Introducing Student Hubs:
Putting social action at the heart of the student experience
We believe students have the power and potential to shape a better world.
Student Hubs Student Hubs supports university students to take leadership roles in tackling social and environmental challenges, helping them gain experience and skills. In 2014-15, we supported:
2,500 students
to take part in our high impact social action programmes.
17.5%
of them had never been involved in social action before.
The Need Universities are not doing enough to support student social action. Students want it - research shows that today’s young people are more engaged in social issues than ever before. Students need it - high quality social action opportunities help students to develop the employability skills and experience that they need to thrive in a competitive graduate jobs market. Universities are not providing it - the opportunities that are on offer are often low impact - with little evidence of skills development - or cost efficiency.
Our Approach Putting social action at the heart of the student experience. High Impact - Student leadership is at the core of our approach - all of our programmes focus on developing student skills and leadership by giving students direct experience of managing and leading projects and teams, and providing them with the necessary training and support to excel. Cost Effective - As a national organisation working across ten universities, we’re able to achieve significant economies of scale, developing programmes that can be rolled out across our network and providing standardised impact frameworks to our local teams.
Student Led Volunteering Volunteering projects address challenges ranging from conservation to social isolation amongst older people. We help students to identify the point at which their interests and skills align with an area of local community need, so that they can play a meaningful role in tackling social issues. Our largest volunteering programme, Schools Plus, supports 700 volunteers to tackle educational disadvantage through tutoring in local schools.
Skilled Placements Social Impact Internships - we recruit students who are committed to social change, and match them with not-for-profits, social enterprises, and CSR initiatives in corporate organisations. Students are placed with organisations that match their interests and location preferences to undertake 4-8 week summer projects. Social Innovation Programme - we offer students the opportunity to work in teams alongside a local organisation, acting as external consultants to propose and implement an innovative solution to a problem. SIP combines consultancy, research and critical thinking with training and support to address community need.
Incubation We provide a tailored methodology of student social entrepreneurship support. Through this methodology, we support each student to take their initial idea, assess feasibility, pilot it, and then scale it up into a fully fledged project. We connect students to crucial start-up funds which enable them to put their projects in motion, and offer ongoing support to develop their skills and ensure that their social enterprise has staying power.
Training Training for students - We work with a number of universities to provide key skills and leadership training for their students. Sessions include Communications, Project Management, Public Speaking, Fundraising, and Leadership. Training for staff - We work with universities to share our expertise in supporting student skills development. We deliver workshops to staff focusing on how to effectively engage and train students, support students who want to volunteer internationally, and measure the impact of their activities.
Contact us If you would like to: Partner with us to set up a Hub at your university
Book Student Hubs skills and leadership student training
Find out more about our staff training workshops
get in touch with our Network Development Director, Francis Wight, on francis@studenthubs.org.