Overview

Whether you want to launch your own business or change an existing organisation, this programme immerses you in the world of creative business thinking, helping you to prepare for employment after university. You will develop your entrepreneurial and creative skills and apply them to real-world situations.

Taught by lecturers with industry experience, this course will hone your key competences as you study core topics that cut across business and entrepreneurial practice. In your second and third years you can choose from a range of optional modules, enabling you to tailor your learning to your interests.

You will gain practical experience with a real business through the Consulting Live module and have the chance to take part in Fox’s Lair – our annual contest for entrepreneurs. It focuses on teamwork, project management, research, communication and problem solving – all skills in demand by employers.

Key features:

• Study a stimulating, challenging and interesting programme, designed to arm you with vital skills and competencies in preparation for life after university.
• Benefit from the expertise of our lecturers, many of whom have worked in business and bring real-world experience into the classroom.
• Guest lectures from business experts add real value to your experiential learning.
• The work-based live case study assessment gives you experience of working with real companies as a consultant. As part of a team, you will visit a client and then present them with solutions to issues affecting their business.
• Pitch a business idea to real-life entrepreneurs, with the chance to win a great prize, through our annual  Fox’s Lair  competition for first-year students.
• Enjoy an international experience through our  DMU Global programme. Previous study-focused trips have seen students travel to Copenhagen, New York, Berlin, San Diego and Toronto.
• Placement  opportunities with local, national and global companies. Past students have landed roles in purchasing and logistics at Siemens and as a management trainee at Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Structure and assessment

Teaching and assessment

You will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, group work and self-directed study.

Assessment is through a varied range of innovative coursework methods (presentations, essays and reports) and usually an exam or test. Examples of coursework include:

• Fox’s Lair!®, a Dragon’s Den-style activity in which you are tasked to work in business teams, generate a creative business idea and produce a supporting business plan. With coaching and support, teams then pitch their idea to prominent local entrepreneurs and business executives, thus developing a wide range of transferrable skills such as confidence building, team work, creative thinking and the art of presentation
• A work-based live case study in which you visit and work with a real company as a strategy consultant
• Studying different types of leadership and working in groups on different projects where you take it in turns to be the leader of a small team

Assessment is typically weighted as follows in your first year:

• Exam: 28%
• Coursework: 72%

These assessment weightings are indicative only. The exact weighting may vary depending on option modules chosen by students and teaching methods deployed by the academic member of staff each year. Indicative assessment weighting and assessment type per module are shown as part of the module information. Again these are based on the current academic session.

Teaching contact hours

This is a full-time course and in total you should be prepared to devote approximately 38 hours a week to your studies. In the first year, you will typically have up to 14 contact hours of teaching most weeks. Teaching is through a mix of lectures, tutorials, seminars and lab sessions and the breakdown of these activity types is shown in each module description.

Other: In addition each module provides a two hour surgery each week for individual consultation with the lecturer. You will also have timetabled meetings with your personal tutor and careers and/or subject meetings scheduled throughout the year.

Self-directed study: In order to prepare for, and assimilate, the work in lectures and seminars you will be expected to use our on-line resources, participate in flipped or virtual classroom discussions on our virtual learning environment (VLE) and engage in personal study and revision for approximately 25 hours per week.

Subsequent years follow a similar pattern, however, the contact time will vary depending on your subject mix and options chosen, and the teaching methods appropriate to the module. Further details are contained in each module description.

Facilities and features

Hugh Aston Building

You will be taught in the Hugh Aston Building, which was purpose-built at a cost of £35 million.

Facilities also include lecture theatres and classrooms with capacities ranging from 50 to 250 people, break-out spaces for group work, quiet study zones for individual work and a large number of high-spec IT labs, some of which are installed with professional software.