Celebrating Social Enterprise and Academic Partnerships
Posted: 07 April 2026, in News
One project I’ve been following closely since its pilot last year is the Social Enterprise Challenge, delivered by Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network and Glasgow Social Enterprise Network in partnership with Queen Margaret University and the University of Glasgow. The concept is simple: it’s a focused, practical programme that brings students and social enterprises together to work on real challenges. Over four to five weeks, student teams partner directly with organisations to explore growth, sustainability and financial resilience, and develop clear, actionable plans.
Each team is set a live challenge by the enterprise, supported by academic and industry mentors, and tasked with developing a clear, actionable plan. The programme culminates in a final showcase, where teams present their recommendations to a panel of judges. Judging the Social Enterprise Challenge final at Greyfriars Charteris Centre was a real privilege. The standard was high across the board, and the teams that had clearly invested time into getting this right.
Students from Queen Margaret University and the University of Glasgow brought fresh insight and a strong grasp of the realities social enterprises face. What stood out was how grounded the work was, these weren’t theoretical exercises, they were credible plans shaped around real organisations and real constraints. Working with Edinburgh Open Workshop, one team demonstrated clearly that financial sustainability and social impact are not in conflict; in fact, when done well, they reinforce each other. That balance is where the future of the sector sits.
Programmes like this matter. They connect fresh thinking with lived experience, and they build confidence on both sides. For the students, it’s about applying their skills in a meaningful context. For the social enterprises, it’s about gaining new perspectives and practical routes forward.
And from a judging perspective, it was genuinely difficult to separate the top teams which was a good problem to have. It shows the pipeline of talent and ideas coming into the sector is strong. We need more of this. More collaboration and more spaces where ideas are properly tested. That’s how we build stronger, more resilient social enterprises, and give students a real sense of the depth and breadth of our sector.
Chris Martin, CEO, Social Enterprise Scotland