This blog has kindly been provided by Matt Dowling CEO of the Freelancers Club.
Last week, we did something extraordinary.
Alongside the WE Network at the University of Westminster and our partners at EEUK, we co-hosted ‘Taking Freelancing Seriously’ – a milestone event that felt less like an enterprise conference and more like a political uprising in a lecture theatre.
Over 130 educators, enterprise leads, careers professionals, senior leaders, and most crucially, student and graduate freelancers turned up in person and online to discuss one simple but seismic question: What if we finally gave freelancing the legitimacy it deserves within Higher Education?
Now, if you’ve worked in this sector for any amount of time, you’ll know that “legitimacy” is a loaded word. But let me be blunt: the idea that freelancing is somehow the Plan B to employment’s Plan A is not only outdated, it’s borderline irresponsible in 2025.
The working world has changed. And we’ve been too slow to change with it.
When we started Freelancer Club over a decade ago, getting through the door of a university was like shouting into the void. Finding freelance champions who truly understood the freelance experience – let alone felt passionate enough to support it meaningfully – was a slog. We were told freelancing was too niche, too informal, too unpredictable. We were met with polite nods, closed doors, and a career services landscape almost entirely geared towards traditional employment.
But we kept going. We listened to the thousands of freelancers who told us their stories of working unpaid, under-supported, and unseen. And we realised the challenges weren’t just personal. They were cultural, structural, and systemic.
Today, the picture looks very different. In the past 12 months alone, Freelancer Club has partnered with 35 universities, collaborated with three national membership bodies, delivered over 150 hours of training and workshops, provided 100+ hours of coaching, and engaged more than 12,000 students, graduates, and staff across multiple countries. These aren’t vanity metrics. They’re signs of a sector waking up to reality. Of institutions finally meeting the moment. Of a model that works.
We have reached a tipping point. The whisper of a freelance-first future is now a chorus, and it’s time we stopped mumbling into our lanyards and started singing in unison.
Look, freelancing has always been part of the creative education ecosystem but we’ve been teaching it between the lines. We nod to it in passing. We bring in alumni guest speakers whose entire careers are built on it. But rarely do we design for it. Rarely do we centre it.
At ‘Taking Freelancing Seriously’, that changed.
We heard from educators who are embedding freelance modules into core curricula. We met enterprise teams developing career paths that start with self-employment rather than end there. We saw sector leaders committing to rethinking employability frameworks entirely.
And best of all, we listened to the students. The filmmakers, designers, photographers, stylists, writers, coders and creators building their businesses on the side, online, and under the radar. Not waiting to be picked, but picking themselves.
For a bit of fun, we asked attendees to try their hand at answering the 120 most common questions students ask about freelancing. From IP protection and rate negotiation to SEO and IR35, the room buzzed with answers. Two-thirds of the questions got nailed. The rest needed follow-up.
And therein lies the challenge.
This is a knowledge gap we can close. These are systems we can redesign. These are skills we can teach. But only if we treat freelancing as more than an afterthought. Only if we say, with one voice, that this model of work is not fringe. It is not niche. It is not plan B. It is real, it is rising, and it is the reality for thousands of our students.
The market already knows this.
Industry is hiring more freelancers to stay agile in a post-pandemic, AI-transformed world. Corporates are blending teams of employees, contractors, and bots. Microbusinesses and portfolio careers are the new normal.
So why are we still dragging our feet?
Yes, budgets are tight. Yes, teams are merging. Yes, there’s more red tape than a grand opening. But while all of that is happening, the future of work is already here.
And it’s freelance.
In every corner of the UK, we are seeing the rise of the freelance champion — that one person in the Enterprise Team, the careers advisor who “gets it,” the lecturer weaving real-world briefs into assessment criteria. You know who you are. And to you, I say: I see you.
You are not alone. There are more of us than ever. And we are building something bigger.
We are building a movement.
One that recognises the power of self-employment to provide autonomy, income, and purpose. One that acknowledges the structural barriers student freelancers face – from late payment to lack of mentorship. One that aligns education with the reality of the labour market.
But movements don’t happen because we write polite strategies and host tidy webinars. Movements happen because we get organised. We speak up. We make freelancing impossible to ignore.
So this is your invitation. Your call to arms. Your moment.
To the Heads of Schools, Deans, and Directors reading this: be brave enough to lead. Put freelance support on the agenda.
To the enterprise and careers teams: embed it into your provision. Give it as much weight as startup support. Hell, give it more.
To the policymakers: start designing for a workforce that’s already self-employed, already tech-enabled, already moving faster than your white papers.
And to our fellow educators, allies, and changemakers: let’s raise our voices. Let’s bring freelancing out of the shadows. Let’s make it something students feel proud to pursue.
The time for lip service is over. It’s time for action.
Freelancer Club partners with universities to deliver tailored programmes and expert consultation, while also working with the government to shape policies that protect and empower the self-employed. If your institution is ready to lead the way in freelance support, let’s talk.