Entrepreneurship and Innovation BSc | Brunel Business School

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation BSc has been specifically created to help you put learning into action while you study by creating your own start-up business. 

Through a series of specialist modules in your second and third year (including your final year project), you will develop entrepreneurial skills and a nimble approach to business and innovation. You’ll gain confidence in your acumen and become quick to recognise and evaluate new business opportunities while calculating risk. The hands-on, practice-based learning of the course is key to this. You’ll create, run and grow a real-life enterprise as part of a group consisting of up to five students. By learning through doing, you’ll be able to apply theory very early on in the degree course to solve social and economic problems.

Along the way, you’ll learn from academics and receive support from professional business mentors who will help you to get the most out of your degree while developing your start-up. There are lots of resources available to you that can help you shape your degree into what you want it to be:

• The Brunel Innovation Hub offers expert advice and funding on student start-ups
• Through the Co-Innovate programme, you can opt to collaborate with an SME and help them solve a real business problem as part of your final year project
• You can choose to take a work placement in your third year (find out more on our work placement year page) or focus on developing your start-up
• We make sure that you have access to a variety of activities and events to challenge your self-starter mentality including the Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition

Before you get there though, your first year will be an introduction to general business and management through six compulsory modules that will provide you with a good understanding of theory and practice. The emphasis will be on developing your commercial awareness and preparation for new business creation, as well as for a work placement if you have opted to take one (you can opt to use your placement year to develop your enterprise too).

The degree will help you to acquire a range of skills in business and management, but also cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit required to create and grow small businesses. You will become adept in the areas of finance, strategy and business planning, as well as understanding how entrepreneurship and innovation are nurtured within established corporate organisations.

As part of your Level 3 studies you will also be able to demonstrate your ability to apply the theoretical concepts and analytical skills that you’ve gained via an 8000 word researched final year project on a particular issue of entrepreneurial and innovation management. 

Optional modules are indicative and available subject to numbers.

This course can be studied 3 years full-time or 4 years full-time with placement, starting in September.

We have extensive links with employers and industry and you’ll benefit from our networks as well as having the opportunity to learn from a variety of guest speakers. Our degrees offer an optional work placement year and we’ll encourage you to take this up. This experience in the workplace is highly valued by employers and will give you the edge when you apply for jobs.

Your hands-on experience of new venture creation and growth, means you’ll be ready for self-employment and your understanding of business social responsibility and culture in an international business context, alongside the ability to manage resources and overcome barriers, means you can excel in any sector in which you choose to work.

Some of the well-known names who value Brunel Business School graduates include Accenture, Amazon, Barclays, British Airways, Capgemini, HSBC, Jaguar Land Rover, L’Oréal, McCann, Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Xerox.

Find out more about how we'll support your future goals.

• GCE A-level BBB.
• BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma DDD in Business or Enterprise and Entrepreneurship.
• BTEC Level 3 Diploma DD in Business, Enterprise & Entrepreneurship or Personal & Business Finance with an A-level at grade B. (Other combinations may be considered on a case-by-case basis).
• BTEC Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma D with A-levels grade BB.
• International Baccalaureate Diploma 30 points. GCSE English equivalent SL 5 or HL 4 and Mathematics SL 4 or HL 4.
• Obtain a minimum of 120 UCAS tariff points in the Access to HE Diploma in  Business, Business and Management or Business and Law with 45 credits at Level 3.

A minimum of five GCSEs are required, including GCSE Mathematics grade C or grade 4 and GCSE English Language grade C or grade 4 or GCSE English Literature grade B or grade 5.

• IELTS: 6.5 (min 5.5 in all areas)
• Pearson: 58 (51 in all subscores)
• BrunELT: 65% (min 55% in all areas)
• TOEFL: 92 (min R18, L17, S20, W17) 

Teaching is delivered through a combination of lectures, small group seminars, hands-on workshops, and one-to-one sessions with your tutor.

Many of our lecturers are internationally or nationally recognised for their innovative work and research, which results in challenging and stimulating course content. Lecturers may consult for major companies and have practical business experience, potentially from running their own companies. All of this contributes to real-time, real world observations and teaching.

There will be email discussion groups and you’re encouraged to engage with online material using the university’s web‑based learning facilities, Blackboard and u-Link. To support your course content, Brunel Business School regularly offers research talks on key management issues and presentations by outside speakers. Throughout the course, you will also be expected to undertake group work and individual projects and presentations.

Your personal tutor will be assigned in your first year and will be available to help with academic or personal issues. In your second year, this support will be continued through the Business School’s Pastoral Care programme – BBS Student Support – a team of specially chosen personal tutors who are available throughout the working week. Additionally, if you choose a four-year sandwich course, you will be allocated an industrial tutor who will provide support during your work placement. In your final year you will receive one‑to‑one supervision for your major project.

Academic staff are available for a number of hours each week should you need to get advice. Their availability will be displayed on their office doors so you can make an appointment or drop by to see them if they have any concerns about their studies.

Should you need any non-academic support during your time at Brunel, the Student Support and Welfare Team are here to help.

Each subject is assessed either by a combination of continuous appraisal and examination or by coursework or examination alone. As a rough guide, the split is approximately 50:50 exam to coursework but the exact ratio varies depending on the modules you select.

Your results from Level 1 do not count towards your final degree classification, but you have to pass the first year to continue with the degree. Level 2 is worth a third of your final mark and Level 3 - the rest. In your final year you will undertake an assessed project of around 8,000 words worth a third of your Level 3 marks.