Could the sector learn from a civil society university?

PrimeTimers has explored the idea of a civil society university since 2004 through debate, meetings and formal questionnaires, and we have uncovered real enthusiasm for a concept that surely fits within the political zeitgeist. But what exactly is it, what might be its relevance to social enterprise and why should it be supported?

Where do social enterprises go when they wish to upskill their managers and staff? The current provision for learning across civil society is relatively small scale, fragmented and lacking a recognised accreditation framework.

Our vision is of a university owned by and for civil society that could provide a skills escalator for its staff and volunteers and develop its knowledge base, overcome its fragmented nature with networked learning provision, and link high quality training to the educational provision of existing academic institutions.

Where are the institutions where the distinctive values of civil society in general and social enterprise in particular discussed and developed? The public and private sectors have well established mechanisms for expressing and learning values. Look at all the keen MBA students absorbing not only practical skills for success in business but sometimes negative values – the need to maximise shareholder value, and an incentive culture based purely on the bottom line.

Social enterprise with its integration of business drive with a social and/or environmental mission acts as a direct challenge to this business model. In our view it is uniquely placed both to contribute to the debate and also work as part of the CSU to promote wider values, more appropriate to the 21^st century.

What's the next step?

We have received an offer from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation of 50 per cent of the £35,000 funding required to undertake a feasibility study and are currently seeking match funding – whether through money or time support. The feasibility work will involve research into the benefits a CSU would bring to the sector, developing a coalition of support from civil society organisations and holding a national conference to showcase our findings and collectively plan the next steps.

We are already working with prospective partners including the Campaign for Learning, the Workers Educational Association, acevo, CfAppointments, and are looking to grow these. If a CSU is established it will need to be the creature of civil society as a whole, with PrimeTimers acting as an early incubator.

We also want to obtain funding and form partnerships to work on developing a draft curriculum to complement the feasibility study. The proposed work programme would bring high quality input from acknowledged experts and partners including the development of a series of debates and a contribution to the proposed CSU national conference.

Find out more about the civil society university at www.civilsocietyuniversity.org or email mary@primetimers.org.uk

Mary Chadwick is a director of PrimeTimers, a social enterprise that provides a broad range of business and support services in third sector organisations.