The entrepreneurship competition gives 700 students the opportunity to develop an idea, with 50 ideas progressing to the final stage, and the best progress to the acceleration and incubation programme. The pipeline fuels the Santander Entrepreneurship Awards. In 2018, Kingston School of Art design graduates, Rowan Minkley and Rob Nicoll won the coveted £25,000 entrepreneurship award for their eco-friendly Chip[s] Board material.
In the 2018/19 academic year, Santander supported a Social Enterprise category in the University's flagship entrepreneurship competition, Bright Ideas. In addition to providing sponsorship, colleagues from Santander participated in the event as guest panel judges to hear pitches and give feedback, as well as presenting the first and second prizes for the awards programme.
Santander Universities supports Kingston's programme for care leavers, providing seven bursaries in the 2018/19 academic year.
Kingston University has a diverse student base, with a high proportion coming from groups marginalised in higher education. The funding will support the KU Cares programme, which provides students with both pastoral and financial support.
Santander supports our Enterprise education programme which provides advice, mentoring, skills workshops and connections for students and graduates looking to start their own businesses.
The graduate internship provides support to the enterprise education team. Santander has enabled us to offer short periods of employment to several students.
The Enterprise intern has several roles which includes supporting the social enterprise group, Enactus as they develop projects and explore social benefit; provide marketing and event organising support for the Enterprise team's regular events, including the Enterprise programme and special events like the Bright Ideas Grand Final, and Celebrate Enterprise.
The Santander HackCentre at Kingston University has been a tremendous success, with 1,700 students participating in hack events, with 40+ industry partners. The HackCentre builds on Kingston University's reputation as a leading university for entrepreneurship.
Santander has supported internships at many different organisations. Twelve internships were placed in the 2017/18 academic year, and 20 in the following year. A number of internships were with start-ups from the University's Incubator programme.
Neomi Bennett, CEO at Neo-Innovations UK LTD - via Santander Universities Fellows page, LinkedIn Nov 2018
"I'm so pleased and honoured to be supported by Santander. Our intern (Sam) worked on a Neo-slip project as part of his Kingston University SIMAC module back in 2017 and we are absolutely delighted and thrilled to have him on board. I am so grateful to Kingston Uni and Santander because this collaboration is enabling us to continue saving lives and getting Neo-Slip out to all those who need it."
The funding supports the KU Enactus team, enabling them to develop social enterprise projects to create value in the form of new income and employment for our students.
The team has also offered support to Social Entrepreneur Alyssa Chassman – founder of ID House. Alyssa was a panellist at the UN's Summer Youth Assembly and has founded a global network of young people committed to working in International Development, but unable to find employment.
Santander funding has also enabled our visiting Social Entrepreneur deliver workshops and talks for students at several levels.
The Enactus team have begun to support ShedX, which is a community project linked to Architecture and the Tolworth development area.
Santander provides sponsorship for the University's industry-respected Strategy into Practice seminars in the Business School.
In 2018/19 academic year, we were pleased to welcome speakers including Chief Economist for Santander Frances Haque and co-founder of Lebara Group Yoganathan Ratheesan.
Santander Universities have partnered with Kingston since 2013, creating opportunities for thousands of students, local businesses and the community, with a shared vision to unlock talent whilst enabling young people to:
