Certificate in Social Impact
The world needs responsible leaders who are passionate about making a change and are ready to tackle challenging issues. The Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Social Impact at Smith School of Business is proud to offer a Certificate in Social Impact, which provides education and resources to the leaders of tomorrow.
Lead the Way to a Better World
The certificate connects you to the networks and knowledge you need to be a change leader in modern business. Through the certificate, you’ll learn about core topics in social impact such as:
- Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship
- Environmental Sustainability
- Social Finance & Impact Investing
- Impact Measurement
- Data and AI for Good
Objectives
The Certificate in Social Impact has been designed with the following objectives:
- investigate the root causes that contribute to prevalent social and environmental challenges through the lens of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) concepts.
- develop comprehensive entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial strategies that integrate inclusive, ethical, and sustainable practices into an organization.
- apply critical thinking skills that encompass a more human- and community-centric approach to address complex social, environmental, and governance challenges.
- evaluate organizational and systemic models through the lens of people, planet, and prosperity, with the purpose of cultivating regenerative business practices, a sustainable economy and interconnected society.
- use non-traditional analytical tools that measure and report social and environmental impact in imagined or real organizations.
- demonstrate that the planet and all people are part of the collaborative ecosystem of doing good business through active engagement and contribution to sustainability initiatives, community projects, or social impact efforts.
Components
The Certificate in Social Impact has the following three components:
- Academic component with social impact-themed courses and assignments.
- Experiential Learning – Students choose from available experiential options to complete an experiential project.
- Final Assignment - The final Reflection Assignment is an exercise that brings together the theoretical components of social impact, your key learnings from the experiential endeavor, and any personal discoveries gained throughout the program.
“The CSI Program has helped me to become a more conscientious and committed leader in social impact. I have developed a greater understanding of how to implement a successful corporate social responsibility strategy. Ultimately, by confronting challenging ethical issues in this program, I am better equipped to deal with these problems when they arise in the course of my career.”
Lawyer at Lapointe Rosenstein Marchand Melançon
Certificate Program Components
To earn a Certificate in Social Impact in addition to their Bachelor of Commerce degree, students must complete the following components:
- Achieve a minimum grade in the mandatory social impact-related program courses
- Complete the required number of elective courses from the approved list of social impact-themed courses
- Complete an Experiential learning project
- Complete the final Reflection Assignment
To earn a Certificate in Social Impact in addition to their MBA, students in the Accelerated MBA program must complete the following components:
- Achieve a minimum grade in the mandatory social impact-related program courses
- Write the final individual capstone essay on a social impact-related topic
- Complete an Experiential learning project
- Complete the final Reflection Assignment
To earn a Certificate in Social Impact in addition to their MBA, students in the Full-time MBA program must complete the following components:
- Achieve a minimum grade in the mandatory social impact-related program courses
- Complete an Experiential learning project
- Complete the final Reflection Assignment
To earn a Certificate in Social Impact, students in the Master of Management Innovation & Entrepreneurship program must complete the following components:
- Complete the required elective courses and assignments
- Complete an Experiential learning project
- Complete the final Reflection Assignment
To earn a Certificate in Social Impact, students in the Master of International Business program must complete the following components:
- Complete the required elective courses and assignments
- Complete an Experiential learning project
- Complete the final Reflection Assignment
To earn a Certificate in Social Impact in addition to their MBA, students in the Executive MBA program must complete the following components:
- Complete the required assignments
- Complete an Experiential learning project
- Complete the final Reflection Assignment