Social Entrepreneurship

Overview

There is an urgent need for talented individuals who can design novel solutions to our most profound societal challenges.This international Social Entrepreneurship programme, offered by Goldsmiths, University of London, provides practical and sociological tools to individuals motivated to develop alternative economic practices and frameworks to meet such challenges. These might include (but are not limited to) social enterprises, collaborative innovation networks, hubs, digital platforms, support intermediaries and/or policy proposals.

Benefitting from the MA’s timely educational content as well as from its firm roots in London’s rich networks, our students go on to become thought leaders in the burgeoning social innovation field, advancing it in a creative fashion from their chosen angle. Past graduates have gone on to create their own social enterprises or to work for prestigious organisations such as the Yunus Institute and Social Enterprise UK, while some have elected to carry out advanced research into social innovation.

This MA is ideal for:

• Current social entrepreneurs hoping to develop their expertise further (roughly 25% of our students from the UK and EU study part-time while working in the field)
• Undergraduates aspiring to become social innovators and changemakers
• Intrapreneurs interested in organisational transformation within the creative sector or any other sector of interest
• Support organisation/infrastructure architects and policy makers (including those who wish to advance the field of social innovation in their cities/areas/countries)
• Those interested in becoming analysts and knowledge experts in this field (including academic researchers with PhDs)

Skills

The skills you'll develop throughout the MA include: entrepreneurial knowledge and skills; a critical understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of social entrepreneurship; the ability to critically examine the conditions required for innovation and entrepreneurship to make a strong impact on societal problems; the ability to apply entrepreneurial approaches to projects; effective business and communication skills.

Careers

It is intended that students completing this programme will seek employment primarily in two areas.

Firstly: self-employed in their own social enterprise or a member of a team of an SME developing from an existing or new practice.

Secondly: within government or NGO organisations concerned with developing the infrastructure and environment for new social enterprises to flourish.