Service-Learning and Social Entrepreneurship in Higher Education ─ A Pedagogy of Social Change

Educating students for twenty-first century engagement with communities, both local and global, presents universities with opportunities to teach critical reflection on the social challenges they face. Building on the strong foundation established by the service-learning movement in higher education, social entrepreneurship education is becoming prominent on many campuses. Enos conducted research at ten campuses in the United States recognized for their leadership and gives an instructive look into how campuses - large and small, public and private - organize their resources to engage students with the community. The author proposes four strategies to educate students: organizing frames that serve as unifying visions, expanded concepts of engagement, the exchange of the 'best' of service-learning and social entrepreneurship practices with each other, and the design of learning goals and strategies that achieve the ends of both approaches.

Sandra Enos is Associate Professor of Sociology at Bryant University, USA.