Course description
MSc
The MSc in Business and Enterprise offers graduates from virtually any discipline, as well as graduates with little formal business education or work experience, an opportunity to study business and enterprise at postgraduate level. These subjects are in great demand globally from companies competing in a dynamic and competitive business environment.
The course is delivered at Oxford Brookes over a 12-month period. Students join the course from across the world and this creates a unique opportunity for you to share multicultural experiences, both academically and socially. The knowledge and skills you gain will be relevant for a variety of careers across a range of sectors and organisations at a local and global level. Alternatively, the MSc can be a stepping stone for a further higher research degree, such as a PhD.
Course content
The MSc in Business and Enterprise course is modular in structure and taught over three stages, including a period for completion of the dissertation. Students are normally expected to stay in Oxford for close contact with staff and access to resources during this period.
Stage 1 introduces three core subjects:
* Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise
* New Economy and Sustainability
* Organisational Learning and Knowledge Management.
These core subjects represent the fundamental issues facing managers. The extent to which a business is able to create new ideas and implement them or bring them to market successfully, take up the opportunities offered by the new economy and sustainable development, and learn from mistakes and failures will largely govern its success in the 21st century. To develop and reinforce these course elements one of your assignments will involve you working in groups to develop your own business ideas and create plans to finance them. You will also learn how to assess the viability of a proposal for a new business.
These core subjects run parallel to the development of functional, conceptual and skills elements of the curriculum. Functional elements include Principles of Financial Accounting and Statistics and Principles of Marketing. Experts in these areas will provide teaching sessions and workshops through this stage.
During Stage 1 you will also take the Research Methods module, during which we will support and help you in preparing the proposal for your dissertation.
Stage 2 comprises two further core modules: Planning for New Business Ventures, where you will learn how to produce a detailed and comprehensive plan for a new business venture, and Entrepreneurship, in which you will learn about the nature of entrepreneurship and what makes a business successful. These modules will involve input such as presentations and workshops from business people, government agencies, consultants, financiers and others involved with business start-ups and the successful financing and management of enterprises.
On completion of these two core modules you will understand the main causes of business failure and have explored a range of strategies that can be employed in order to save a failing business. You will understand the necessity and importance of business planning and you will be able to produce and present a detailed and comprehensive business plan. Most importantly, you will know what is required to start and manage a business successfully.
In Stage 2 you will also choose one further module from a range of taught subjects such as Global Market Development and Management and Organisational Learning. Alternatively, you can take the Work Placement elective, which appeals to students who wish to undertake a business project within a UK company and who want to put into practice the ideas and concepts covered on the course. Previous business placement projects have included the development of a launch plan for a new nightclub, and the provision of an executive briefing on the impact of e-commerce on the film distribution industry to the board of a large film production and distribution company.
In Stage 3 you will undertake a dissertation. An academic will be appointed as your dissertation tutor to support and guide you through the process of researching and writing your dissertation. Specialisations developed in Stage 2 may be pursued in the dissertation if desired.
Teaching, learning and assessment
The course content is delivered through a series of interactive workshops and seminars with additional lectures, guest speakers and industrial visits. The induction programme, which includes career guidance, takes place daily the week before the start of your formal studies. It introduces you to the teaching methods we use and the ways you can gain maximum value from the course. Assessment is based mainly upon group presentations, individual and group assignments and the dissertation. A Postgraduate Certificate in Business and Enterprise or a Postgraduate Diploma in Business and Enterprise may be awarded to students who achieve sufficient credits but who have not completed the course.
Quality
The reputation of the Business School is underpinned through membership of and programme accreditations received from the Association of MBAs, and the Association of Business Schools; professional associations such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; and the European Foundation for Management Development. The Business School is, therefore, widely regarded as one of the best within its peer group
The Business School's programmes benefit from rigorous quality assurance procedures and regularly receive excellent feedback from external examiners, employers, students and professional bodies. In 2005, Business and Management achieved 'Broad Confidence', the best possible result, in the discipline audit trail as part of the Quality Assurance Agency Institutional Audit.
Many students who graduate from Business School programmes go on to achieve high status in the industry of their choice.
The Business School has an active programme of research based around six key research areas:
* Accounting, Governance and Information Management
* Economics and Strategy
* Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Management
* Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour
* Marketing and Operations Management
* Pedagogy
The School maintains a rigorous and dynamic doctoral programme leading to the higher degrees of MPhil and PhD. Postgraduate students join a supportive, friendly and multicultural research environment.
