BEST: Business education for sustainable development: Teaching corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship

In response to the aftermath of the economic crisis, reduced public budgets, and the scale of future challenges, social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have become key political priorities in the EU. They are sources of social innovation and contribute to building the innovation capacity and competitiveness of the EU economies. This makes them increasingly important elements of the EU’s development strategy. However, business and economics education does not adequately reflect this trend.

The interdisciplinary academic field of social entrepreneurship is underdeveloped in the EU. The term itself is often misunderstood or narrowly defined. CSR education is limited in terms of academic hours and content. This initiative is based on the belief that for business to be motivated and capable of achieving social impact, the content of CSR and social entrepreneurship as subjects must be developed, and business education needs to become more open to what has so far largely been a public program addressing pressing societal challenges.

The main goal of the BEST project was to promote cooperation and the exchange of good practices between organizations from 7 program countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom) to improve the quality and relevance of education in the fields of social entrepreneurship and CSR, promoting social innovation, and supporting social impact and business responsibility.

Project activities included the developing of intellectual products, transnational project meetings, sustainability activities, and dissemination of results.