Capacity Buildingin the Higher Education SectorDr Emer Ní BhrádaighLecturer in Entrepreneurship & Academic Social Entrepreneurship Champion, Dublin City University, Ireland

EC Social Entrepreneurship Conference

Strasbourg 16 – 17 January 2014

Outline

• Republic of Ireland Context

• DCU’s Social Entrepreneurship Mission– Ashoka U Changemaker Campus– Enactus Social Entrepreneurship Competition– Menter Iontach Nua - MSc in Management

(Innovation in Social Enterprise)

• Capacity Building Recommendations

Irish Context

• Vibrant voluntary sector– Overreliance on state funding– Rationalisation of sector

• Government recognises importance

of social enterprise in job creation– Social Enterprise in Ireland:

Sectoral Opportunities and Policy Issues (July 2013)– ACE: Accelerating Campus Entrepreneurship in higher education

network (funded by Higher Education Authority)

DCU’s Social Entrepreneurship Mission

• ‘Ireland’s University of Enterprise’• Graduate Attributes• U-Start & U-Change student

accelerator programmes• Volunteer Expo & Civic Engagement• 6-month Enterprise Education

Training Programme for Irish Higher

Education (non)Academics

DCU Ashoka U Changemaker Campus

• Network of 25+ campuses USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, IRL

• Culture of Social Entrepreneurship– Volunteering; civic engagement; student social enterprises,

visiting lecturers– Intergenerational learning photo competition– Embedding social entrepreneurship

in modules and degree programmes

Enactus Student Competition

• 36 countries Azerbaijan to ZimbabweEU: DE, FR, IE, NL, PL, UK

• Social entrepreneurship and financial & environmental sustainability

• National competitions & World Cup• Corporate sponsors• HeadstARTS DCU

MSc in Management (Innovation in Social Enterprise)

• Part-time 2-year taught Masters for sector leaders

• Shorter Level 6 training in corporate governance

• Networking

• INTERREG (East Ireland & Wales)

Capacity Building Recommendations

• Targetted education & training for sector– Finance; strategic thinking, creativity, entrepreneurship, fundraising– Embed entrepreneurship and financial sustainability in relevant

non-business discipline– Incubate for-profits and social together

• Higher education sector– Accredit student extra-curricular activities– Student aspirations and empowerment