Peterlee Campus
Enter the Dragon
Created by Dragons' Den star and renowned entrepreneur Peter Jones, the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy was set up to give young and up-and-coming entrepreneurs a fantastic place to hone their skills, develop their business ideas and learn everything about what makes a successful business thrive.
At East Durham College, we're delighted to be the only Peter Jones Enterprise Academy available in our region. If you're seriously considering studying business, there's no better place to do so than right here at EDC.
The Peter Jones Foundation are building a nationwide network of colleges and providers to transform attitudes to entrepreneurship and enterprise education - East Durham College is one of them.
East Durham College's Peter Jones Enterprise Academy is proud to offer BTECs in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship in partnership with Edexcel; these are the first qualifications of their kind for 16-19 year olds in the UK.
Want to see what it's all about? Check out our video below!
Building Your Own Business
An essential part of the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy course is you developing an idea for, and actually launching, your own business while you're studying with us.
What you choose to launch a business in, is entirely up to you; we'll work with you to develop your idea, enhance your current skills and bring your business from concept to life before you know it.
East Durham College students over the years have launched all kinds of different business ideas, including:
- Selling a range of eco-friendly, reusable straws
- Launching their own clothing brands
- Advertising companies selling ad space to companies around the North East
- Food and drink companies, including making and selling sausages and milkshakes
As we said, the possibilities are endless! If you've got a great idea, but you're not sure how to make it work, East Durham College can help
The National Tycoon Enterprise Competition
Going hand-in-hand with your own business launch is the National Tycoon Enterprise Competition. As its name implies, this competition, created by the Peter Jones Foundation, gives students a start-up loan of up to £3000 per team to set up and run your business while at college.
From then on, your business is competing against others from across the country - all colleges which are Peter Jones Enterprise Academies take part, and every year, the top student business from across the country are invited to a prestigious celebration event in London.
At East Durham College, thanks to our amazing lecturers and the incredible efforts of our students we have seen many students progress into the finals of the National Tycoon Enterprise competition.
East Durham College lecturers have also regularly won the Teacher of the Year award from the Peter Jones Foundation, so you know you're in good hands with EDC!
In the video below, former East Durham College Peter Jones Enterprise Academy student Simone Abley talks about how she got to the finals of the competition:
