CCEG SOCIAL VALUE & INTANGIBLES REVIEW
INTERVIEW
A Call to Action for Universities & Students Worldwide 100,000 students to measure their personal social value: CEOs take note! by Adrian Pryce
Interview with Prof. Nick Petford
Deputy Director, CCEG & Managing Editor, CCEG Social Value & Intangibles Review
Vice Chancellor and CEO, The University of Northampton
Nick is a geologist specialising in volcanoes, acting as a scienti c advisor to governments, research bodies and the oil industry. Married with three children, he serves on a number of regional and sector boards, and leads on the development of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship within the UK higher education sector. Here he discusses social innovation at The University of Northampton and how student experience and employability are changing through the University s focus on social and personal value.
Q. What does social value mean to Nick Petford? A. Social value is doing good in society, the pursuit not just of pro t or monetary value for its own sake but also for social change, leveraging nancial resources for community bene t, for health, wellbeing and quality of life for all. Q. When did you come to hold this view? A. I was working in the oil industry in Nigeria in the early 2000s and with the local population being displaced saw an opportunity to offset the negative impact by supporting a social venture of women s cooperatives, seamstresses actually, to help make a positive and sustainable difference. This was my rst awareness of a blended public-private sector solution, using a business model and entrepreneurship to address a social problem and drive social change. This memory has driven my own personal value system ever since.
Since then we have several strands of research and activity in the area of social innovation. In some ways we are rediscovering the roots of this University, as a working men s institute offering high quality vocational learning opportunities to advance social mobility. Our whole student experience is now built around this approach to produce highly employable graduates who will become responsible managers and leaders in industry and the professions in the future - whatever their social background. Q. A couple of years ago you initiated a campaign within the higher education sector the £1bn University Challenge. What was this about? A. The UK HE sector has an annual procurement spend of about £9bn (at that time in 2012 £7bn) and I called for the sector to spend £1bn locally supporting social enterprises and small
Q. What is the University s approach to social value? A. When I became VC here in 2010 this University already had a strong culture of social innovation, and so this was built into our ve year strategy. In 2013 the University of Northampton1 was recognised by Ashoka U to become the rst UK accredited Changemaker Campus third party validation for our work in giving all of our students and staff the opportunity to create social value, through working in a charity, starting a social enterprise or social business. Changemaking is simply where someone spots a social problem and does something about it, using an entrepreneurial and business approach. 1. The University of Northampton is one of just 30 Ashoka U Changemaker accredited universities in the world. The Changemaker Campus designation recognises universities that embed social innovation as a core value across the entire institution from admissions to curriculum, career services, and community and alumni engagement. See http://ashokau.org/programs/changemaker-campus/
November 2015
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