The higher education strategic partnership project “Developing Social Entrepreneurial Skills in Higher Education (SEinHE)” focused on strengthening the social entrepreneurship competencies of lecturers is heading towards the finish line, presenting a newly prepared methodological tool for educators “Educating Social Entrepreneurship Competencies In The Higher Education”. This publication is part of an Erasmus+ funded project aimed at developing social entrepreneurial skills in higher education and developing academic staff competencies.

The publication was prepared in collaboration with partners from five foreign higher education institutions: Thomas More University of Applied Sciences (Belgium), LAB University of Applied Sciences (Finland), Rezekne Academy of Technologies (Latvia), University of Nicosia (Cyprus) and Kaunas University of Applied Sciences. Its purpose is to help clarify existing social entrepreneurship competence gaps in different countries and compare the current situation.

The methodological tool consists of collections of articles describing and illustrating the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises in five project partner countries. According to the authors of the publication, it is extremely important to understand the diversity of social enterprises, since the need for competences in different enterprises is not the same. This became clear after discussions about the nature of social entrepreneurship competencies, which are accessed by discussing the Entrepreneurial Competency System (EntreComp).

In order to compile the publication, lecturers of entrepreneurship and other educational fields, as well as students, social enterprises and organizations supporting social or non-social business, business incubators were interviewed during the SEinHE project. The authors’ goal was to find out how these participants understand social enterprises and social entrepreneurship and how they solve the gaps in the relevant competences. Data sets from 5 different EU countries are analyzed and interpreted in the publication, and conclusions outlining the context of that country are presented.

The case of Lithuania in the context of social entrepreneurship was studied and described by Wilfred Tchasse, project manager of the Business Faculty of Kaunas University of Applied Sciences, in cooperation with Audronė Alijošiute-Paulauskiene, Head of the Sustainable Business Association of Lithuania (LAVA). The knowledge collected in the methodological tool about social entrepreneurship competences and competence needs will be used in the development of methodological approaches and learning content.

The project “Developing Social Entrepreneurial Skills in Higher Education” at Kaunas University of Applied Sciences was implemented two years ago. Its activities are expected to be carried out until November of this year. The project is coordinated by the Faculty of Business of Kaunas University of Applied Sciences specialists. During the implementation period of the project activities, the lecturers of the Faculty of Business gained experience from the countries considered to be experts in social entrepreneurship – Belgium and Finland – and created a model for the development of social entrepreneurship competencies in higher education institutions.