An Australian billionaire is offering university students the equivalent of $300,000 to complete their studies while learning at his company.
Richard White, the founder of logistics software company WiseTech Global, is expanding his ‘earn and learn’ programme, which will also include offering shares in the company after graduation.
There is one small catch: on-the-job learning shifts the standard term for degrees from three to four years, but Mr White said the extra year is worth it as a career is almost assured.
Mr White, a former guitar technician for bands including AC/DC and The Angels, has built WiseTech into a $31.23 billion powerhouse since listing on the ASX in 2016.
“Instead of three years of effort, no pay and then a HECS debt, (students) get four years of paid employment and their wages increase as their skills increase, and they end up with a stock portfolio… and a career,” he told The Australian.
Richard White expands his company WiseTech’s ‘earn and learn’ program (pictured with his glamorous girlfriend, Zena Nasser)
The program has been a success, with the first group of students outperforming third-year uni graduates, Mr White said (Photo: Some of the programme’s 2023 students)
According to the government, Australia will need an additional 650,000 technology workers by 2030 as the country transitions to a “smart economy” that embraces modern innovation.
But Mr White said that despite the focus and investment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in high schools and colleges over the past decade, the number of graduates in these fields has not increased dramatically.
The WiseTech earning and learning program is gradually growing from a cohort of 30 students in 2023 to 52 this year and 100 next year, doubling the number of students.
He is also opening up the program’s successful format to other companies so that they too can work to address the skills shortage.
Mr White said he is trying to lead something “very different in the education system” that creates “value” while avoiding many of the “pains” that college students face, including HELP debt and getting into their chosen sector.
‘It is not the case that everyone goes to university, but we are talking about people who are much better off as a result of this hybrid arrangement.’
The program will expand to 100 students next year and the format will be released to other companies in an effort to fill the shortage of technology workers (photo: 2023 students)
The former musician said the learning process was boosted by doing the work rather than just learning theory in a classroom.
Speaking about his first love for guitars, he said the best players will practice their instruments for a few hours a day and learn theory for a fraction of that.
Yet most university courses are oriented the other way around.
“I think we’re on to something with it,” he said.
He claimed that the first group of students in the 2023 WiseTech program had already outperformed university graduates with three-year degrees.
WiseTech Global founder is now Australia’s richest boss, ousting mining magnate Andrew Forrest (pictured with CSIRO scientist and Genics founder Melony Sellers)
In addition to the university-focused program, Mr. White is also donating one percent of WiseTech’s pre-tax profits, which exceeded $200 million in 2023, to Grok Academy.
The program teaches coding skills to primary school students to encourage interest in the field from an early age.
Applications for WiseTech’s 2025 Earning and Learning Program will open in June.