Students as Change Agents

Sadly, the co-curricular SACHA programme offered through the Careers Service has been discontinued.

From 2019-2025, the co-curricular SACHA programme has inspired and encouraged students to make change across disciplines, communities and sectors of society. We are delighted that the Edinburgh Futures Institute will continue to run a for-credit SCQF Level 8 version of the SACHA programme. For further details, please contact your Student Adviser.

If you have any other queries, please don’t hesitate to get in touch: careers@ed.ac.uk

Students as Change Agents is a 'living lab' programme for students, staff, and external organisations to tackle real-life challenges and generate fresh thinking. It involves students from multiple disciplines who want to make a social impact.

Students as Change Agents (SACHA) is a challenge-based programme which brings together students from different subjects to tackle real-world problems with a wider social, environmental, or economic impact. Change Agents apply their knowledge to the real world, having a genuine impact and contributing to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

• SACHA works on real world challenges posed by organisations from the non-profit, public and private sectors who are keen to gain exposure to students' fresh thinking to tackle the most pressing issues their sector is currently facing. Students have opportunities to network with challenge hosts which can lead to further opportunities such as volunteering and internships.
• SACHA gives students training and support for their personal and professional development. Students gain experience with tools, techniques and design-thinking frameworks that are regularly used in industry settings today.
• SACHA gives students recognition for taking part. Students receive a certificate for participating on the programme and have the opportunity to gain additional recognition either via an Edinburgh Award or a SLICC (Student-Led, Individually-Created Course).

Jule returned to the SACHA programme as a host and posed a challenge question the aviation industry is trying to tackle. The SACHA team interviewed Jule about her experience on the programme. Click the link below to watch the full interview.

Jule's SACHA Experience - Full interview (Media Hopper)

We welcome organisations who:

• Are open to innovation and welcome fresh thinking from the next generation of talent.
• Have complex challenges that the organisation or their sector is currently facing.
• Are willing to share their expertise and knowledge with the students to help them develop their skills, understanding and networks.
• Can provide students with access to relevant datasets to inform their work.

A good challenge needs to be explained in a clear and simple manner in order to catch the attention of students. The challenge needs to highlight how students can make a potential difference in society. A challenge that is time-limited, restricted in impact, or commercial will not appeal to students. Examples of appropriate challenges include:

• Real-world issues with social, environmental, or economic impact.
• Wicked problems, or cross-cutting problems, that have innumerable causes and, therefore, are unlikely to have one right answer.
• Challenges that do not require in-depth technical knowledge in one field.

Since 2019, we have partnered with over 30 organisations from the private, public and third sector.

Since 2019, SACHA has:

• Seen approximately 1,200 students from across different disciplines and years of study participate in the programme.
• Worked with 31 organisations from the non-profit, public and private sectors.
• Received over 86% satisfaction rate and 90% said they would recommend the programme to their friends.
• Empowered students to address 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

After each programme, we asked students to provide feedback and share their greatest takeaways from the programme. The last survey showed that the students' main takeaways were:

• Skills development
  • Over 90% of students said they developed confidence in communication, design thinking, digital communication, inclusive leadership, problem solving, public speaking and teamwork skills.
• Working with diverse people
  • Working in an intense team environment on real-world challenges has helped students make meaningful connections with peers from across the university and often establish long-term friendships.
• Getting inspired to get involved
  • SACHA was born out of a need to cater for students who are are interested in social impact and sustainability, working with others beyond their discipline, and with organisations whose values they share. The programme has helped students to realise their potential to have impact, empowering them to become Change Agents for Life.

To learn more about James' experience in the programme and how he has used SACHA to explore his interest, read the blog below.

James Conway Change Agents Journey