Interested in pursuing this minor?
Download the Program of Study Petition from the Registrar’s Office here
Submit the form to the CBA’s Advising Office in 250 Dodge Hall or make an appointment to speak with CBA’s Minor Advisor
Questions? Email us at sei@neu.edu
“By participating in this program, I can honestly say that I learned a lot about social entrepreneurship, micro-finance, South Africa, and how the world works. I found class discussions very engaging and they often challenged conventional wisdom.”
Stephanie Page, Class of 2011, CBA Finance
Interdisciplinary Minor
Northeastern University established the Interdisciplinary Minor in Global Social Entrepreneurship (GSE) in December 2010. Undergraduates from any college within the University are eligible for the GSE Interdisciplinary Minor, including business students who may also pursue a CBA Entrepreneurship concentration with a track in Social Entrepreneurship.
Why Study Social Entrepreneurship?
Social entrepreneurship is a rapidly growing field of study, and an area that offers new and diverse career opportunities for young people interested in “doing well and doing good”. Much of the important activity in the field is focused on the developing world, and more specifically on finding sustainable enterprise solutions to alleviating poverty among the nearly 3 billion people around the world living on less than $2 a day. Business, and especially socially driven innovation and entrepreneurship, is now taking a leading role in finding and developing these solutions, in partnership with government, NGOs, philanthropy, and other elements of civil society. Only a cooperative partnership that offers the strengths of each sector can make the kind of changes needed to ensure that every person has the opportunity to live a healthy and productive life.
Foundation for the Minor:
The GSE Interdisciplinary Minor was created by the College of Business, in collaboration with other colleges within the University. The minor is based on classes and Field Research Study Programs offered by CBA in social entrepreneurship since 2007, when the CBA created a new Social Enterprise Institute (SEI) under the leadership of Professor Dennis Shaughnessy. Classes and international programs offered by other programs/departments in the College of Arts, Media and Design includes International Affairs, Human Services and Law, Policy & Society; these course offerings can be combined with business offerings to complete a truly interdisciplinary field of study in social entrepreneurship.
Required Coursework:
The Minor requires undergraduate students to complete five courses in the following sequence:
Social Entrepreneurship ENTR2206 or Honors equivalent* (offered Fall and Spring only)
SEI Field Research Study Program or Selected Dialogues of Civilization Programs** (8SH)
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See Approved Courses List below
See Approved Courses List below
The current approved list of electives (additional courses will be added) includes:
No more than 12 credits (three courses) may be counted toward the minor from any one college. For example, students participating in an SEI Field Research Program cannot count ENTR2219 or ENTR4506 towards the minor. Students participating in a Dialogue rather than a SEI Field Research Study can count up to three ENTR courses toward the minor, one of which must be the required ENTR2206.
*The Honors Seminar equivalent HONR2206 (formerly HNRU206) from the 2008–2009 academic year can be substituted for ENTR2206. The Honors Seminar equivalent HONR1205 from the 2010 academic year onward can be substituted for ENTR2206.
**Please note that certain Dialogues of Civilization programs that contain social entrepreneurship content (enterprise solutions to poverty and other conditions of poverty) and related field experience may be taken instead of an SEI approved program. Only eight credits earned from a Dialogue can be applied to the minor. Information on which Dialogues are approved will be available to students as of December 2010.