Social and Solidarity Economy (KAO)

The Post-graduate programme accepts graduates or higher institution diplomas of related disciplines. The programme is offered in Greek. 

The knowledge of a foreign language and good computer-Internet skills would be useful for the successful participation in the programme.

Note:

Holders of a degree or diploma of higher education means graduates of Greek Universities or Polytechnics or Higher School of Fine Arts or Higher School of Pedagogical and Technological Education or Higher Technological Educational Institutions (ATEI) or those who hold academically equivalent first cycle degrees from recognized foreign educational institutions with the degrees awarded by the Greek Higher Educational Institutions, in accordance with the provisions of article 304 of Law No. 4957/2022 (Government Gazette 141/21.07.2022, vol.)

Marking:

For the evaluation of the application to the Postgraduate Studies Programme, it will be examined whether the candidate’s institution of study is or may be included in the National Register of Recognised Higher Education Institutions of Foreign Countries and whether the candidate’s degree is or may be included in the National Register of Types of Degrees of Recognised Institutions of Foreign Countries.

The Hellenic Open University, if the degree is included in the list of article 307 of Law No. 4957/2022, must request a “Certificate of Place of Study”, which is issued and sent by the foreign university. If the place of study or part of the studies is confirmed as the Greek territory, the degree is not recognized, unless the part of the studies that took place in the Greek territory is in a public higher education institution or in a recognized foreign educational institution within the meaning of paragraph b) of article 299 of Law No. 4957/2022.

Upon completion of the Social and Solidarity Economy (Henceforth SSE) PSP, graduates will have learned:

• The content, history, and foundations of the concept of SSE.
• The basic theoretical – epistemological assumptions and central arguments of the modern approaches to SSE.
• To identify the various types of SSE enterprise, rewards for labor, funding, and transactions.
• To critically assess modern theories regarding the commons.
• The technologies and practices based on or focused toward the commons.
• To research the commons through an interdisciplinary, multi-faceted approach, combining theoretical study and discussion with practical and participatory learning procedures.
• The opportunities and challenges connected with the development of new cooperative means of producing common goods.
• The various approaches to development policy and their spatial parameters.
• The various approaches to social innovation.
• To design SSE organization and development at the community, local, and regional level.
• The objectives and political aims of public policy in addition to the factors that shape them by country.
• To historically and critically assess relations between state and the SSE.
• The history of the ongoing political discussion on the SSE.
• How to plan and implement public SSE policies.
• To historically and critically assess the relation between social movements and the SSE.
• To identify and evaluate commercial “opportunities” and innovative approaches in the SSE.
• The recent economic – technological developments and evaluating their impact on the SSE.
• To develop and coordinate SSE enterprise management and function strategies.
• To develop the appropriate strategies for product and service placement and diversification.
• The terms and necessary prerequisites for the creation of different types of teams, in addition to their stages of development.
• The factors that influence team dynamics.
• To plan and implement models of communication between those involved in SSE enterprises.
• To suggest means of resolving inter-team conflicts.
• To plan reflective and self-evaluation processes for team projects.
• The variety of management models within a single SSE enterprise.
• To support SSE enterprise team members in planning and implementing decision-making and management models.
• To organize the management functions of an SSE enterprise.
• To collectively coordinate SSE enterprise employees.
• To program and oversee the implementation of production processes.
• To identify and determine the funding/financial requirements of SSE enterprises.
• The national and European policies in place for funding SSE enterprises, in addition to the management and financial positions of said enterprises.
• To identify and evaluate the available sources of alternate funding for SSE enterprises.
• To assess the possible risks of alternative sources of funding for SSE enterprises and fulfill their individual objectives.
• To make decisions in conditions of uncertainty and risk, ensuring the investment readiness of an SSE enterprise.

General Information
The need for a PSP in the SSE in Greece is more pressing than ever, both at the academic and the practical level.

Academically, SSE research has seen rapid development in recent years due on the one hand to the search for new models of development and socio-economic organization in conditions of near-constant crisis, and on the other, to advances in the field itself. Over the past five years Greece has been at the center of academic research on the SSE, given its impressive development in the ongoing financial crisis, with numerous case studies being produced by both foreign and Greek researchers. As a research field, the SSE is organized as both a revitalization and a revolution of scholarly research in the tertiary sector, the social economy, volunteerism and the non-profit sector, in keeping with developments in the field. SSE research is carried out internationally through numerous university workshops, PSPs, research foundations and institutes, international conferences and research programs. Both theoretical and empirical SSE research is correlated with various Social Sciences, such as the planning, organization, and management of SSE enterprises, the sociology of collective action, the economics and geography of regional development, community psychology, welfare policy and the welfare state, and the theoretical and inter-disciplinary approach to the commons. The proposed PSP seeks to examine all the aforementioned aspects of the SSE.

On the practical – applied level, the rise of the SSE in Greece in recent years has demonstrated the need for trained, professionally educated individuals capable of providing solutions to the challenges faced by the sector. These are, indicatively:

a) The small number of employees who possess the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge. As a result, SSE enterprises have neither the necessary qualifications nor adequate support at establishment, and their founders are forced to turn to traditional consulting firms that do not possess SSE experience,

b) The small number of central, regional, and local executive staff capable of planning and implementing SSE policies and support programs, and

c) Most of the existing SSE enterprises utilize the traditional structure of the Greek economy, due to lack of access to adequately trained staff capable of supporting social innovation enterprises.

Current situation of SSE PSPs, in Greece and abroad

The present PSP is the first of its kind in Greek Higher Education. However, numerous individual faculty members at HEIs throughout Greece study its various aspects.

Internationally, many such PSPs have been founded at universities across the globe. Indicatively, European PSPs that offer a similar curriculum function, in France at Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut Cambrésis, Université de haute – Alsace, Université Paris – Est Marne La Vallee, Université Caen Normandie, Université Jean Monnet Saint Etienne, Aix Marseille Université, Institute Catholique de Paris, and Université Paris 8, in Switzerland at the University of Geneva, in Spain at the University of the Basque Country and the University of Montragon, in Italy at the University of Bologna and the University of Trento, in Denmark at the University of Roskilde, in Portugal at the Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, in Ireland at University College Cork, and in Belgium at the University of Liege. There are also numerous PSPs in Canada, Australia, the Far East, and Latin America.

The present PSP has been organized according to the model of the PSPs available in Europe.

1st Semester

• KAO50 Concepts and Theories of Social and Solidarity Economy (C¹, 10 ECTS)
• KAO51 Organizational forms and types of the Social and Solidarity Economy (C, 10 ECTS)
• KAO52 The Commons: An Alternative Paradigm (C, 10 ECTS) 

2nd Semester

• KAO60 Spatial Development, Social Innovation and the Social and Solidarity Economy (C, 10 ECTS)
• KAO61 Public policies and legal framework for Social Solidarity Economy (C, 10 ECTS)
• KAO62 Social Movements, State, and the Social and Solidarity Economy (C, 10 ECTS)

3rd Semester

• KAO70 Social and Solidarity Economy Business Planning (C, 10 ECTS)
• KAO71 Social Project Management (C, 10 ECTS)
• KAO72 Financial Management and Financing of Social and Solidarity Economy enterprises (C, 10 ECTS)

Semester 4

• KAODT Post-Graduate Diploma Thesis (C, 30 ECTS)

Note: C1: Compulsory

Guidelines for the selection of the Thematic Unit:

Students may select one (1) to three (3) T.U. per semester.
In the first semester, if students select only one (1) T.U., they are required to select KAO50. If they select two (2) T.U., they are required to select KAO50 and KAO51. If they select all three, the third shall be KAO52.
In the following two semesters, students may select any of the T.U.s available in each semester, under the condition that they also select any T.U.s that they had not selected from the previous semester. For better comprehension of the individual subjects, the following selection orders are suggested: KAO62-KAO61-KAO60 for the 2nd Semester and KAO71-KAO72-KAO70 for the 3rd semester. Students may begin writing their Diploma Thesis upon successful completion of all nine (9) T.U.s included in the PSP.

Organizational Information

The first semester includes two introductory Thematic Units on the principles and theories (KAO50) and organizational structures and forms of the KAO correspondingly (KAO51), in addition to one Thematic Unit (KAO52) that highlights and discuKAOs modern issues revolving around the commons.

The second semester includes two Thematic Units that combine theory and practice (KAO60 and KAO61), and one historically and theoretically oriented T.U. (KAO62). The first second-semester T.U. discuKAOs the social innovation and communal economic development that the KAO aims to achieve (KAO60). The second T.U. centers on the modern institutional framework in which the KAO functions in tandem with modern public policy (KAO61), while the third T.U. discuKAOs the relationship between the KAO and other forms of collective action, focusing on the one hand on the movements with which it has been connected in the past, and on the other with the state (KAO62).
The third semester is more practically oriented. The first T.U. of the third semester is dedicated to KAO business planning (KAO70), the second to KAO enterprise management (KAO71) and the third to KAO enterprise financial management and funding (KAO72).

Tuition fees for the PSP are based on the provided academic credits, with one (1) academic credit (ECTS) corresponding to 30€. Each Thematic Unit thus corresponds to 300€, and the Dissertation to 900€. The total tuition fees for the PSP are 3.600€.

For information about the programme contact:

Student Registration Department

Telephone: 2610367321 ,2610367325
Ε-mail: kao@eap.gr