Entrepreneurship

2023/24 Part-time Postgraduate Short course and CPD

Faculty:

Ulster University Business School

School:

Department of Management, Leadership and Marketing

Campus:

Belfast campus

Credit points:

20

Start date:

20 May 2024

For full instructions on how to apply for short courses, please contact the Centre for Flexible and Continuing Education - FlexEd@ulster.ac.uk

Overview

This course aims to build awareness of entrepreneurship as a theoretical concept and a practical reality.

Summary

This course engages participants entrepreneurial learning and practice that reflects the environment with which they live and work. It aims to build their awareness of entrepreneurship as a theoretical concept and a practical reality for those engaged in the launch and/or development of any enterprise. It provides a framework for engaging with and assessing the viability of an innovative project or new venture or the development of an existing one. It also provides participants with an opportunity, to audit their personal entrepreneurial potential.

This course can be taken individually or combined over a period of time towards a Postgraduate Certificate of Professional Development.

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About this course

About

Rapid changes in technology, economic and political structures and personal lifestyles are creating new products, new markets and therefore opportunities for enterprise. These factors combined with the pressure of assertive competition have created an environment full of opportunities and threats to challenge the determination of entrepreneurial individuals. However, a key to sustained growth within an economy and the development of a prosperous society lies with the development of more entrepreneurial people - both in existing and in new organisations. One of the most effective ways to stimulate enterprise is through encouraging more innovative, entrepreneurial venturing. There is therefore a need to increase the level of learning about and practice of the processes involved.

Content includes:

  • "Entrepreneurship", the entrepreneurial process, the scope of entrepreneurship, emancipated entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Learning and Practice.
  • The entrepreneurial environment, the changing world of work, the advent of the global economy. Understanding the 'entrepreneurial ecosystem'.
  • Understanding entrepreneurial people: combining traits and competencies, entrepreneurial leadership, challenging the entrepreneurial context, releasing the entrepreneurial genie.
  • Entrepreneurial people and the question of ethics.
  • Opportunity focus and the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities, the central role of creativity and innovation in opportunity identification; finding shaping and protecting an entrepreneurial opportunity.
  • Entrepreneurial marketing resources including entrepreneurial teams, networks and networking, plans and planning.
  • Exploiting an opportunity, acquiring and managing key financial resources.
  • The entrepreneurial life cycle, the changing role of the entrepreneur, maintaining the entrepreneurial effort of the firm,
  • Rethinking Enterprise; Beyond the Business Plan; rethinking entrepreneurship and enterprise policy assumptions.

Linked programmes

MSc Business Development and Innovation, PgCertPD Professional Development.

Assessment

100% Coursework

(1) Written Assignment (75%) Participants, working as part of a venture team of three, will be asked to prepare and submit a viable planning proposal for an entrepreneurial business venture, setting out the best possible and most innovative route to market, (R2M), for an enterprise and a defensible rationale for choices made (5000 words).

(2) Written Assignment (25%) In addition, each member of a venture team is required to submit an individual statement, maximum five pages, providing critical insights to the role(s) they played in their team's efforts and responsibilities, detailing their contribution to the team's efforts to develop the route-to-market report, the nature of their relationships with other team members. As a peer-review exercise, individual team members will be required to review, agree and sign as true and fair each other's work and contribution to the efforts of the team (1000 words).

Attendance

This course requires on-campus attendance, at our Belfast campus, during Semester 2, starting in May 2024.

* Please note, dates and timetabling are to be confirmed and may be subject to change.

Entry requirements

Any degree (second class honours or above).

English Language Requirements

Applicants whose first language is not English must meet the minimum English entrance requirements of the University and will need to provide recent evidence of this (certified within the last two years).

Most of our courses require a minimum English level of IELTS 6.0 or equivalent, with no band score under 5.5. Trinity ISE: Pass at level III also meets this requirement.

Additional information on English language requirements for admission at Ulster University, is available at - www.ulster.ac.uk/global/apply/english-language-requirements


Visas and Immigration

International applicants will also require a short-term study visa.

Further information is available at - www.ulster.ac.uk/international/visa-immigration

Start dates

  • 20 May 2024

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Teaching, learning and assessment

The content for each course is summarised on the relevant course page, along with an overview of the modules that make up the course.

Each course is approved by the University and meets the expectations of:

Attendance and Independent Study

As part of your course induction, you will be provided with details of the organisation and management of the course, including attendance and assessment requirements - usually in the form of a timetable. For full-time courses, the precise timetable for each semester is not confirmed until close to the start date and may be subject to some change in the early weeks as all courses settle into their planned patterns. For part-time courses which require attendance on particular days and times, an expectation of the days and periods of attendance will be included in the letter of offer. A course handbook is also made available.

Courses comprise modules for which the notional effort involved is indicated by its credit rating. Each credit point represents 10 hours of student effort. Undergraduate courses typically contain 10, 20, or 40 credit modules (more usually 20) and postgraduate courses typically 15 or 30 credit modules.

The normal study load expectation for an undergraduate full-time course of study in the standard academic year is 120 credit points. This amounts to around 36-42 hours of expected teaching and learning per week, inclusive of attendance requirements for lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical work, fieldwork or other scheduled classes, private study, and assessment. Teaching and learning activities will be in-person and/or online depending on the nature of the course. Part-time study load is the same as full-time pro-rata, with each credit point representing 10 hours of student effort.

Postgraduate Master’s courses typically comprise 180 credits, taken in three semesters when studied full-time. A Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) comprises 60 credits and can usually be completed on a part-time basis in one year. A 120-credit Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) can usually be completed on a part-time basis in two years.

Class contact times vary by course and type of module. Typically, for a module predominantly delivered through lectures you can expect at least 3 contact hours per week (lectures/seminars/tutorials). Laboratory classes often require a greater intensity of attendance in blocks. Some modules may combine lecture and laboratory. The precise model will depend on the course you apply for and may be subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. Prospective students will be consulted about any significant changes.

Assessment

Assessment methods vary and are defined explicitly in each module. Assessment can be a combination of examination and coursework but may also be only one of these methods. Assessment is designed to assess your achievement of the module’s stated learning outcomes.  You can expect to receive timely feedback on all coursework assessments. This feedback may be issued individually and/or issued to the group and you will be encouraged to act on this feedback for your own development.

Coursework can take many forms, for example: essay, report, seminar paper, test, presentation, dissertation, design, artefacts, portfolio, journal, group work. The precise form and combination of assessment will depend on the course you apply for and the module. Details will be made available in advance through induction, the course handbook, the module specification, the assessment timetable and the assessment brief. The details are subject to change from year to year for quality or enhancement reasons. You will be consulted about any significant changes.

Normally, a module will have 4 learning outcomes, and no more than 2 items of assessment. An item of assessment can comprise more than one task. The notional workload and the equivalence across types of assessment is standardised. The module pass mark for undergraduate courses is 40%. The module pass mark for postgraduate courses is 50%.

Calculation of the Final Award

The class of Honours awarded in Bachelor’s degrees is usually determined by calculation of an aggregate mark based on performance across the modules at Levels 5 and 6, (which correspond to the second and third year of full-time attendance).

Level 6 modules contribute 70% of the aggregate mark and Level 5 contributes 30% to the calculation of the class of the award. Classification of integrated Master’s degrees with Honours include a Level 7 component. The calculation in this case is: 50% Level 7, 30% Level 6, 20% Level 5. At least half the Level 5 modules must be studied at the University for Level 5 to be included in the calculation of the class.

All other qualifications have an overall grade determined by results in modules from the final level of study.

In Masters degrees of more than 200 credit points the final 120 points usually determine the overall grading.

Figures correct for academic year 2022-2023.

Academic profile

The University employs over 1,000 suitably qualified and experienced academic staff - 60% have PhDs in their subject field and many have professional body recognition.

Courses are taught by staff who are Professors (19%), Readers, Senior Lecturers (22%) or Lecturers (57%).

We require most academic staff to be qualified to teach in higher education: 82% hold either Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education Practice or higher. Most academic and learning support staff (85%) are recognised as fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) by Advance HE - the university sector professional body for teaching and learning. Many academic and technical staff hold other professional body designations related to their subject or scholarly practice.

The profiles of many academic staff can be found on the University’s departmental websites and give a detailed insight into the range of staffing and expertise.  The precise staffing for a course will depend on the department(s) involved and the availability and management of staff.  This is subject to change annually and is confirmed in the timetable issued at the start of the course.

Occasionally, teaching may be supplemented by suitably qualified part-time staff (usually qualified researchers) and specialist guest lecturers. In these cases, all staff are inducted, mostly through our staff development programme ‘First Steps to Teaching’. In some cases, usually for provision in one of our out-centres, Recognised University Teachers are involved, supported by the University in suitable professional development for teaching.

Figures correct for academic year 2022-2023.

Belfast campus

Accommodation

High quality apartment living in Belfast city centre adjacent to the university campus.

Find out more - information about accommodation (Opens in a new window)  


Student Wellbeing

At Student Wellbeing we provide many services to help students through their time at Ulster University.

Find out more - information about student wellbeing (Opens in a new window)  

Apply

Start dates

  • 20 May 2024

Fees and funding

Prices

Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and EU Settlements Status Fees: £925.40

England, Scotland, Wales and the Islands Fees: £925.40

International Fees: £1,760.00

Fees information

Information about how to pay for a course including different payment options is available at

www.ulster.ac.uk/finance/student/tuition-fees-payments

Additional mandatory costs

It is important to remember that costs associated with accommodation, travel (including car parking charges) and normal living will need to be covered in addition to tuition fees.

Where a course has additional mandatory expenses (in addition to tuition fees) we make every effort to highlight them above. We aim to provide students with the learning materials needed to support their studies. Our libraries are a valuable resource with an extensive collection of books and journals, as well as first-class facilities and IT equipment. Computer suites and free Wi-Fi are also available on each of the campuses.

There are additional fees for graduation ceremonies, examination resits and library fines.

Students choosing a period of paid work placement or study abroad as a part of their course should be aware that there may be additional travel and living costs, as well as tuition fees.

See the tuition fees on our student guide for most up to date costs.

Disclaimer

  1. Although reasonable steps are taken to provide the programmes and services described, the University cannot guarantee the provision of any course or facility and the University may make variations to the contents or methods of delivery of courses, discontinue, merge or combine courses and introduce new courses if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Such circumstances include (but are not limited to) industrial action, lack of demand, departure of key staff, changes in legislation or government policy including changes, if any, resulting from the UK departing the European Union, withdrawal or reduction of funding or other circumstances beyond the University’s reasonable control.
  1. If the University discontinues any courses, it will use its best endeavours to provide a suitable alternative course. In addition, courses may change during the course of study and in such circumstances the University will normally undertake a consultation process prior to any such changes being introduced and seek to ensure that no student is unreasonably prejudiced as a consequence of any such change.
  1. The University does not accept responsibility (other than through the negligence of the University, its staff or agents), for the consequences of any modification or cancellation of any course, or part of a course, offered by the University but will take into consideration the effects on individual students and seek to minimise the impact of such effects where reasonably practicable.
  1. The University cannot accept any liability for disruption to its provision of educational or other services caused by circumstances beyond its control, but the University will take all reasonable steps to minimise the resultant disruption to such services.