College students are pouring onto campuses across the country. This annual ritual arrives with an important set of questions for these emerging leaders: What do you want to get out of your college experience? What kind of leader do you want to be when you graduate? What contributions do you want to make to the world around you?
The most forward-thinking of universities are not just asking the questions, they are creating programs to back them up. These schools realize we need to prepare students to take on a dizzying array of complex challenges now facing our world. More…
[Washington Times]
To get the blog rolling, here is a little background information on the original School of Social Entrepreneurs based in the UK.
The School for Social Entrepreneurs was founded in 1997 by Michael Young (Lord Young of Dartington), a social innovator who had previously launched the Consumers’ Association, the Open University and around 40 other organisations.
The SSE provides training and opportunities to enable people to use their creative and entrepreneurial abilities more fully for social benefit. Individual entrepreneurs and their organisations develop and grow simultaneously through practical programmes built on learning-by-doing. The SSE also seeks to recruit more innovative and capable people into voluntary and other organisations. Students range in age from twenty to seventy; from twelve years’ unemployment to running a community organisation full-time.
Following successful Millennium Awards programmes, the SSE expanded outside its original base in Bethnal Green, London. The school continues to flourish with 10 locations and over 400 SSE Fellows across England and Ireland. Earlier this year, SSE Australia announced the launch of its first school in Sydney, based on the highly successful UK model.
Of course, this is just the beginning. We’ll be posting more about the SSE and other organisations as our project develops. In the meantime, learn more about the School of Social Entrepreneurs here.
Recently, MASS LBP was contracted by SiG @ MaRS — Canada’s leading centre for social innovation within one of the country’s most dynamic research institutions — to evaluate the feasibility of setting up a new school based on or affiliated with the UK’s School for Social Entrepreneurs. The promise and ability of social entrepreneurs to address important and outstanding social needs is one of the prime drivers of this study.
The School for Social Entrepreneurs was established in London in 1997 and has since expanded, opening 13 regional schools throughout the UK, as well as a school in Melbourne, Australia. We want to understand the value a School for Social Entrepreneurs located in Ontario might create, and how it would operate.
Over the course of the next eight weeks we’ll complete a literature review that sets out the most current thinking in the field of social entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship educations. An environmental scan will identify and assess comparable programs in Canada and abroad.
We’re also interviewing a range of experts and opinion leaders to get their perspective on social entrepreneurship education. Finally, we’re organizing events across Ontario where participants with an interest in this study can learn more about the UK model and help us design and refine their own, ideal school for social entrepreneurs.
So welcome to our project blog. Watch as this project develops, learn more about social entrepreneurship education, send us your comments and get involved! We’d love to hear from you.
