Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation (SESIN)

Information about ​​​​​​​​​​​​​the start of studies

Information on the start of studies will be listed here shortly.

​What is SESIN about?

The current world situation is increasingly dominated by social and environmental challenges such as climate change, poverty, inequality, exclusion or aging societies. Against this backdrop, social innovations are gaining more and more importance as novel approaches to address these complex and multi-layered problems. The "Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation" (SESIN) M.A. program offers a unique learning environment to develop social innovations in politics, economy and society for students  who want to actively contribute to the transformation towards a more sustainable world.

Course of studies

The core of the curriculum is therefore a Social Innovation Project (SIP) consisting of six modules, in which student teams are guided through the development path of their own social innovation. The goal of the SIP courses is to empower students to analyze sustainable development issues from a multinational perspective in order to create solutions to society's challenges. This requires, an understanding of change processes and social entrepreneurship at a conceptual level and, at the same time, the ability to think, develop, present, implement, measure and improve concepts for their own social and environmental innovative change projects. Through cooperation with partner universities in countries of the Global South, the SIP is deliberately conceptualised as international and multi-perspective.

In addition to the SIP modules, students learn to reflect on the individual steps of their SIP from a theoretically sound perspective with modules on the topics of - among others - personal and intercultural competencies, economic framework conditions of sustainable development, sustainable entrepreneurship, business model development, digital transformation, new work, impact measurement and sustainability controlling. 

Here you can find an overview about the curriculum 

Here you can find all module descriptions

Perspectives

Graduates of this program are able to work in organizations that are engaged in the development, planning and implementation of social transformation processes as well as in the consulting and coaching industry (e.g. for intermediaries) and are well prepared to found their own social startup.

“Sustainable Entrepreneurship is one of the keys to unlocking our future on this planet. A deeper understanding of the systemic connections between all stakeholders and dimensions will enable new sustainable models to learn and live. And will create opportunities for people to take their faith into their own hands. I cannot wait to interact and work with the students and, hopefully, founders from HNEE.” – Jörg Rheinboldt, Co-founder betterplace.org

“I come from Myanmar and I joined the master’s program SESIN at HNEE in 2021. This study program perfectly links theoretical knowledge and scientific practices with real-life exercises using innovative teaching techniques. Over the course of my study, I have met many experts from different sectors who offered their meaningful perspectives and diverse networks which has been valuable to both the development of our social innovation project as well as to my professional career. I strongly recommend this study program to anyone who is deeply interested in making a difference, meeting inspiring people and learning in a professional and international setting!” – Soe Htet, Student SESIN

“I started the SESIN master’s program at HNEE in 2021. What attracted me the most was the combination of sustainability and social innovation. For me, the SESIN program represents an academic experience that goes far beyond the understanding of ‘how to become a successful entrepreneur’. From the very beginning, I was encouraged to leave my comfort zone by questioning cherished perspectives and habits. At the same time, I received valuable insights around the phenomenon of social innovation through lectures on creativity or innovation and seminars on applying design thinking methods. I firmly believe that innovation is a key part of tackling sustainability and social problems. SESIN is a truly hands-on “learning by doing” program which provides me the opportunity to focus on what interests me most. I can already see how the program is giving me the perfect head start and network I need to start my career of being a changemaker.” 
– Isabel Mühlmann, Student SESIN

Teaching and learning concept

The master's programme offers an open and innovative teaching and learning environment according to triple loop learning and the teaching of relevant competencies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations: Systems thinking, anticipation, normative competence, strate-gic competence, collaboration, critical thinking, self-awareness and integrated problem-solving competence. To this end, knowledge transfer is based on a high level of interactivity with workshops, case studies, experts and practitioners participating in the discussion of key concepts, theories, frameworks and new ideas for creating, developing and enabling social innovation in Germany and internationally.

In our understanding, the university of the future must be a place where talent and creativity are discovered and developed. It must encourage and enable students to be a changemaker, to take initiative and develop leadership skills, to create space for their own ideas and experiences. The learning process must transcend the boundaries between faculties and disciplines, as well as the boundaries between the university and its surrounding society. Learning in this understanding is based on action and reflection - only in this way can we think beyond borders: from village to city to region to world. In one word: Glocalization.

Admission requirements

• Language skills German B2, English B2
• First university degree (Bachelor) needs to entail at least 180 ECTS credits in economics or a degree program with an economics component. You must be able to prove that from this first degree at least 30 ECTS credits stem from thematically different economics modules and these ECTS credits should not come from transfer modules or your thesis. "Pure" business administration modules such as general business administration and marketing must be represented with a total of 10 ECTS credits.
• First lecture: End of September
• Application deadline: 15th July of each year (1st May for non German bachelor's degrees)

Teaching language

German, English

Contact person

Daniel Kruse (daniel.kruse@hnee.de)