1.2 Practicums With Purpose : COMM3030 and COMM5030
As reported in our
2019 SIP report ( under Section 3.2.2 ), “ practicums with purpose ” have been introduced across undergraduate and postgraduate programs . These Work Integrated Learning ( WIL ) courses see students working on projects that involve social innovation and entrepreneurship ; philanthropy ; impact investing ; business and human rights ; corporate social responsibility ; pro bono and volunteering ; measuring social impact ; social finance ; and other related fields .
COMM3030 : Social Entrepreneurship Practicum integrates theory with experiential practice and involves authentic and purposeful engagement with partner organisations from industry , social enterprises , not-for-profits , and foundations . Convened by the Centre for Social Impact , the course teaches students the ‘ what ’, ‘ why ’ and ‘ how ’ of social businesses while they apply their business knowledge and skills to achieve practical outcomes for our partners . The students work in teams on a variety of applied projects in areas such as impact measurement , market / marketing analysis , financial analysis , benchmarking studies , and organisational development . The project experience is complemented by the application of frameworks such as systems thinking , design thinking and value propositions .
In 2021 , a group of COMM3030 students worked with Hotel Etico , Australia ’ s first social enterprise hotel , which aims to deliver a fantastic holiday experience to guests through a program that provides work , training and live-in opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities . In 2021 ,
Hotel Etico hired six trainees with intellectual disabilities , who will acquire a wide variety of on-the-job hospitality skills . During training , the trainees live on site and gain independent living skills .
In its initial stages , Hotel Etico wanted to embark on a journey of measuring its impact . The analysis completed by the students set the organisation on the path to building an impact measurement culture which will help create a tangible narrative around its work and lead to sustainable growth of its impact . For the students , the experience of visiting the site and interacting with various stakeholders , along with engaging in the space of social enterprise , has been extremely rewarding and in many cases , has led to pivoted career paths towards the world of social impact .
The hotel ’ s team were thrilled with the process and the outcome of the partnership . The general manager commented : “ It was like I ’ d just hired consultants who had been in the game for years , the professionalism and standard of work was right up there ... It ’ s provided us with a valuable resource that we will use and can build from .” A subsequent group of COMM3030 students will now collaborate with Hotel Etico to support them to further expand their measurement initiatives , with a focus on investigating the hotel ’ s impact on its partners , community
and local economy .
Other teams of COMM3030 students worked with :
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Mtns Eco – A not-for-profit community project that lists businesses , organisations , services and groups in the Blue Mountains that hold sustainability as a core value .
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The Big Fix – Shares ‘ the fixing news , not the breaking news ’ and is the first solutions-focused journalism service in Australia employing local storytellers to share local , regional and global solutions .
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Ben Roberts Café – A social enterprise café supporting young people with a disability to remain independent and socially connected in their community .
A postgraduate social entrepreneurship practicum ,
COMM5030 , operates along very similar lines .
10 | UNSW PRME SIP Report 2021