Ashoka U Influencer

Making the Case: Social Innovation for Higher Education
Thursday, July 26, 1:30-8pm, Washington, DC
Ronald Reagan Building and The Newseum

This is a closed event, please contact Beeta Ansari at bansari@ashoka.org for an invitation.

How can we secure the role of the university as driver of innovation – tangibly moving the needle on concrete social problems, and educating generations of confident changemakers?

Purpose

Many claim that colleges and universities are becoming obsolete, but higher education may be our best bet for empowering society to innovate at the rate the world is changing. Social innovation in higher education is a compelling antidote to the decline of public confidence in the outcomes of higher learning.

Emerging models of university-based social innovation are addressing some of the rising concerns about higher education’s relevance. To achieve large-scale adoption of social innovation as a core value, we must ignite a systemic shift in higher education to overcome the many structural barriers, and support colleges and universities committed to positive social impact.

Outcome

We have selected seven frequently cited sector challenges as a framework for our work together. We will begin the afternoon by exploring emerging models of social innovation in higher education that show promise in addressing these challenges. Then, Ashoka U Influencer participants—higher education experts and innovators like you—will form “design teams” to compile new ideas, intervention and strategy recommendations. Our insights will feed into a collectively authored “innovation brief,” tentatively titled Making the Case: Social Innovation for Higher Education.

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