This course aims to introduce students to the interdisciplinary nature of social enterprise by critically examining the contributions of social entrepreneurs to both local and international communities. The course will engage students in analysing a variety of social initiatives carried out by different kinds of organisations ranging from Corporate Social Responsibility of multi-national corporations to small, community-based organisations. The course will explore how the concept of social entrepreneurship applies to both developed and developing countries.

Lectures: 2 hrs x 10 weeks

External visit: 4 hrs x 1 week

(Please refer to MyCampus for timetable)

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ILO

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

To provide students with an understanding of:

■ The nature of social and community enterprises, what they are, why they exist and the reasons for the recent growth in social entrepreneurship

■ The different types of social enterprises

■ The backgrounds, skill sets and motivations of social and community entrepreneurs

■ The different theoretical approaches to social and community entrepreneurship

■ The skills and resource requirements which enable the development and growth of social and community ventures.

■ The concept of social entrepreneurship applied to developing and developed context

■ What contributions that governments might make to the growth and sustainability of social and community entrepreneurs

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Evaluate what social and community entrepreneurship is and the reasons for its growth

2. Distinguish between concepts, practices and processes of social and community entrepreneurship

3. Appraise how the key entrepreneurial concepts of opportunity identification, evaluation and exploitation are used within a social and community context

4. Differentiate the challenges that social and community enterprises face in achieving sustainability, and specifically how certain resources, for example, social capital, can either facilitate or constrain the development of social and community entrepreneurship.

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