Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation (SESIN) Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development

Your studies are an individual learning journey towards developing a sustainable, socially entrepreneurial mindset and way of acting. In the six project-based learning modules of the Social Innovation Project (SIP), this journey begins with exploring your own personality to form a team and analyse a complex social problem of your own choosing. Building on this, you will develop and test sustainable social ideas, which you will refine into a commercially viable concept using design thinking methodology. This concept is then evaluated with an impact-oriented approach and potential for scaling and put into practice with a focus on viable financing options. Elective modules—freely chosen to suit your individual specialisation—and in-depth modules such as Designing Future Economies, Social Innovation & Digital Transformation, Stakeholder Engagement & Marketing of Social Innovations as well as intercultural experiences will support and enrich your path.

In the first semester, you will form competence-based teams and use collaborative creativity techniques and in-depth problem analysis to identify topics for your social innovation projects. You will also engage with personal, intercultural, and macroeconomic aspects of social transformation. In the second semester, you will further develop your entrepreneurial mindset while creating prototypes and business plans based on your ideas in the social innovation project. In subsequent modules, you will develop normative narratives for a more sustainable future and learn the role that digitalisation can play in driving social transformation. In the third semester, the focus shifts to public communication, financing, scaling, and measuring the impact of social innovations. As part of the social innovation project, you will launch a crowdfunding campaign for your innovation and implement a first pilot project in practice. In the fourth semester, your individual learning journey culminates in a final reflection through a business simulation and the writing of a Master’s thesis, supported by a colloquium to guide you through the most important steps and methods of scientific work.

A thematically relevant Bachelor's degree from a university or university of applied sciences or another equivalent degree from a state-recognised university is required for admission to the Master's degree programme. This first professionally qualifying university degree must comprise at least 180 ECTS credit points and must have been obtained in the field of economics or in a degree programme with an economics component (e.g. business psychology, business informatics, industrial engineering, or business education). Applicants must provide evidence of at least 30 ECTS credit points from thematically distinct economics modules completed as part of their first degree programme. Credit points from transfer modules and theses are not eligible. The relevant study modules include general business administration, economics, accounting, business and corporate law, human resources management, controlling, marketing, market research, corporate management, sustainability management, and business mathematics. Business administration modules (such as general business administration and marketing) must be represented with a total of at least 10 ECTS credit points.

376 EUR per semester

This includes a semester ticket for public transport in Germany (Deutschlandsemesterticket).

Approximately 1,200 EUR per month

At the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE), a variety of funding opportunities are available to support students’ international mobility in research, study, and internships—including the Erasmus+ and PROMOS programmes. Students can also apply for scholarships through the STIBET programme, which enables them to complete their studies or receive support for their outstanding commitment. In addition, HNEE awards the Deutschlandstipendium to support students with outstanding academic achievements. Various foundations also offer scholarships to support students throughout their academic journey.

Career service

There are two options for accommodation in Eberswalde: the student residence halls, managed by the student service (Studentenwerk), or a privately rented room or flat in Eberswalde.

Berlin is 50 kilometres from Eberswalde and can be reached by train in 30 minutes.

About 2,300 students from all over the world are registered at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development. At the moment, 11% of the students come from abroad. Our university was founded in 1992. Eberswalde has been one of the major academic centres of forestry studies in Germany since 1830. Several other federal and regional state research institutions are situated on the Forest Campus.

The town of Eberswalde has a population of 43,000 and is located just 50 km north-east of Germany's capital, Berlin. Eberswalde is the county seat of the district of Barnim in the north-east of the state of Brandenburg. The city is also called "Waldstadt" because there are extensive forest areas around the city. In the north of Barnim, you can find the biosphere reserve Schorfheide-Chorin. The town has had 1,468 hectares of woodland since the 14th century with about 1,000 hectares of recreational forest and 271 hectares of nature reserves and ecologically significant habitats.