What We Do

“What’s next for higher education? We need colleges and universities to produce research that accelerates solving the world’s most difficult problems, and we need graduates equipped, not only to cope with our world’s increasing rate of change, but to drive change through social innovation and entrepreneurship.”

—Marina Kim

Executive Director, Ashoka U

Imagine a world where…

    • Prospective students choose their university because it is known as the premier institution for those who want to make a difference. They know, if they attend, their college experience is going to be a world-changing experience.

    • Leading social entrepreneurs seek to collaborate with universities, because they see them as highly strategic partners in advancing their impact.

    • Students see social entrepreneurship as a viable future career option and consistently seek out opportunities to create positive social and environmental impact as an employee or entrepreneur.

    • Pressing social and environmental problems are solved through the knowledge and actions of universities and their graduates.

We are creating this world together.

So, unlike many higher education innovations these days that seek to replace universities, Ashoka U works with the system, leveraging the entire institutional eco-system – admissions process, coursework, extracurricular activities, research, career services, and alumni programs – for social impact. Ashoka U challenges stakeholders – from the president to students to community partners – to create a new design for higher education focused on addressing the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.


How do we plan to get there?

    1) Develop and empower a self-sustained network of entrepreneurial and innovative change leaders in higher education who share the vision for higher education’s social impact role.

    2) Advance the transformation of university structures and cultures to support social innovation by disseminating and implementing best practices.

    3) Catalyze universities’ contributions to positive social and environmental impact through strategic partnerships with Ashoka’s programs and Ashoka Fellows.

    4) Using conclusive evidence, demonstrate that any institution – regardless of institutional type or geographic location – can achieve world-changing impact.

    5) Tip the higher education sector so that a world-changing university becomes the new normal.

Using this approach, Ashoka U is effectively building the case that an innovative, entrepreneurial, and world-changing higher education sector is possible and provides models and resources to accelerate universities with higher education change leaders that share this vision.

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