Common Purpose United Kingdom | Company information | Participants/Alumni
Frontrunner helps university-age people, who have a track record of leading change, to set their sights even higher as they look ahead beyond full-time education. Participants visit a wide range of organisations and quiz leaders from many different walks of life. This gives future generations of leaders a rare opportunity to broaden their knowledge, plan their future and develop their leadership skills.
"The Frontrunner programme plays an essential part in developing the leaders of tomorrow. The course not only exposes young people to some of the best leaders currently operating in the UK but also offers a unique opportunity for the participants to learn from each other and form life long bonds that will undoubtedly assist the development of our society in the years to come. I have had the privilege of supporting the Frontrunner course for the last 4 years and I look forward to continuing my support over the years to come."
Aaron Ross, Co-founder and Managing Director, First Care
Frontrunner is for people over the age of 18, who are in full-time education, and have already shown evidence of leadership. Each Frontrunner group will draw people from across the UK who have different backgrounds, interests and experience.
As with all our open courses, the participant group on Frontrunner will be diverse in terms of background, experience, sector, outlook and approach. Participants share and challenge each other and discover that this diversity - far from being a weakness - provides a key strength of the course.
On the course participants visit businesses, campaigning organisations and civic institutions. They challenge leaders from prisons, newspapers, hospitals, production plants, political parties, faiths and many more. They plough through case studies, present their findings and distill the learning. They work together on leadership dilemmas and challenge each others' biases. They determinedly learn, share, connect, argue and squeeze every ounce of learning out of Frontrunner. After the course, participants tend to stay in touch and keep the Frontrunner experience going.
Of the participants on the 2008 programmes:
Frontrunner is a four-day residential course run in a city. Two courses will be held in the summer of 2010 and dates will be available in early 2010.
On the course, young people will go on visits to businesses, institutions and organisations to get a behind-the-scenes perspective on an organisation and sector. They will also deal with real-life leadership dilemmas and learn from the experiences of leaders from all sectors of society. Participants will be challenged personally through goal-setting, diversity exercises and being part of a learning group with whom they'll share, connect and be held accountable throughout the process.
Learn more about the Common Purpose learning methods.
Courses are currently run at University College London, University of Bristol and Queens University Belfast.
Common Purpose ran the first Frontrunner course in 2004 to mark its 15 year anniversary. Each year we fund a number of bursary places on the course so that at least half the participants attend for free. The other half are either sponsored or individuals raise the fee themselves.
Recipients of bursary places pay nothing other than their own travelling expenses. For others the fee includes accommodation, food and travel during the course, but travel expenses to and from the residential location are not included.
Complete the online application form at right and choose the date and location you want. You can also download the Application Form and send it by post or fax to the Common Purpose London Office.
For more about the overall application process, please visit the application page.
"Of all the courses I have been on, this was definitely the most stimulating, and came at a time in my life where I think it will have a genuine and permanent impact. It allowed a group of openminded young people with very different backgrounds to come together and openly discuss their ideas and achievements, and therefore to learn from and inspire one another."
Nicola Storey, Frontrunner participant, 2008
"Frontrunner made me realise that I actually had a lot more power than I thought I did, it was just up to me to make the most of it."
Joey Powis, Frontrunner participant, 2008
"As a second year sabbatical, Common Purpose was thoroughly refreshing and the different perspectives the course explored revived my interest in making and facilitating change. I would 110% recommend attending Common Purpose Frontrunner!"
Katy Ritchie, Frontrunner participant, 2007
"We had a great time hosting a visit for the Frontrunner group who were really engaged and lively. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to host this lunch and thank you to the group for being so interested, interesting and delightful."
Sally Gimson, Family & Parenting Institute, Contributor
"I was incredibly impressed by the energy and insightfulness of all the participants. They suggested all sorts of great ideas about how we could better engage with the student 'market'"
Jamie Wallace, Director, Walk-it.com Ltd., Contributor
