Social Innovation and Collaborative Learning. MA programmes, capacity building and continued education in social entrepreneurship and social innovation

Abstract

In this chapter we explore the roots and inspirations as well as the innovative pedagogy, learning and study programmes in social innovation and social entrepreneurship at Roskilde University in Denmark. We further outline the contribution of academic capacity building nationally and internationally in the area of social entrepreneurship and social innovation. We sketch out six inspirational traditions that influence learning and teaching in social innovation and social entrepreneurship: 1/ features and concepts of classic entrepreneurship teaching, 2/ critical pedagogy of the oppressed and critical experiential learning, 3/ reform pedagogy as critical societal and subjective learning formats, 4/ creativity, scenarios and future workshops, 5/ collaborative and action learning trends and 6/ social entrepreneurship innovation labs, incubators and hubs. Consequently, we conclude that the offspring for academic learning and teaching is of a hybrid character ? performed through bricolage ? and that this presumably in the coming years will foster a differentiation when (more) universities capture this development. From a learning and skills perspective, social enterprises and social entrepreneurship are of particular interest, since teaching and learning set out to comprise theoretical, empirical and practical dimensions. At the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) we are engaged in processes of reformulating the ?old position? of the reform university, where students were first of all asked to be co-creators of knowledge and to build further on the strong tradition of participatory approaches in the social and solidarity economy. We build learning communities, platforms and arenas for informed meetings between a multitude of students, stakeholders, local communities and private, public and civic organisations and introduce four platforms: 1/ a consultancy workshop in the Master in Social Entrepreneurship, 2/ collaborative international study trips, 3/ a collaboration network between CSE and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and 4/ a SEM (Social Entrepreneurship and Management) corporate network.