The E&I Social Entrepreneurship course works with organizations exploring innovative solutions for social problems. Course instructors lecture and foster discussion on the current research findings on social entrepreneurship in the theoretical units. At the same time, students work in teams of 4 to 5 on a pertinent question from an external organization and draft a final document containing a well-founded analysis of the situation and recommendations for action.

Although all the cases students work on fall under “social entrepreneurship”, they still tend to vary in nature. So the E&I Social Entrepreneurship course does not follow a clearly structured problem-solving approach. Students are challenged with developing their own structures and schedules for the semester project as the course progresses.

The practice-oriented E&I Social Entrepreneurship course provides students with insight into selected areas in the entrepreneurship and innovation field. After successfully completing the course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of and critically reflect on current academic and practical ideas and concepts around social entrepreneurship.
• Individually conceptualize an idea or strategic solution for a social enterprise, innovative nonprofit or social enteprise ecosystem player.
• Combine and coordinate the individual functional aspects of founding an organization with social objectives in a meaningful context.
• Summarize their findings in a conclusive, professional report and a convincing presentation.

After successfully completing the course, students will be able to work independently on an unstructured task, and have practiced organizing and managing an innovative project in a team with mentoring from external coaches.

• Real-world projects completed as part of a team with mentoring from course instructors and external coaches (in past semesters, projects included devising an innovation management concept for a large social organization in Vienna and developing an idea and implementation plan for a social start-up working in music/deafness)
• Open discussions on relevant contents with students, course instructors and practitioners
• Final presentation of results
• Summary of analyses in a final paper
• Skills workshop on course content
• Acquisition of the basics as independent study (required reading test and preparation task)

Performance is assessed based on individual as well as group work throughout the semester.

Grading system:

• 60% Group-based performance
• 10% Working Paper 1
• 10% Working Paper 2
• 20% Final presentation
• 20% Final report
   
• 40% Individual performance
• 10% Kickoff Comprehension Test
• 25% Ongoing participation and project management
• 5% Reflection task

Additionally, there will be peer ratings of the team members which may result in individual up- or downgradings.

Attendance: In order to successfully pass this course, your absence is limited to 20% of our appointments. Please note that the attendance of the kick-off and the E&I Touchdown is obligatory!

Students enrolled in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Specialization Program.

Please note that course registration is binding. The moment your registration is received, it is regarded as a clear commitment on your part. Students cannot transfer to another course (once the add/drop period is over) with no exceptions, as it would be unfair to other students (who might not have gotten into the course of their choice because of the spot you registered for). The number of students accepted to the course will only be expanded if there is no space in any other course 4/5.

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peter.vandor@wu.ac.at; reinhard.millner@wu.ac.at