South Africa Field Study

The Field Research Study in South Africa is built on the theme of social entre­pre­neur­ship in urban town­ship com­mu­ni­ties, spe­cific to Cape Town, South Africa. The aca­d­e­mic por­tion of the pro­gram includes sub­ject mate­r­ial such as social entre­pre­neur­ship, social enter­prise devel­op­ment, micro-finance, busi­ness solu­tions to end­ing poverty and small busi­ness management.

Classes are sup­ple­mented with site vis­its to social busi­nesses in the sur­round­ing Cape Town or Cape Flats area, as well as the Desmond Tutu Foun­da­tion, Robben Island, Par­lia­ment and other historical/cultural sites. Stu­dents also attend guest lec­tures by South African his­to­ri­ans, politi­cians, jour­nal­ists, ven­ture cap­i­tal­ists, doc­tors and researchers in the areas of South Africa post-apartheid, mod­ern busi­ness cli­mate and the impact of the HIV/AIDS pan­demic on the South African economy.

In the after­noons, stu­dent gain field expe­ri­ence by work­ing with entre­pre­neurs to help build small busi­nesses in town­ship com­mu­ni­ties such as Khayelit­sha, Langa and Gugulethu. The con­sul­ta­tion teams are made up of North­east­ern stu­dents in addi­tion to TSiBA (Ter­tiary School in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion) students.

At the end of the micro-consultation project, stu­dents present their busi­ness deliv­er­able to a panel of stu­dent peers and judges from the TSiBA Entre­pre­neur­ship Cen­tre, whom later deter­mine whether or not the busi­ness is eli­gi­ble for an equity invest­ment from the NU-TSiBA MicroVen­ture Fund, a pri­vately funded micro-equity fund for small busi­ness own­ers or entre­pre­neurs from town­ship com­mu­ni­ties. Eli­gi­ble busi­nesses can receive equity invest­ments between $1,000-$10,000 USD. This por­tion of the pro­gram allows stu­dents to gain “con­sul­ta­tion” expe­ri­ence and also illus­trates the prac­tice of real life ven­ture cap­i­tal for busi­ness devel­op­ment, par­tic­u­larly in post con­flict, emerg­ing mar­ket com­mu­ni­ties. The fourth week of the pro­gram incor­po­rates a week of ser­vice learning.

Course Cred­its

You must choose between two of the fol­low­ing courses in order to receive 8 semes­ter hours of aca­d­e­mic credit for this program:

• ENTR3306: Global Devel­op­ment Entre­pre­neur­ship (4SH)
• ENTR3308: Busi­ness Eco­nomic His­tory of Mod­ern South Africa (4SH)

Cost of Program

$9,460 (full Sum­mer tuition for the 2011–2012 aca­d­e­mic year)

*Please note that the Social Enter­prise Insti­tute awards pri­vate, need based schol­ar­ships for stu­dents with cases of finan­cial hard­ship. Eli­gi­bil­ity will be deter­mined from the student’s finan­cial aid coun­selor and through a sep­a­rate appli­ca­tion process with the Social Enter­prise Institute.

Accom­mo­da­tion

Stu­dents will live in apartment-style accom­mo­da­tions in Cape Town; the cost of accom­mo­da­tions is included in Sum­mer II tuition.

Appli­ca­tion Process

1. Com­plete the online Dia­logue of Civ­i­liza­tions application
2. Turn in two copies of your unof­fi­cial tran­script to OISP in 403 Richards Hall
3. All stu­dents must attend sup­ple­men­tal inter­views in addi­tion to the online application
4. Stu­dents may be asked for a fac­ulty reference
5. Please see OISP staff for more infor­ma­tion or con­tact studyabroad@neu.edu

To apply, please visit www.oisp.neu.edu (if before appli­ca­tion deadline)

Eli­gi­bil­ity

Please note this pro­gram is only open to sopho­mores or above with a min­i­mum 2.8 GPA. Excep­tions can be made for fresh­men appli­cants who have pre­vi­ously enrolled in a course with Pro­fes­sor Shaugh­nessy. Stu­dents who do not meet this require­ment but still wish to apply must con­tact SEI at sei@neu.edu 

Pref­er­ence is given to stu­dents who have com­pleted course­work with the fac­ulty leader though not required.

Dis­claimer

Some infor­ma­tion posted here is ten­ta­tive and sub­ject to change based on costs and dates of avail­able flights. The web­site is updated as cur­rent infor­ma­tion becomes available.