Transforming the next generation into leaders, creators, and changemakers through real-world entrepreneurship education| Franchisee Owner & Director, MiniBoss Business School Australia, BigBoss Business School Australia, Leonardo Art School, and International Successful Women's Club.
.jpg)
I’ve always loved learning. It’s one of the things that brings me real joy. If I ever get a spare moment, chances are I’ll be reading, researching, or diving into something new.
I studied continuously for over 20 years, starting from school, through a Bachelor’s, Master’s and a PhD at one university, and then a second Master’s at QUT after moving to Australia 25 years ago. These days I’m less interested in collecting formal qualifications, but I’ve still taken short courses in neuropsychology and child psychology, and I use AI almost daily to explore new ideas and dig deeper into the things I care about.
I studied continuously for over 20 years, starting from school, through a Bachelor’s, Master’s and a PhD at one university, and then a second Master’s at QUT after moving to Australia 25 years ago. These days I’m less interested in collecting formal qualifications, but I’ve still taken short courses in neuropsychology and child psychology, and I use AI almost daily to explore new ideas and dig deeper into the things I care about.
.jpg)
Elena is presenting her speech on the Australian education sector
Teaching wasn’t something I planned, even though my grandmother was a teacher her whole life and my aunt followed in her footsteps. I coached and mentored junior staff in my corporate career, but I never saw myself in education. Yet here I am, running a school and working with young people every day.
I believe in making a difference. And over time, I’ve come to see that education is one of the most powerful ways to do that.
Learning is valuable. Teaching is important. But neither automatically makes someone good at what they do. That’s where my perspective comes in. It's shaped by both a lifelong love of learning and a very real understanding of what education often misses. And I’d like to share that with you.
What Australian education is getting right, and what it still misses
I recently spoke at the Global Education Forum on the trends in Australian education. It is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. Despite the hit we took during COVID, education is still among our top exports. It brought in over $51 billion in the last financial year, making it Australia’s 4th largest export after iron ore, coal, and gas.
Much of that income comes from international students. Around 27% of higher education enrolments are non-resident students, with the majority coming from China, India, Nepal, Vietnam, and Thailand. Australia is often seen as a more affordable and closer English-speaking alternative to studying in the US or UK.
But the question is — how long can we hold this position?
Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam continue to emerge as fast-growing markets. Vietnam alone accounts for around 37% of regional student outflows, surpassing Indonesia and Thailand. Indonesia and Malaysia are also sending rising numbers
So the question becomes: as more families gain affordability and students explore global and digital study options, is Australia adapting fast enough to shifting expectations, workforce demands, and disruptive technologies such as AI?
The real value of tertiary education
There is still significant value in tertiary education. But its importance lies not just in what we learn but in how we learn. Learning should train our brains to become more inquisitive, better at solving problems, aware of patterns, and able to think critically.
Yet, instead of deeper learning, many programs still rely on outdated methods or purely academic content that lacks real‑world relevance.
My MBA was Inspiring, but not as useful in practice
I had a Master’s degree in Finance and worked in the industry for several years before coming to Australia. Then I studied for an MBA at QUT.
The highlight of that course was Strategic Marketing. It was taught by a visiting professor who was the Asia-Pacific Vice President of Marketing at Procter and Gamble. Every class was based on a real case study, and we had to come up with our own solutions. It was taught in a Harvard-style, discussion-driven, exciting way.
I absolutely loved it. But when I finally landed my first jobs in Australia, I found that what I had learned was not that useful. The problems at work were smaller, more repetitive, with lesser authority to make independent decisions, and nowhere near as strategic. And even though I had two Master’s degrees and experience in Finance, it was hard to get hired in my new field. Employers were hesitant to hire someone without local or practical experience.
Every course should include real-world practice
This is why I believe every university course should include hands-on work. Not optional internships or “industry placements” that only happen in the final year, but real involvement with real businesses throughout the program.
This kind of model would solve two problems at once:
Online learning has changed the game and its competition
Another major trend is the digitisation of education. It is good. It makes the market more competitive and forces everyone to raise the bar.
But the moment a university puts its courses online, it is no longer competing with other local institutions. It is competing with Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and dozens of world-class programs.
I realised this 5 years ago when I took a course on Transformation at QUT. The systems, the support, the student experience, it all felt like they still saw UQ or Griffith as their main competitors. But I actually compared their course with one from Harvard in the online space. Not all universities realise that their online or hybrid courses are competing globally with the best in the world.
Why hybrid learning beats online-only
Even with all the benefits of online education, one thing is still essential: human connection. When we attend a lecture, we are not just learning from the slides. We are absorbing the stories, the personal experience, the way a topic is explained in context.
The chance to ask questions, to discuss ideas with peers, to form networks — these are all critical to lasting learning. This is why I believe the hybrid model works best. It combines flexibility with real engagement and personal growth.
Entrepreneurship Education is here, but are we doing it right?
One of the big trends I am passionate about is entrepreneurship education.
MiniBoss, the program I now lead, started 25 years ago and was one of the first of its kind. But I have real concerns about the shortcuts some programs take.
You cannot teach someone to be a good leader just by giving them a book on leadership. You cannot teach someone to be a successful business owner in a 1-3-month course. These are complex, long-term skills. They need time and repeated exposure.
I believe in making a difference. And over time, I’ve come to see that education is one of the most powerful ways to do that.
Learning is valuable. Teaching is important. But neither automatically makes someone good at what they do. That’s where my perspective comes in. It's shaped by both a lifelong love of learning and a very real understanding of what education often misses. And I’d like to share that with you.
What Australian education is getting right, and what it still misses
I recently spoke at the Global Education Forum on the trends in Australian education. It is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. Despite the hit we took during COVID, education is still among our top exports. It brought in over $51 billion in the last financial year, making it Australia’s 4th largest export after iron ore, coal, and gas.
Much of that income comes from international students. Around 27% of higher education enrolments are non-resident students, with the majority coming from China, India, Nepal, Vietnam, and Thailand. Australia is often seen as a more affordable and closer English-speaking alternative to studying in the US or UK.
But the question is — how long can we hold this position?
Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam continue to emerge as fast-growing markets. Vietnam alone accounts for around 37% of regional student outflows, surpassing Indonesia and Thailand. Indonesia and Malaysia are also sending rising numbers
So the question becomes: as more families gain affordability and students explore global and digital study options, is Australia adapting fast enough to shifting expectations, workforce demands, and disruptive technologies such as AI?
The real value of tertiary education
There is still significant value in tertiary education. But its importance lies not just in what we learn but in how we learn. Learning should train our brains to become more inquisitive, better at solving problems, aware of patterns, and able to think critically.
Yet, instead of deeper learning, many programs still rely on outdated methods or purely academic content that lacks real‑world relevance.
My MBA was Inspiring, but not as useful in practice
I had a Master’s degree in Finance and worked in the industry for several years before coming to Australia. Then I studied for an MBA at QUT.
The highlight of that course was Strategic Marketing. It was taught by a visiting professor who was the Asia-Pacific Vice President of Marketing at Procter and Gamble. Every class was based on a real case study, and we had to come up with our own solutions. It was taught in a Harvard-style, discussion-driven, exciting way.
I absolutely loved it. But when I finally landed my first jobs in Australia, I found that what I had learned was not that useful. The problems at work were smaller, more repetitive, with lesser authority to make independent decisions, and nowhere near as strategic. And even though I had two Master’s degrees and experience in Finance, it was hard to get hired in my new field. Employers were hesitant to hire someone without local or practical experience.
Every course should include real-world practice
This is why I believe every university course should include hands-on work. Not optional internships or “industry placements” that only happen in the final year, but real involvement with real businesses throughout the program.
This kind of model would solve two problems at once:
- The shortage of workers across many industries
- The gap between academic qualifications and job readiness
Online learning has changed the game and its competition
Another major trend is the digitisation of education. It is good. It makes the market more competitive and forces everyone to raise the bar.
But the moment a university puts its courses online, it is no longer competing with other local institutions. It is competing with Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and dozens of world-class programs.
I realised this 5 years ago when I took a course on Transformation at QUT. The systems, the support, the student experience, it all felt like they still saw UQ or Griffith as their main competitors. But I actually compared their course with one from Harvard in the online space. Not all universities realise that their online or hybrid courses are competing globally with the best in the world.
Why hybrid learning beats online-only
Even with all the benefits of online education, one thing is still essential: human connection. When we attend a lecture, we are not just learning from the slides. We are absorbing the stories, the personal experience, the way a topic is explained in context.
The chance to ask questions, to discuss ideas with peers, to form networks — these are all critical to lasting learning. This is why I believe the hybrid model works best. It combines flexibility with real engagement and personal growth.
Entrepreneurship Education is here, but are we doing it right?
One of the big trends I am passionate about is entrepreneurship education.
MiniBoss, the program I now lead, started 25 years ago and was one of the first of its kind. But I have real concerns about the shortcuts some programs take.
You cannot teach someone to be a good leader just by giving them a book on leadership. You cannot teach someone to be a successful business owner in a 1-3-month course. These are complex, long-term skills. They need time and repeated exposure.
Business is like sailing — you cannot learn it in a bootcamp
Running a business is not about filling in forms or registering a company name. That is admin, and anyone can outsource that. Real entrepreneurship is about staying alert, adjusting to change, making decisions under pressure, and solving problems no one has a script for.
It is like sailing. The weather changes. The wind shifts. You have to adapt and think fast to stay on course.
These are not skills you can absorb in a crash course or overnight. You need to build them the way you build skill in music, sport, or languages — through practice, consistency, and reflection.
.jpg)
What we do differently at MiniBoss
At MiniBoss, we do not teach students how to register for GST. We only briefly explain balance sheet to them. They can hire an accountant or us AI tools one day to do these things for them. But all our students know what ROI is and how to calculate it. Instead or balance sheets, we give students a safe but real environment where they can come up with real business ideas, face challenges planning and implementing their ideas, test them, learn what works, and fail, and then get back up again.
That is how resilience forms. That is how leadership grows. That is how future founders learn to endure.
We are not training sprinters. We are building marathon runners, because running a business is more than a career. It is a lifelong journey, and kids deserve the chance to start practising early, and for real.
After all these years of learning, unlearning, teaching and building, I’m still convinced that the most powerful education is the one that connects the classroom to real life - consistently, purposefully, and with heart.
If you are running a business or an organisation, I encourage you to partner with your local university or TAFE. Offering real project work, placements or mentoring opportunities doesn’t just support students, it also brings fresh perspectives into your team and helps shape the future workforce.
And if you are in education, building direct partnerships with industry is no longer optional, it is essential. This is how we close the gap between theory and practice, improve student outcomes, and raise the credibility and relevance of your program in the eyes of both students and employers.
Of course, connecting academia and industry isn’t easy. It takes effort, planning, and the willingness to do things differently. But the payoff is worth it for everyone involved. It is a win-win for students, businesses and education providers alike.