Social entrepreneurship education for university students: The experience of ENACTUS Italy

This paper explores how to prepare a new generation of social entrepreneurs, particularly university students, through social entrepreneurship education programmes. Drawing on Paul Ricoeur's ethical framework, the study focuses on a social entrepreneurship education program carried out by ENACTUS in Italy. The qualitative results obtained with the Gioia methodology show that the ENACTUS programme brings ethics to three dimensions that emerge from the lens of Ricoeur's thought: individual, team, and ecosystem. At the individual level, the program emphasises a sense of humanity and encourages participants to pursue ethical goals based on "self-respect" and "self-esteem." At the team level, it highlights the importance of "respect for others" and "solicitude", fostering mutual support and recognising the intrinsic worth of every individual. At the ecosystem level, it promotes entrepreneurship within "just institutions", ensuring that individuals and teams have the freedom to pursue ethical objectives in a supportive environment. These three dimensions demonstrate that the ENACTUS programme cultivates socially aware future entrepreneurs who contribute to ethical development.