Historically, this country has only seen enterprise as being about one thing, when actually it is about innovation and change and discovering new ideas
University students across England are being encouraged to become social entrepreneurs through a new £1m programme offered by UnLtd and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, it was announced yesterday.
The Dare to be Different programme will encourage students and staff to think of enterprise applications across their areas of social expertise, such as the environment, healthcare, education and social cohesion.
Higher Education Funding Council for England director of education and participation John Selby said they were hoping for a culture change in universities and staff would play an important role.
'Many of the people working in higher education are driven by a social vision, they want to share their knowledge with their students,' said Selby.
'Historically, this country has only seen enterprise as being about one thing, when actually it is about innovation and change and discovering new ideas.'
The Higher Education Social Entrepreneurship Awards cover two categories: Catalyst Awards of up to £5,000 (with the average being £2,500) for the further exploration of new ideas and Development Awards of up to £15,000 for more developed ideas.
In addition to financial support for up to 200 social entrepreneurs, the programme includes money for networking and awareness-raising activities for social entrepreneurship.
The first awareness-raising event is on 29 November. Skoll: Emerge, the UK's first conference about social entrepreneurship for students, will take place at the Saïd Business School in Oxford.
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