| Duration | 0.5 years full-time, 1 year part-time |
| Location | Online |
| Next start term | Anytime |
| Study mode | Online |
| Course code | CV88 |
| First-year fee | $7,270.5 (Indicative) (FFP) |
Overview
The Graduate Certificate in Social Innovation Leadership is ideal if you are an ambitious individual working in any field or discipline wanting to develop your capacity to lead and encourage social entrepreneurship, social intrapreneurial impact, and positive social change. Gain a strong foundational knowledge in social innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills and study a range of topics including design thinking, disruptive innovation, group dynamics, innovation and entrepreneurship for leaders. This hyperflexible degree is not bound by term dates or submission deadlines, allowing you to study when and how it suits you.
The Graduate Certificate in Social Innovation Leadership is a multi-disciplinary course that equips you with a strong foundational knowledge about social innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills.
You will study three units that prepare you to meet social challenges through the creative and sustainable development of new ideas, products, models or systems. You will be introduced to design thinking and collaborative ways of using an eco-system approach to resolve complex problems by offering ways of providing social benefit. You will gain an understanding of leadership in the context of entrepreneurship, examining the drivers and behaviours of people, group dynamics, and organisational and leadership processes. You will draw on theoretical frameworks and insights from the disciplines of management, human resources, sociology and psychology. You will develop a practical understanding of facilitating disruptive innovations and entrepreneurship within an organisation and creating market value. Your studies culminate with an innovation project which can be tailored to your workplace or interest area. You will prepare, design and implement a professional innovation project proposal to build contextual skills for designing and leading innovative projects with a social impact.
You will benefit from practical learning experiences throughout your studies, including case study analysis, real-world examples and your final project.
Designed for maximum flexibility, this course is entirely self-paced and 100% online, hosted on our Be Different platform. Access your course content on any device, anytime, and experience the ultimate flexibility and convenience.
Study experience
- Accredited Qualification
- Authentic Learning Experiences
- Flexible Online Study
- Self Paced
- Start Anytime
Career Opportunities
The Graduate Certificate in Social Innovation Leadership focuses on building the professional capacity of managers and social entrepreneurs of the future across the corporate, government and third (not-for-profit) sectors. You will learn to lead organisations creating social and environmental value, developing your ability to operate in a changed cross-sector social landscape, where the dynamism of the market is also directed at social innovation. Specifically, as a graduate, you may seek employment in consulting and providing advice on business performance and improvements, including:
- Social project design and management
- New social venture developments, international venture assessment and capital raising in a social context
- Corporate social innovation and social entrepreneurship
- Social incubator and technological innovation, support services to new ventures in Not-For-Profit and small to medium enterprise (SME) sector
- Design and development of teams and team dynamics working in social innovation Launchpad environments
Structure & Availability
Course structure
The Graduate Certificate in Social Innovation Leadership is comprised of three core units. These units are generally broken down into ten to twelve smaller, bite-sized modules for you to complete. If you choose to study all three units at once over a typical term duration of 12 weeks on a full-time basis, this equates to six months of full-time study for all units. After enrolling, you'll have access to all three units, and you can work through these in any order.
Assessments
Assessments are completed at your own pace - no deadlines or due dates. Your assessments will range from portfolio activities, online quizzes, case studies and video presentations.
Unit information
You must complete the following units:
- BUSN20022 Disruption, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (6 credit points)
- BUSN20031 Social Innovation (6 credit points)
- BUSN28002 Innovation Project (12 credit points)
Unit overviews
Disruption, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
This unit examines the dynamics and interconnectedness of business disruption, innovation and entrepreneurship. ‘Disruptive innovation’ theory is considered the most influential business idea of the 21st century. The phrase was originally popularised by Clayton M. Christensen and colleagues in 1995. Ultimately, it denotes an innovation that generates a unique market and value proposition capable of disturbing established markets and value networks by displacing conventional market leaders, products and coalitions. Disruptive innovations are evident in both established and advanced economies at either end of complex markets. Nevertheless, while an innovation is revolutionary, it may not necessarily be disruptive. Entrepreneurs who bring disruptive innovations to market are not necessarily disruptors. Business environments created by market leaders do not tend to encourage the pursuit of disruptive innovations or entrepreneurial initiatives. Primarily, this is because these products or services are initially unprofitable and divert scarce organisational resources from competing with existing competitors. Disruptive processes often require longer lead times to get to market than conventional approaches. In addition, the associated risks are higher than is evident for incremental approaches to innovation. Once deployed to market, disruptive innovations achieve a faster penetration and higher impact into established markets. You will be challenged to conceive of environments where disruptive innovations and entrepreneurship can flourish. Case studies will be used to provide exemplars of entrepreneurs generating market value.
Social Innovation
This unit deals with how organisations and individuals confront the challenges of intransigent social problems. A basis for social innovation theory and practice will be explored. Social innovation solutions often work where traditional solutions fail, because social problems have become inured to traditional solutions. Social innovation solutions are designed to be relatively low-cost, sustainable, and disruptive. You will be introduced to design thinking and collaborative ways of using an eco-system approach to resolve complex problems by offering ways of providing social benefit. An introduction will be provided to the concept, practice and impact of measurement in a social innovation context. A grounding in empirical evidence will be provided to support effective change initiatives. A case study analysis approach will used to enable you to develop the ability to assess and design solutions to enduring global social issues. Social innovation’s value is usually available to society rather than to individuals or individual organisations. A sophisticated understanding of how social innovation fits into the role of transformative global leadership will be provided. Finally, you will become equipped and adept at applying problem-solving skills, active/participatory research skills, and the notion of fast prototyping to ‘live test’ solutions.
Innovation Project
This unit enables you to design and lead innovative projects that have social impact. You will research a social issue or problem and apply your innovation knowledge and expertise to design a project proposal that addresses this issue. You will then implement the proposed project and evaluate its social impact. You will draw upon your area of specialisation and advanced knowledge of innovation and entrepreneurship, applying what you have learned in a practical and real-life context to address social change. The project will be designed in consultation with an organisation or social change group. You may focus on challenges within your existing workplace, or professional life or be involved in one of CQUniversity's social innovation initiatives.
Credit transfer information
If you have already completed study relevant to the course you have enrolled in, you may be eligible for credit transfer.
Online Availability
| Intake | Locations |
|---|---|
| Hyperflexible Annual Term, 2023 | Available Online |
| Hyperflexible Annual Term, 2024 | Available Online |
| Hyperflexible Annual Term, 2025 | Available Online |
Majors and minors are not applicable to this course.
This course has no residential schools.
Innovation Project - BUSN28002
Students are required to complete a project that addresses a social problem in consultation with an organisation or social change group. Students may focus on challenges within their existing workplace, professional life or be involved in one of CQU's social innovation initiatives.
Requirements
To be eligible
For your application to be considered, you must meet the following entry requirements.
During your study
While not needed to apply, you'll need to meet the following requirements throughout your studies.
Fees & Scholarships
Indicative First-Year Fee
The Indicative First-Year Fee is the approximate cost of enrolling in this course for one academic year for a Full Fee Paying (FFP) Place. For a graduate certificate, this is usually four units studied full-time over one term or part-time over two terms. Your actual fees may vary depending on the units you select to study and your study load. Fees are reviewed each year and are subject to change.
You may be eligible for FEE-HELP, an Australian Government loan scheme that helps eligible students pay their tuition fees. Provided you meet the FEE-HELP eligibility criteria, you can choose to use FEE-HELP to cover all or part of your tuition fees.
Learn more about paying for university or view the FEE-HELP information booklet on the Australian Government’s Study Assist website.
There may be additional costs as part of your studies, such as technology expenses. Learn more about other study costs.
How to apply
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