The Social Innovation Programme, also known as SIP, trains and supports teams of university student consultants to problem solve for a social impact community partner. This programme currently runs in Bristol.
What is the Social Innovation Programme?
Students learn about social issues in their local community, connect as teams of consultants and do work on live briefs, researching, problem solving and ideating to make change. Ultimately students develop key skills for life and gain professional experience whilst making a difference.
We work with a range of community partners from national charities to local grassroots organisations to community centres. They are supported to write a challenge brief outlining a project they would like support with. Projects range from creating a social media strategy for a charity to engage more volunteers, to drafting a plan for a new grassroots organisation to secure funding, to making recommendations for updates to local community training.
The student consultants receive training in a wide range of topics from project management to public speaking, and receive regular support from staff and mentors. They are empowered to work together to create and present a report to their partner at the end of the eight-week programme.
What’s the impact?
The Social Innovation Programme supports community cohesion, as well as student skill development. To meet this aim we ensure our partners benefit from:
- The new perspectives and energy students can bring to their organisation
- Added capacity to new and existing activities
- Connection to the university and student community
In 2021-22
100%
partners agreed the students added expertise to their organisation
100%
students agreed they developed professional skills from the programme
100%
partners agreed the recommendations added value to their organisation
Becoming a part of SIP allows me to learn and grow with students with different cultural and study backgrounds. Also, it enables me to look at social problems through different approaches and perspectives.
Wei-Jie Yuan, Bristol Hub student consultant