UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN:The emphasis is firmly on the practical in UCD's new graduate course for budding entrepreneurs, with time to develop ideas, get pitch perfect and even job hunt
UCD’S NEW Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship is aimed at equipping future innovators with some of the vital skills they need to realise their business potential. Delivered over an intensive 12-week period at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, students will gain a deep understanding of the process of new venture creation, as well as the insights and skills needed to identify and act on market needs.
The new course is part of the government-funded Labour Market Activation Scheme according to Prof of Entrepreneurship Frank Roche. “The Government through the Department of Education and the Higher Education Authority decided that college places should be offered to people on the live register and they put out a request for proposals from the universities and institutes of technology to accomplish this,” he explains.
UCD put in a number of tenders and was successful in five of them. Four of the courses work by taking undergraduates and putting them into modules in existing courses and giving them NQAI credits for that. Roche, however, took a different approach when it came to the course to be offered at the Smurfit School.
“I looked at it from the point of view of someone who is unemployed and being offered a chance to do something in college,” he says. “I asked myself if I would be really interested in just doing a few modules here and there and not a full programme. I thought that what would really interest people would be a full programme which would offer them a qualification at the end of it.”
This led Roche and his team to put together the Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship. “We decided that we would take all the people in together as a full cohort and teach them what we could about entrepreneurship and then assess them on the business plans they produce at the end of it.”
The emphasis is firmly on the practical. “The idea is to get 70 people together and let them learn from each other and spark off each other during the period of the course. That’s where we’re coming from philosophically. We decided we would do it in the shortest period possible to make it of the most practical value.”
The 12-week course begins on September 21st and involves participants completing one module every second week, with the intervening weeks spent either working on course work or job hunting. Each weekly module involves 24 hours class contact and will gain the participants five credits. By the end of the programme, the students will have earned 30 credits which will entitle them to a graduate certificate from UCD, NQAI Level 9. Students who do not complete the certificate for whatever reason will gain credit for any modules only.
“I think it is something that people will be interested in,” Roche says. “The course will take them through the initial stages of exploring the process of entrepreneurship through the practicalities of design, product development, marketing, finance and business planning. And we have a great team, led by Dr Rory O’Shea, delivering the course. Also, we will have at least one visiting entrepreneur every week to share their experiences.”
He returns again to the practical nature of the course. “The whole idea is to immerse people in the journey involved in being an entrepreneur and then to facilitate them and support them in taking that journey themselves,” he points out. “We hope that participants will come to us with some sort of business idea already – it can be a hobby they have, it can be something they want to do with someone else, anything really – and the aim will be to have them finish up with a business plan for it.”
And he hopes the outcome will be a number of new businesses. “Out of a cohort of 70, I would be surprised if we didn’t see between six and 10 new ventures come out of the course in the end. If this happens, the course could become a product in itself which could be repeated over and over again. There are certainly a lot of people out there who want to do things for themselves and if the course is repeated 10 or 12 times over the next few years, I won’t complain.”
The Higher Education Authority, under the Government Labour Market Activisation scheme, is covering the €2,500 of tuition fees for the course. UCD charges a €250 administration fee. Students will be entitled to maintain their job seekers allowance while studying.
For further details e-mail entrepreneurship.lma@ucd.ie or contact Shirley Stafford on 01-7168846
The programme - Six taught modules designed to equip entrepreneurs with the skills they need
STUDENTS WILL develop a business plan for a new venture during the 12-week Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship programme. This practical focus, along with six taught modules, will give a firm basis for turning business ideas into reality. The course addresses the main issues that entrepreneurs and managers face in recognising, developing and assessing opportunities, with particular focus on the current economic climate.
The first question addressed is: “What is the Process of Creating and Venturing?” Students develop their commercial awareness and explore how to evolve ideas and assess their potential. The early stages of business development, planning, launch and growth are also explored.
The second module, “Developing Ideas and Recognising Opportunities”, draws on academic and professional experience and is concerned with creative thinking. Students consider their criteria, research methods and sources of inspiration. They learn to distinguish between ideas and opportunities. Concepts are tested to identify real market needs, and participants explore how their ideas could solve a problem for potential consumers. The concepts of feasibility and business models are introduced.
Feasibility is the key theme in the module entitled “Design, Develop and Operation”. The processes of product specification, evolution, testing, intellectual property right and management are covered. Through the study of production delivery, operations management and customer service, participants will learn about the day-to-day running of their potential business.
The “Sales and Marketing” module brings commercial potential into sharp relief. Through lectures, case studies and guest seminars, students learn how to assess the size and scope of their potential market. The module covers market research, competitive analysis, customer profiling, promotion and distribution, budgeting and sales.
The all-important issues of risk and return on investment will be handled in the module “Financing the New Venture”. Participants will determine the initial investment requirement and operating costs. Critically, the sourcing of finance, financial projections and cash flow management are dealt with in depth, and students will gain an understanding of the main accounting measures, including the profit and loss account and the balance sheet.
The final module, entitled “the overall business plan”, brings all the work together, as students create an investor-ready plan, which is also the basis of assessment for the certificate. Participants will also get opportunities to practise pitching ideas, planning teams, identifying how to launch a business and nurturing its early phase and growth.
