The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship

The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship was launched in November 2003 at the Saïd Business School, Oxford University, to promote the advancement of social entrepreneurship worldwide. It was created with a contribution of £4.44 million by the Skoll Foundation, the largest funding ever received by a business school for an international program in social entrepreneurship.

The Skoll grant includes funding for an endowed lectureship, a director for the Centre's activities, visiting fellows and five MBA Skoll Scholarships for students who want to apply entrepreneurial strategies to effect sustainable social change. Skoll Scholars develop a plan to positively impact a specific social problem and undertake a consultancy project in social entrepreneurship.

In addition to developing an innovative teaching program, the Skoll Centre engages in a range of research activities, both discrete and collaborative. The aim is to produce work that engages with theory that is also valuable to practitioners in the field, so that the Centre is a useful knowledge resource for social entrepreneurs.

Finally, the Centre acts as a network hub for social entrepreneurship, linking together key players in the sector and contributing toward the creation of new and effective partnerships for sustainable social change. Each year it hosts the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, where the world's leading practitioners and thought leaders in social entrepreneurship gather to set the future agenda for visionaries who want to transform society.

Click here to read more about the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University

Click here for details on the MBA Skoll Scholarships in social entrepreneurship

Click here to learn about the 2008 Skoll World Forum.