Samsung’s Brand purpose is ‘Do What You Can’t’ – creating human-driven innovations that defy barriers to progress, empowering people to make meaningful progress in their lives and society.

Samsung’s Global CSR purpose is ‘Enabling People’, supporting the Sustainable Development Goals with a commitment to the 4th Goal of Quality Education; empowering the next generation of innovators through education.

In 2020, Samsung’s Compassion Nation research found 68% of young adults felt traditional education hadn’t given them the right tools for success. Only 10% felt confident about their future career prospects. Education struggles to keep up with the pace of technological change to prepare young people for the jobs of the future.

At the forefront of that change, combining Brand and CSR values, Samsung wanted to help 18–25-year-olds across the UK with an inclusive, alternative educational experience, sharing relevant expertise designed to upskill them for a future driven by innovation (Goal 4.4).

Samsung UK’s research showed 68% of 18-25-year-olds felt traditional education hadn’t given them the right tools for future success and 90% didn’t feel confident about their career prospects.

Exacerbated by COVID-19, with UK schools closed, exams and internships cancelled; 57% found it challenging to access the same education opportunities as before the pandemic and 50% struggled to find opportunities to be innovative during lockdown.

Despite this more than 90% believe tech and innovation can help solve the key social issues of their generation; including future job security, but also sustainability, racial and gender inequality and mental wellbeing.

Samsung had a chance to not only develop a lasting educational experience that equipped GenZ with innovative skills for the future, at a time when years of progress in education had been reversed, but also to encourage GenZ to apply these skills to solving key social issues, for continued future societal benefit.

If school wasn’t preparing young people for the future, we had to give them the opposite: Not a School.

A free alternative e-learning experience brought 18-25-year-olds together during lockdown, to learn in a new way for a better future. Unexpected educators, from Samsung UK to influencers Lady Leshurr and Jack Harries, shared learned experience in live and pre-recorded sessions, inspiring innovative thinking to solve social issues;

• Respecting Our Differences: How can different opinions bring us closer together online?

• Turning Climate Anxiety into Positive Action: How can technology unlock activism?

• Solving Inequality in Education: How can technology allow us all to be ‘educators’?

• Building Human Connection in a Digital World: How can technology end isolation?

A targeted social campaign told GenZ this was their chance to build the future. Powerful visuals of the social issues from the course and empowering messaging drove sign up on Samsung.com.

To genuinely benefit our 18–25-year-old audience, Samsung UK had to use technology to help them learn in a more relevant, human way.

Where tech competitors focus on STEM skills, like coding, we instead focused on life skills that pedagogical experts argue schools should be teaching; communication, critical-thinking, collaboration, and creativity. Timeless skills to help our audience adapt to an ever-changing tech-laden future.

Through applying these skills in developing solutions to the issues GenZ told us they cared about most (sustainability, inequality and digital-wellbeing) we co-created an educational experience they’d want to participate in. By using unexpected educators from Samsung, their CSR partners and influencers, we’d engage our audience with experts they wanted to hear from.

Combining this into a free, online experience meant we could scale the concept to reach as many young people as possible and upskilling them for the future, at a time they needed it most.

Lockdown meant Not a School needed to provide a wholly digital experience without losing the depth of face-to-face learning. In partnership with FutureLearn, we developed a platform first; courses with live and pre-recorded sessions. The course topics were inspired by The Global Goals and refined in GenZ research.

The experience was free to join, available in two accessible formats;

- Four ‘self-led’ courses; allowing anyone to participate at any time.

- Four ‘immersive’ two-week courses; for 100, 18–25-year-olds, who were selected via application, prioritising those either out of education or employment, who stood most to benefit. Students were given free Samsung technology to participate in live, daily video-calls with experts and mentors, working towards a presentation of their solution to Samsung.

A nationwide social campaign launched the courses in September 2020. The live experience ran for 8 weeks, the self-led courses are available until September 2021.

Samsung UK sought to provide inclusive, free, quality education, upskilling young adults for future employment, innovation and entrepreneurship (Goal 4.3, 4.4).

Course topics ranged from taking action on sustainability, reducing inequalities to respecting differences (Goal 4.7).

Self-led courses:

- To date, 21,113 enrolments, 75% above 12,000 target

- In 2020 there was +927 days’ worth of learning in just 4 months

- Courses average rating: 91.5%

Immersive courses:

- +244hrs of live e-learning

- 97% rated the experience ‘excellent’ or ‘good’

- 94% would recommend to friends

An immersive course survey revealed students’ skills increased:

- Collaborating: +16.08%

- Solve problems: +16.72%

- Networking: +21.98%

- Prototyping ideas: +32.96%

Awareness (paid media):

- 109million+ impressions

- Reached 12.7million+ GenZ

- 17million+ video views

Alumni have formed long-term bonds, networks, found new jobs and are creating new solutions. Course engagement from countries like India, Indonesia and Nigeria, shows potential Global scale.