Purpose: Students are an essential part of university innovation. Through their training, research and energy, students acquire and transfer knowledge to industry, and they help establish new businesses and start-up companies. This paper investigates how universities might capture the entrepreneurial energies of students toward the goal of university improvement and transformation while also educating students to pursue their aspirations to create new businesses. Design/methodology/approach: A framework is presented for integrating "Students as Partners" (SaP) with entrepreneurship training to achieve "inside innovation," meaning innovation to advance the practices of the university. Students participating in Blackstone Launchpad at three American universities were surveyed as to how they perceive innovation culture and support at their universities. Findings: Common services (help with business plans, market assessment and entrepreneurial training) had the biggest positive effect on satisfaction with university support. Nevertheless, many students had sought to apply their innovations inside their university and, in so doing, found navigating bureaucracy and knowing "whom to talk to" to be the biggest obstacles. Respondents were least likely to agree with the statement that their institution was willing to accept risks. Research limitations/implications: Survey included three universities. A larger sample would be useful for a broader assessment. Practical implications: Partnered services, technology entrepreneurship, system add-ons and immersion are proposed as four strategies to overcome obstacles to make universities more innovative in their practices. Social implications: The paper proposes a culture change toward engaging student entrepreneurs in innovation within universities to improve higher education practices. Originality/value: A framework for how higher education leaders might use the SaP model to capture entrepreneurial energies of students for university improvement and transformation.