Santander Summer Company Programme (SSCP) at the University of Glasgow

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What are the main aims and objectives?

The Santander Summer Company Programme (SSCP) aims to enable University of Glasgow students to launch and scale early-stage startups by providing non-dilutive seed funding, tailored business mentorship, and structured training. It seeks to lower financial barriers to entrepreneurship, build student entrepreneurial capabilities, facilitate market validation, and create a pipeline of ventures ready for investment and growth. The programme supports a broad range of sectors, nurtures peer networks, and contributes to embedding an entrepreneurial culture within the university community.

How does the program work?

SSCP operates through a competitive application process where University of Glasgow students submit venture proposals evaluated for innovation potential, team capability, and market opportunity.

With the financial support of the Santander Bank, the University provides a 12-week package of financial and on-demand mentoring for students to support the start-up process.

It provides:

  • A £2,500 grant per business (for up to four entrepreneurs or teams per cohort*) to cover start-up expenses (participants are provided with a list of qualifying expenses).
  • Free desk space in the University’s hatchery.
  • A package of business advice, mentoring, and training workshops that are delivered through a combination of in-house resources and resources drawn from the wider ecosystem.

Other optional, support elements comprise:

  • Participation in external events (e.g. a Scottish Institute for Enterprise bootcamp).
  • Introductions to networks, including alumni.
  • Links to external sources of business support (e.g. Business Gateway).
  • Assistance when applying to competitions and funding programmes (e.g. Converge Challenge, Scottish EDGE).
  • On-going access the Student Enterprise Manager for advice on an as-needed basis.
  • Membership of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce for one year.
  • Access to Santander banking support.

Participants make a presentation to the panel at the end of the 12-week programme on the progress that they have made and their future plans.

What is the overall cost?

Santander Universities provides significant annual funding to the University of Glasgow to operate SSCP and related enterprise programmes, with estimated yearly allocations ranging from approximately £120,000 to £150,000 (USD 150,000–185,000).

How was it implemented?

Santander Universities UK launched partnerships with major universities including Glasgow in 2007 to catalyze student entrepreneurship. By the early 2010s, University of Glasgow formalized SSCP as a summer business acceleration programme, evolving to include comprehensive workshops and mentoring.

The Scottish Business School and Student Enterprise Office played key implementation roles, designing application processes and training curricula. The launch of complementary Summer Start Up Workshop Programme in 2016 expanded skill-building opportunities for a broader student population.

SSCP has iterated annually, incorporating feedback and adapting delivery modes (e.g., virtual workshops during the COVID-19 pandemic). Annual pitching competitions began providing additional incentives for venture development.

What impact has been measured?

SSCP has supported annual cohorts of typically 20–30 student ventures, with 100+ participants in associated workshops each year. In 2021, 100% of surveyed participants recommended the programme, and 96% rated skills development as "very good."

See case study evaluating results up to 2019, here:  http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/206398/7/206398.pdf.  

What lessons can be learned?

The program has evolved over time in terms of the package of support and selection criteria in response to participant demand and feedback, such as the criticism that the diversity of participants on the programme in terms of the stage of development of their business and prior business knowledge created a strain on its ‘one size fits all’ design.

The 2019 case study led by Prof. Colin Mason provides the following important insights into the design and operation of university start-up programmes, such as: 

  1. Effective university start-up programmes are much more than about providing financial support.
  2. There are several issues concerning the selection of participants. There are considerations which have to be balanced, such as:
    • (i)  How well developed should the potential participants' idea be?
    • (ii) How much variability in the prior experience of the participants can be accommodated in the programme?
    • (iii) Should the programme favour participants who have recently graduated (or have at least one team member who has graduated) rather than ongoing students?
  3. Student start-up programmes cannot operate in a vacuum. They have to be embedded in a wider university entrepreneurial ecosystem that addresses each of the stages of startup process.

In terms of expected results and metrics, the case study offers the following lessons:

  1. On the basis of entrepreneurial outcomes, specifically the number of start-ups that have resulted: The majority of the participants on start-up programmes will either be ‘strike-outs’ or will achieve modest success; only a minority will be ‘home runs’, but they have the potential to generate significant economic benefits.
  2. However, focusing only on venture creation is too narrow a perspective, and does not the wider impacts on the participants, although the nature of these impacts is subjective and intangible (e.g. personal evaluations of the various program components).
    • In this regard, the authors point out that the role of university start-up programmes in the pre-start-up phase of the business and the largely intangible nature of the support provided means that the university’s role is often not acknowledged, forgotten or under-appreciated.
    • "[A]ppropriate metrics to measure the success of programmes such as the SSCP should be focused on the individuals participating ... and their subsequent entrepreneurial activities.... Positive outcomes arise even if a participant’s business did not succeed."

See more at http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/206398/7/206398.pdf.

Notes + Additional Context

The inspiration for the SSCP was a long-established summer company program operated by the Canadian province of Ontario that is designed to raise entrepreneurial awareness amongst school leavers and university students (ages 15-29). See https://www.ontario.ca/page/summer-company-program-guidelines#section-0. The University of Glasgow’s scheme is similar in its design.

*Because much of the support provided on university start-up programmes is delivered on a one-to-one basis, they are extremely resource intensive and hence typically operate on a small scale. 

CURATED BY

Cristina Fernandez

Director for Knowledge + Programming
Global Entrepreneurship Network
United States