1 Article on social enterprise for Park Avenue

Northampton aiming to be No. 1 The University of Northamptons new strategy for 2010 2015, Raising the Bar, sets a new and unique direction for us : we aim to be the top university in the UK for social enterprise by 2015. The implementation of Northamptons social enterprise strategy has three main elements: a new student offer; the integration of social enterprise into teaching and learning and research throughout the university; and a long-term strategic project with local authorities, businesses, the third sector, and individual citizens throughout Northamptonshire delivering significant improvements to the life of the county through support for social enterprise The new student offer is that from October 2011 all students of the University of Northampton will have the opportunity, as part of their degree courses, to work in a social enterprise, either one that we have set up, one that we support them to set up, or one operating in the local community. Delivering this offer will develop new entrepreneurial competences in our student population, significantly enhancing their employability. In addition, many of our students will be able to earn money through their work in social enterprises. However, we are not saying that all students must study social enterprise modules. While some of our degree programmes are moving to combine learning with the delivery of services to internal and external clients through social enterprises models (examples could include Podiatry, Occupational Therapy, and Events Management) other degree courses might only have discrete modules on social enterprise relevant to the subject, or new learning material in existing modules. Some degree programmes can, quite legitimately, not include social enterprise material as it will not add value to the course. We have a similar approach to integrating social enterprise with research. While all the Universitys research centres are identifying how social enterprise can be integrated with existing research projects; and all new research projects are considering how social enterprise can be included, we recognize that social enterprise is not relevant for some areas of research. Moreover, we are not unquestioning about or uncritical of social enterprise. Many of our current research projects are actively questioning whether social enterprise is the way ahead for some sectors. We are, after all, and university and asking difficult questions is what we are good at.

2 The third main element of our strategy is the Northamptonshire Leadership Academy, a major new project delivered in partnership with Northamptonshire County Council and social enterprises throughout the county. In brief, the Academy supports new and existing social enterprises, and community and voluntary organisations, throughout the county by : Providing them with training and development material so they can become more professional and take advantages of the new opportunities that are emerging to deliver public services Engaging them more effectively with businesses and local authorities Enabling volunteers in the county (including our staff and student volunteers) to easily find an organisation in which they can utilize their skills and enthusiasm.

We are acutely aware that our social enterprise initiatives should not become confused with support for any political party. It was of course the last Labour Government that set up the Office of the Third Sector as part of the Cabinet Office to encourage the development of social enterprise. It is notable that the Coalition has continued to operate this part of the Government, albeit as the Office for Civil Society. All mainstream parties clearly support social enterprise. However, our strategy is ours, and we are doing things that benefit our students, our staff, and our wider community. We are not doing things designed to appeal to politicians! To sum up our approach to social enterprise in the University : we believe it gives new and exciting opportunities to our staff and students. We dont pretend there are not challenges or that everything we do will be easy or even successful after all, Enterprise = Risk! But we have set up a lot of support to ensure that individuals and units can manage risk as much as possible. We dont have a one size fits all approach and we are very happy for people to challenge our plans and initiatives. We have embarked on a journey, and it will be interesting to see what the destination looks like.

Simon Denny 6 April 2011