The consortium sought to achieve a number of key objectives on completion of the project: 1. Research current best practices in Social Entrepreneurship (SE) and SE programmes required to support NGOs. 2. Design and develop the proposed Social Entrepreneurship programme set for the level recommended by the research and including specialist content also confirmed through the research. 3. Accreditation of the new social entrepreneurship online programme by the national regulator in Malta 4. Marketing of the new Social Entrepreneurship programme to recruit suitable social entrepreneurs for participation in the pilot programme. An online campaign would be run in each of the four partner countries to promote the programme and recruit students on a full scholarship basis. The scholarships ensure that students are the ultimate beneficiaries. 5. Implementation of the 18-month online Social Entrepreneurship programme as a pilot programme. Based on the Erasmus+ funding, circa 60 students would be offered a full scholarship in the programme. 6. Publish and disseminate the findings of the research study and feedback from the pilot intakes students enrolled for the Social Entrepreneurship programme
All partners had previous experience of international project collaboration and most had already worked together on previous Erasmus+ projects. The pro-activeness of the Maltese educational regulator, the Malta Further & Higher Education Authority was another main factor that led to the development of the programme. The inclusion of specialist partners in the consortium also added resources and competences that played an important part in the development and implementation of the project within the strict timeframes of the Erasmus+ funding programme. These factors, placed the consortium in an ideal position to research, design, develop, produce, accredit at EQF/MQF Level 5 90 ECTS credits the proposed Undergraduate Higher Diploma in Social Entrepreneurship, integrating the ARPEL process as part of the project. The recruitment and implementation of the pilot programme provided validation of the relevance and effectiveness of the project’s research and development efforts. The focus throughout the programme was the applicability of the learning. The applied research projects resulted in tangible initiatives that added value to existing SMEs or were part of a start-up process.