Impactful Social Entrepreneurship

Choose Impactful Social Entrepreneurship if you want to combine learning with real-world impact abroad. You’ll start with courses at a partner university abroad, where you build an good understanding of the country’s economy and business environment. You’ll also learn the local language and explore key development challenges to better understand the context you’ll be working in.

Next, you’ll complete an internship with an NGO or social enterprise of your choice. You’ll contribute to meaningful projects and use applied research to identify opportunities that help the organisation strengthen and scale its impact. This minor is for students who want international experience, professional growth, and work that matters.

Admission

An intake interview with the minor coordinator to assess your motivation, attitude, expectations as well as the English language skills and to check your study results, is part of the admission process. As all courses are taught in English, you are expected to have attained English language skills at CEFR level B2. If you are unsure about your level, you can do a (free) written and spoken assessment.

In case there are too many applications, a selection must be made. For this selection the study results (propaedeutic certificate obtained), the diversity of the potential participants and motivation will be considered. In case of equal suitability, lots will be drawn. You can contact menno.lind@hu.nl to make an appointment for the intake interview or in case you have questions.

The Examination Board determines which minors do not have a higher professional education level and/or have an unacceptable overlap with the compulsory curriculum of your own study programme. Check at the page Not allowed minor courses under your institute which minors are not allowed. 

Content

The research minor Impactful Social Entrepreneurship offers a hands-on international experience. As a student, you choose one destination: Bangladesh, Uruguay, or Portugal. In your selected country, you combine courses at the local partner university with an internship at an NGO or social enterprise. You’ll explore the local economy, development themes, and social entrepreneurship, then put that knowledge to work in the field.

During your internship you’ll conduct applied research to help your host organisation increase its impact. Many NGOs face shrinking traditional funding and are exploring income-generating social enterprise models. Your role is to support this transition by analysing opportunities, testing ideas, and translating insights into practical recommendations. You’ll return with international experience, stronger research skills, and work you can be proud of. The minor coordinator together with the local partner university will provide you with the internship. There is a choice out of different organization, you can select one that fits your study profile and interests.

 Learning objectives

• Defining Business Opportunities
  You will be able to proficiently define and identify business opportunities, recognizing potential areas for growth, innovation, and market development. 

• Recommending Possible Strategies
  You will be able to recommend viable NGO strategies by critically analyzing organizational challenges and opportunities. You will be able to consider factors like market dynamics, sector trends, and internal capabilities, generating innovative options aligned with organizational goals. 

• Communication skills
  Your communication skills will help stakeholders to understand and contribute to decision-making. 

• Optimizing Business Practice
  You will be able to identify areas for improvement, set clear goals, create a detailed optimization plan, implement changes, and continuously evaluate processes for ongoing optimization. 

• Managing Stakeholders in a Culturally Diverse Surrounding
  You will be able to identify stakeholder types, evaluate roles, determine communication strategies, seek win-win solutions, and develop change management plans in culturally diverse contexts. 

• Managing Oneself in a Complex Surrounding
  You will be able to develop essential skills for personal and professional effectiveness, emphasizing organization, self-regulation, dependability, stress management, and adaptability.  

 Courses

· Courses taught in English (12 EC in total)

• In Bangladesh: Economy of Bangladesh, Beginners Bengali language, Research Methodology in Social Sciences, Advanced Methods in Social Science Research
• In Uruguay: Doing Business in Latin America, Spanish language, Entrepreneurship in Latin America
• In Portugal: Social Entrepreneurship, Portuguese language

Hogeschool Utrecht

• Personal development (3EC):
  You will reflect on the basis of peer and self-evaluation, with the support of supervisors, on items as personal and professional effectiveness, self-organization, self-regulation, dependability, stress management and adaptability. 

Internship placement

• Internship and Research (15 EC):
  Via the local partner university we have contacts with NGOs and Social Enterprises active in different disciplines, like education, healthcare, childcare, small business support, sustainability, village or community development and climate impact. You will do an internship at an organization of your choice and create an advisory research report.

Assessment

Literature 

• Weerawardena, J. & Sullivan Mort, G. (2006). Investigating social entrepreneurship: A multidimensional model, Journal of World Business, Vol. 41, Issue 1, pp. 21-35, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2005.09.001. 
• Kucher, J.H. & Raible, S.E. (2022). Social entrepreneurship: A Practice-Based Approach to Social Innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing. 
• James, B. (ed.) (1955). Bengali for Foreigners, Dhaka University Press Limited. 
• English to Bengali Dictionary. Banglapedia Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (online version). 
• Nurul Islam, A.M. (2008). An Introduction to Research Methods. A Handbook for Business and HealthResearch. Second edition Mullick and Brothers.  
• Kothari, C.R. (2004). Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques, 2nd revised edition John Wiley and Sons Ltd.  
• Chatfield, C. & Collins, A.J. (1989). Introduction to Multivariate Analysis, London: Chapman & Hall. 
• A bound Xerox-copy of articles written by eminent economist of Bangladesh on various development issues of the country, and selected by faculty member, is available at NSU copier center for you to procure. 
• Ahmed, S. (2015). Growth with Equity: Contemporary Development Challenges of Bangladesh. BIBM, 2015. 

Schedule

The minor takes place in block C and D. 

With the exception of the first teaching period of the academic year (starting September), the lesson and test schedules are always posted on Mijn Rooster four weeks before the start of each teaching period. The schedule for the first teaching period of the academic year can be found on the site three weeks before the start. The most up-to-date schedule is always visible on Mijn Rooster. 

At HU, full-time education may be scheduled between 08:30 and 19:00.

Additional costs

You don’t have to pay a university tuition fee. Any additional costs like, international health insurance, visa, flight tickets, housing, local transportation, food and education costs like books depend on your destination.