Course Description

The approach of social entrepreneurship is increasingly being adopted to address complex societal problems from local to global scale. Broadly defined, social entrepreneurship refers to innovative, social value creating activities which can occur within or across the business, nonprofit and public sectors.

The course introduces students to the academic foundation of social entrepreneurship, including entrepreneurship and management studies in connections with systems thinking, sustainable value chains, and collaborative governance. The analysis of case studies will illustrate the enabling eco-systems, policy contexts, institutional arrangements, stakeholder engagements and other practical issues in the development and management of social entrepreneurship or social ventures in different socio-economic landscapes.

The knowledge and skills developed through the course will equip students with the capacity to become more effective and imaginative social entrepreneurs across a broad range of sectors. This will, in turn, be crucial for their journey of self-development as global citizens.

[A compulsory half-day workshop will take place during Reading Week.]

Course Learning Outcomes

On completing the course, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the complexities of problems embedded in socio-political and economic systems.
2. Develop a deeper understanding of the range of feasible trajectories associated with the social entrepreneurship approach.
3. Cultivate a sense of moral obligation and civic duty to act as responsible global citizens.
4. Make use of the skills, knowledge and concepts covered in the course to identify unmet needs and develop innovative cross-sector solutions to tackle multi-faceted problems.
5. Be able to communicate and advocate for a wider appreciation of our rights, duties, responsibilities and capacity for collective action driven by a social mission.

Offer Semester and Day of Teaching

Second semester (Wed)