In English
It is time to look back to the iSEE-project and share our results. iSEE-project has been funded by the Central Baltic -programme. Together we, LAB University of Applied Sciences, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, and Riga Technical University developed aligned social entrepreneurship education for bachelor’s degree students in our institutions.
Cross-border learning
We had the chance to implement an aligned course as an intensive week at the University of Tartu. The name of the course was Challenge-based entrepreneurship. 10 students from each partner education institution took part in the course to learn about social entrepreneurship together. The project invited students to learn by doing and by creating value, teaming up with international peer students, and having a novel collaborative learning experience in Tartu. Each day student teams worked on developing their own business model and trying to also describe the social impact. The students met many social entrepreneurs. The international student teams developed social venture ideas and on the final day, they presented their outcomes and got feedback from Estonian entrepreneurs.
New courses for the Central Baltic region
In total, the project developed four aligned courses where learning contents and methods offer an inviting learning journey: from the introduction of the concept of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises to societal challenges and combining social mission and business, further developing business models, and then finally to intellectual property strategies and understanding social enterprises at the ecosystem level, too. The courses are in English and online.
The idea [with the courses] is that a student from any institution can register for a course from another institution. In addition, we have created an educational plan for enterprises interested in social entrepreneurship dimensions. Also, social enterprises benefit from the knowledge, and skills in developing their business models, social enterprise identity and communicating and practicing values, IPR strategies, and developing governance.
Summary findings and continuing discussions
The project organized a social entrepreneurship seminar on the 27th of September in Lahti. This seminar brought together some researchers, educators, social entrepreneurs, and students in the field to share experiences about social entrepreneurship and the joint education development process. You can read more about the seminar in our blog.
We have shared some learning materials, case studies, and videos on our project website.
The project comes to an end, but the collaboration and joint development will continue. One forum for discussions can be Linkedin group “Social enterprises & social entrepreneurship education” If you are interested in social entrepreneurship topics and sharing experiences from education, enterprise, or some other perspective, you are warmly welcome to join there!
