Postgraduate

Our MSc in Social Enterprise provides a unique opportunity in Scotland to explore social enterprise at post graduate level. It is designed both for individuals working within social enterprises and for those working in associated support roles such as funders, consultants, public sector partners.

The programme which has been designed in partnership with the Social Enterprise Academy aims to stimulate greater entrepreneurial flair, innovation and self-reliance amongst third sector and community based organisations.  It offers the opportunity for students to become more effective in their role by combining academic knowledge with practical development and research activity.

This curriculum has been developed with a consortium of European learning providers known as CEST. It is both novel and innovative in that it seeks to examine the role of social enterprise within the emerging context of economic, social and environmental sustainability. It covers the distinctive nature of social enterprise as a business model taking into account social, economic, environmental, legal, financial, operational and cultural factors. It explores the policy context and drivers for the sector. It then analyses the leadership and management challenges facing social enterprise practitioners and public sector partners.

Practical Approach

We recognise that full-time attendance is not practical for  many students. The programme is designed around 3 intensive, conference style weekends per year which provide the basis for independent study and the work based project, which is a key element of the programme.

Who is it for?

The programme is intended for managers in the sector, professionals involved in promoting social enterprise, aspiring and existing social entrepreneurs, public sector advisors, mentors, managers from existing voluntary organisations, local and national government officials and executives from economic development agencies.

• Understand current issues, challenges and strategies insocial enterprise within the context of social, environmental and economic policy at UK and European levels
• Develop original and creative responses to social enterprise problems and issues
• Plan and implement a strategy to resolve a complex social enterprise issue facing your organisation resulting in a clearly communicated and professionally valuable conclusion

• The only postgraduate Social Enterprise programme in Scotland
• Designed in partnership with the Social Enterprise Academy to provide you with the best industry expertise in teaching and serving the Social Economy
• Delivered during three intensive, conference style weekends per year
• You will produce a management report which resolves a complex social enterprise problem and results in a professionally valuable conclusion for your organisation.
• You will have the opportunity to attend Masterclasses and guest lectures led by key inspirational speakers from the business world.

Flexible Mode of Attendance

• The first weekend starts on a Friday night at 6pm for a programme introduction. Each Saturday and Sunday combines lectures, case studies, presentations, small group tutorials  and guest speakers. (March)
• The second weekend involves group time over Saturday and Sunday, with the final hours on Sunday allocated to work on the project module.(May/June)
• The third weekend involves seminars and lectures on Saturday and seminars and tutorials on the project module on Sunday. (September/October)

Conference weekends are usually scheduled in March,May/June, and September/October. Please see dates below for this session.

Supported Study

Throughout the programme you will study a key set texts and undertake independent reading and research through a range of books and journals. You will also be expected to make study visits and reflect on case studies between the conference weekends.

You will be supported throughout the year by a dedicated and sophisticated Virtual Learning Environment, the Blackboard online classroom, which facilitates a range of interactive learning activities via computer, either at home or at work.

The programme embeds practical learning with a work-based project at Certificate level and an action research exercise at Diploma level which are sufficiently complex to require planning, systematic and creative thought, and problem solving and which results in a clearly communicated and professionally valuable conclusion for your organisation.

Certificate level (Year 1)

• Social Enterprise - Policy into Practice
• Social Enterprise Project

• Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities
• Social Enterprise Action Research

• Dissertation

MODULE DETAILS

Social Enterprise – Policy into Practice

This module examines the context, structure, value and workings of social enterprise as an emerging sector in the UK.  It covers the distinctive nature of social enterprise as a business model taking into account social, economic, environmental, legal, financial, operational and cultural factors.  It explores the policy context and drivers for the sector.  It then analyses the leadership and management challenges facings social enterprise practitioners and public sector partners. The need for the public sector to understand social enterprises and the potential to use them for procurement is also covered in line with the Scottish Social Enterprise Strategy (SSES).

Social Enterprise Project

The project module allows students to examine how social enterprise can be taken forward either through the establishment of a new social enterprise, the expansion of a existing social enterprise or there focusing of an organisation toward social enterprise.

The module provides an opportunity for teaching inputs that help contextualise business planning to the sector.  It covers the potential of franchising and licensing and other possible business methods to generate more growth in social enterprise activities.

Social Enterprise for Sustainable Communities

This module analyses the economic activities of social enterprises, drawing on UK, European and international experiences and perspectives, as a set of means to achieve social, environmental and cultural impacts.  This in turn underpins the critical analysis of social entrepreneurship as an approach fitted for the local and global economy of the twenty first century.  There are nine topics for investigation:

• Globalisation

• Localism

• Work

• The social dimension

• The environmental and ecological dimension

• The cultural dimension

• Self-help and social entrepreneurship

• Sustainability

• Social capital

Social Enterprise Action Research

This module opens up questions about the kind of economic activity and business models that will support sustainable communities in the future, through action research. The social economy can be seen to originate from social and economic conflicts or crises.  The purpose of this moduleis to reflect on how social enterprise, as an economic model, can provide a solution to the crises and be run effectively to develop a sustainable future.The module is designed to link theory with practice.

Postgraduate Creative and Cultural Project

The dissertation module is the final learning component of the programme and the one which allows greatest depth of study into a topic of relevance to the sector and the student. The module is highly student led but supported by methodological inputs and tutor support at both the proposal and dissertations stages. The scope of dissertations is expected to be quite wide reflecting the different issues facing the sector; the different sub-sectors of social enterprise and the different management functions involved. It is also expected that some dissertations will be more practically oriented while others will more theoretical.

The CEST project provided an opportunity for European social economy learning providers to develop and test a robust and meaningful curriculum that could be transferred across EC countries. It was adopted and adapted for the Diploma stage of the MSc.  

http://www.cest-transfer.de/index.html

• 13, 14, 15 September 2013 (Friday 8th, 6 to 9pm only)
• 23 and 24 November 2013
• 8 and 9 March 2014

Postgraduate Diploma level (Year 2)
Students starting in the 2012/13 session

• 8, 9, 10 March (Friday 8th, 6 to 9pm only)
• 15 and 16 June
• 5 and 6 October