UK: Social enterprise at university

The country’s first social enterprise course for undergraduates linked to a business school will be launched in September.

The University of Northampton’s business school has already started to receive applications for the social enterprise development degree that aims to infect more school leavers with a passion for social business.

Senior lecturer in social enterprise at Northampton Tim Curtis says the course will have three great advantages to attract students and help create more social enterprises.

The first is that the University of Northampton also runs the local Business Link. And the course has been designed so that along with a theoretical grounding in social change students will also be expected to create their own business plans – meaning that straight after graduation they can knock on the Business Link door using the contacts already fostered as a compulsory part of their course.

Secondly, students can decide whether to do a single or joint honours. By combining their social enterprise studies with another subject, they can build a sound base for launching their own business, said Curtis.

‘For example we offer equine studies at the University of Northampton,’ he said. ‘If you were to do a joint honours degree with social enterprise you would be able to graduate with all the tools needed to run a riding school for people with learning difficulties.’

‘You would have the technical side of running a riding school but also the enterprise bit of running it successfully without losing sight of your ethics.’

The third element that excites Curtis is that the degree can also be studied intensively over two years, or less intensively over four years – allowing more flexibility for people who already have jobs.

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Source: www.socialenterprisemag.co.uk