NACUE helps HE to embrace social entrepreneurship
NACUE have had the opportunity to support student social entrepreneurship across England. Having contributed to UnLtd’s anticipated report, NACUE was invited to speak as guest panelists at the recent Dare To Be Different Conference. Centred on social entrepreneurship, the conference brought together academics, students, enterprise membership organisations and vice chancellors to debate and drive social enterprise within Higher Education.
The event marked the end of a one-year programme, delivered by UnLtd and HEFCE that aimed to stimulate a rise in social ventures and entrepreneurs at within universities. The results indicate that the programme helped create 200 new social ventures, half of which have generated a combined total of £500,000 in the past 6 months.
National membership organisations like SIFE, NACUE and Student Hubs have done much to push the frontiers of student enterprise and help create a culture and infrastructure that embrace ideas, innovation and entrepreneurship. However it remains that universities often do not recognise the value that enterprise and innovation can add to their institutions, which lends itself to a lack of much needed support for students.
Brainstorming possible models that would push the boundaries of student, panellists and audience members debated the value of a strategy that would:
1) Support student social enterprise from a bottom-up strategy, delivering support services and offering opportunities to create social ventures.
2) Create a national social innovation funding pot that would award universities who add value to social enterprise through research, spin outs, teaching and the development of student-run social ventures.
The combined impact of this conference, the UnLtd/HEFCE programme and report has been incredulous in unleashing a new culture of social innovation within universities. More than ever, students are in tune with the power of social enterprise to affect positive social and environmental change.
The conference revealed the growing need for national recognition of enterprise support, education and flow of capital to allow student enterprise and social innovation to flourish. Universities are cultural hubs for idea creation, talent development and resources exchange and with the right support and an aligned strategy; England’s universities could soon be producing world-class social innovators entrepreneurs.
To read UnLtd’s report visit, http://www.unltd.org.uk/template.php?ID=32. To read how NACUE supports student enterprise across the UK, please visit www.nacue.com.