| Developing entrepreneurial social policy students for social enterprise |
Developing entrepreneurial social policy students for social enterprise
Posted on 31 January 2012
A new HEA-funded project at York focuses on the development of social entrepreneurship for social policy students
Social enterprises
Social enterprises are organisations with a social purpose as their primary mission. Typically a social enterprise fulfils a social need which is not catered for by either the state or private sector. However, in addition to meeting its social aims, the social enterprise must also be financially stable. It can achieve this through grants, provision of services by trading, or a combination of these things; the key though is to be independently financially viable. Social enterprises also have high 'stakeholder participation', which means that unlike traditional commercial organisations, there is direct involvement in the running of the organisation from many different people, including funders, employees/volunteers and service users.
Social enterprise as a component of social policy degree courses
At York, we acknowledge that social enterprises are playing an increasing and innovative role in our society. Our teaching of social enterprise encourages students to consider business plans, mission statements, budgeting and management approaches, with the net result of students who are more aware of the way organisations work and with improved employability. By studying social enterprise, students are asked to link their values and subject knowledge into potential social projects and businesses, with an acute awareness of the risks and positive impacts inherent in socially-motivated organisations.
Our project
Developing innovative thinking and entrepreneurial attitudes for social policy undergraduate students through practical experience in the field of social enterprise.
Funded by a Higher Education Academy Teaching Development Departmental Grant, this project builds on the work already undertaken with the York Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning - Enterprise who have helped develop the current teaching of organisational understanding, employment skills and social entrepreneurship in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work. Subject knowledge linked to employability and entrepreneurship has also been shared with research students in the White Rose network.
The outputs from this project will enable higher education institutions to provide students of social policy and associated subjects with improved employment prospects relevant to their area of study by focusing on employability issues and
developing solutions to practical problems in the emerging social enterprise sector.
The project runs from January 2012 to March 2013. Dr Robert Gunn (co-editor of Social Entrepreneurship: A Skills Approach) is the Project Lead, with Stephanie Lacey acting as Project Officer. Other staff involved include John Brown, Dr Carol-Ann Hooper and Matt Cornock. |
