Universities and colleges step up support for social entrepreneurs

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are working together to build a national ‘ecosystem’ of support for social entrepreneurs through a series of new partnerships announced by HEFCE and UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs.
The programme has three active strands:

Regional and thematic clusters
Eight collaborations led by universities across geographic regions, or working on the same theme, to increase innovation, knowledge exchange and network development. Universities will collaborate with a wide range of cross-sector organisations to enhance and develop ecosystems of support for social entrepreneurs.

Scale and growth partnerships
Universities will link with social investment experts to develop the skills, capacity, infrastructure and resources needed to support social ventures with the potential to scale up, grow rapidly and, in many cases, exploit commercial models and market opportunities.

Innovation partnershipsµ
Universities will form collaborations focused on developing innovative approaches to enhancing the ecosystem of support for social entrepreneurs. These will take place across sectors at local, regional, national or international level, and could involve student bodies, social enterprise support agencies or private companies. More...