MA/PGDip/PGCert
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE: DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
This programme is designed for people who are developing, promoting and
leading social enterprises. It aims to enable them to gain the knowledge,
skills and capabilities for carrying out their work and to build a body of
theoretical and practical knowledge to underpin policy, practice and
understanding.
The underlying aim of the course is to develop the capacity of the social
economy, by providing appropriate forms of continuing professional development
to people working in this sector and by establishing a sustainable lifelong
learning infrastructure.
This course forms part of the modular postgraduate programme which has been
running since 1994 in collaboration between the Centre for Institutional
Studies (CIS) and Education and Community Studies, together with Education
Development Services. Thus, it operates within a tried-and-tested framework of
teaching and learning and of quality assurance, and its participants can draw
upon a range of learning opportunities.
It will operate in tandem with companion pathways run by CIS in Voluntary
Sector Studies and Public and Community Service, and a common range of modules
is available. Thus, students on this course will be able to select from these
modules, and students on the existing pathways will select from the Social
Enterprise offer .
This course has been developed in association with Social Enterprise London
(SEL) and in discussion with an advisory group, established by SEL, on forming
an infrastructure for continuing professional development and lifelong
learning.
Aims
This course aims:
- To develop students’ professional capabilities and critical
understanding in the role, promotion, development and management of social
enterprises
- To provide a framework for sharing and critically reflecting on policy,
practice and professional knowledge
- To advance the body of theoretical and practical knowledge about social
enterprise as a model for economic and community development and to underpin
policy, practice and understanding
- To develop the capacity of the social economy, by providing appropriate
forms of continuing professional development to people working in this sector
and by establishing a sustainable lifelong learning infrastructure.
Context
Social enterprises have become a major feature of economic and social policy
in the first part of the twenty-first century in that:
- they offer organisational structures and processes in keeping with larger
social policies to create more participative and effective social institutions
- they have proved innovative in creating markets and meeting emerging needs
- they can provide a workplace that supports special needs of employees
- commercial enterprises have not proved sufficiently responsive or viable
for carrying through regeneration and community development policies
- voluntary and community organisations are seeking self-reliance through
trading and service-providing activities, partly for independence and partly
because of the competition for charitable and public funding
Social enterprises and the social economy are defined by the European
Commission as:
'[any organisation which can demonstrate].... solidarity and participation
(one member, one vote) of its members, whether producers or consumers, informed
by a proud independence and civic purpose. The enterprises are generally in the
legal form of a co-operative, a mutual society or a non-profit
association...... Such enterprises belong to the Economie Sociale sector
because of their purposes and the way they organise and manage their productive
activity…' (EC Communication SEC(89)2187).
NB: This definition and the content of the course is somewhat narrower
than the broad definitions under which the
BA in social enterprise operates.
Body of knowledge
As a fast-developing area of policy and practice, there is a need to create
a body of theoretical and practical knowledge about social enterprise and the
social economy. The postgraduate programme will be an important vehicle for
this, not only by supporting practitioners in research for their MA projects
and other assignments but by providing a forum for testing of ideas and
practices. The programme will set up methods for consolidating the knowledge
gained by this problem-solving and intellectual inquiry, which will complement
the development of a research network initiated by Baker Brown Associates with
SEL.
The body of knowledge will, as well as inquiring into current activities,
turn the spotlight onto the theoretical and practical knowledge accumulated
through the history of co-operative and mutual organisations and the philosophy
underlying them. The concept of social enterprise is intellectually challenging
in that it problematises many assumptions about methods of working,
organisational and social theory, and processes of social reform.
Thus, the programme will set up a synergy between current developments and a
long-established body – which has been somewhat in abeyance – of
philosophy and experience.
Structure
The course is constructed of modules of 30 credits together with a major
project of 60 credits, as for the other pathways in this modular postgraduate
framework. Thus, it is compatible with the template agreed in the Faculty of
Social Sciences to enable sharing of resources and module choice.
To obtain the MA, students will be required to complete three content
modules and the Planning Development and Support (PDAS) module and write a
dissertation from a major project (20-25,000 words) on a topic within the
social enterprise field or on a work-based project; or to complete four content
modules as well as PDAS and undertake a minor project (15,000 words).
A postgraduate diploma is awarded to those completing three content modules
and the support (PDAS) module (PDM401); a postgraduate certificate for the core
module and one other, along with participation in the PDAS module.
In all cases, to gain a qualification in Social Enterprise one of the
content modules must be the social enterprise core module (SEM400) combined
with further specialist social enterprise modules; or modules from other
pathways or, subject to consultation, from other UEL postgraduate courses. The
student will provide a rationale for the selection of modules as forming in a
coherent programme in his/her Learning Agreement (which forms part of PDAS,
PDM401).
The programme offers flexible, student-centred learning within an
infrastructure of lifelong learning in that
- the problem-solving and critically reflective approach helps tackle real
issues and shares knowledge among participants
- credits can be imported through accreditation of previous experience and
learning
- learning and credits can be achieved through independent study and
participation in other courses (by making a proposal for individual or group
learning, PRM401 the 'shell module').
- participants' current organisational and individual concerns can be the
focus of workshop/seminar discussion, assignments and the MA project.
Key is the negotiation of a learning agreement in which the student reviews
the knowledge and skills s/he is bringing to the course and his/her learning
objectives, and plans an individual learning programme, as part of the PDAS
module. Depending on the individual's situation, s/he may include in this
review any commitments to or expectations from employer or sponsor and any
resources in workplace or community s/he will be able to draw on.
Also key is the analysis, which underpins this modular programme, of the
characteristics of postgraduate achievement (see the Student Handbook). As part
of planning a Learning Agreement, the student considers the list of common and
discretionary characteristics and selects from the latter which are appropriate
to him/her, and then sets out how s/he plans to achieve them. Thus, the student
may decide to focus on different aspects of postgraduate learning in different
modules.
Fees
The fees correspond to those for the modular postgraduate programme:
- For UK and EC students, in 2002-03 each module costs £297 and the
major project £1,140. Thus, fees for the whole MA starting in September
2002 would amount to about £2,400.
- For overseas students, modules will cost £765, the major project
£2,970, and the whole MA about £6,100.
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