentor.

Students will have the opportunity to pitch business ideas and join groups to work on developing them, said Tamsin Plaxton, president of Tamwood Careers.

“Our model is unique as it is a blend of the two other models”

“As they go through the courses they will be applying the fundamentals of marketing, strategy, execution, talent recruitment and management and finance and accounting to their business plans,” she told The PIE News.

Entrepreneurship is a concept of business that is growing worldwide but there is a gap in education in this area, argued Plaxton.

“Entrepreneurship can be taught, but anyone who wants to study how to start and run a business has the choice of doing either a four-year university business degree or a part-time evening programme at a local incubator,” she said.

“Our model is unique as it is a blend of the two other models.”

The first cohort will consist of 24 international students with the goal of doubling that number every four months, said Plaxton.

The year-long programme will consist of both academic and hands-on course content as well as mentoring and instruction from business owners and members of the Vancouver start up community.

As the structure of the programme is unique to its base in Vancouver, it is expected to also attract domestic students as well as those from overseas.

Tamwood Careers was founded by Tamwood International College, which runs a number of English language schools, summer and winter camps in the US and Canada, and work and study programmes,