The University of Buckingham

Business School &

BSc Business Enterprise

Dr Jane Tapsell - Dean of the Business School

Nigel Adams – BBE Programme Director

University of Buckingham, UK

The University of Buckingham

• Opened in 1976 and awarded a

Royal Charter in 1983.

• University of the Year for Teaching 2015/16

• Leading the National Student Survey

for last 10 years.

• A 3-year Honours degree in just 2 years

(8 terms)

• “Oxbridge” style teaching in small groups

• Excellent student staff ratio (1:10.5)

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How does the 2-year degree work?

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Buckingham Business School

• Accounting & Finance

• Business Enterprise

• Business & Management

• Marketing

AND

• Computing & Software

Entrepreneurship - NEW

(Applied Computing)

Our innovative

BSc Business Enterprise (BBE)

• BSc Business Enterprise developed by the

Dean of Buckingham Business School in 2004/5.

• Undergraduate, not a post-graduate degree.

• No similar programme was offered in 2005.

• Even now there are only three other similar programmes in

the world, all are in UK (Coventry, Huddersfield & Plymouth)

• Buckingham’s small size and independence enabled the

programme to obtain approval to launch in January 2006.

• 9 cohorts of students have completed this programme.

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Our objectives for BBE

We aim to enable our undergraduate students to start to achieve

their own goals in life & in their careers by:

• Achieving a good honours degree.

• Developing Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy or “can do” mindset.

• Cultivating an ability to “think on their feet”.

• Being flexible and able to adapt in a fast changing business

environment.

BBE does NOT just enable students to come up with a

new business idea and run the business successfully.

It aims to equip graduates for life.

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BBE interests students who:

• Want to set up and develop their own business, at the same

time as they study for an honours degree.

• Plan to make a positive contribution to a family business or

small company following graduation.

• Have flair, creativity & an entrepreneurial or “can-do” approach

to business, which will be vital when working for any size of

organisation in the future.

BBE students also learn how hard it is to study

for a degree & start a business in just two years.

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Where are BBE students from?

Between 2006 & 2016 11 cohorts (112 students)

started the programme from the following countries:

Country of Origin Total Male Female Country of Origin Total Male Female

Angola 1 1 Kenya (incl 1 Eritrea) 4 3 1

Austria 5 5 Malaysia (Japanese) 1 1

Azerbaijan 1 1 Nigeria 4 2 2

Belgium 1 1 Philippines 1 1

Bulgaria 3 2 1 Poland 1 1

China 14 7 7 Portugal 1 1

Cyprus 1 1 Ruanda 1 1

Denmark 1 1 Saudi Arabia 1 1

Faroe Islands 1 1 South Africa 3 1 2

Germany 3 3 Sri Lanka 1 1

Ghana 2 2 Switzerland 2 2

Greece 1 1 Uganda 1 1

Gulf States 1 1 Ukraine 1 1

India 1 1 Vietnam 3 1 2

Indonesia 1 1 Zimbabwe 1 1

Inner Mongolia 1 1 UK 47 40 7

Japan 1 1 Total 112 84 28

Percent 100% 75% 25%

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BSc Business Enterprise

Year 1 - First Semester

Term Academic Stream Business Stream

Year one: Starting a Business

1 Winter

Introduction to Financial Accounting (15 units) Introduction to Marketing (7.5 units)

Starting a Business (22.5 units) has the following embedded courses in Term 1: Marketing (7.5 units) Business Planning (7.5 units) Innovation & Entrepreneurship 1 (7.5 units)

2 Spring

Introduction to Management Accounting (7.5 units) Quantitative Methods (7.5 units) Law for Business Enterprise 1 (15 units)

Starting a Business (22.5 units) has the following embedded courses in Term 2: Business Model Generation(7.5 units) Operations Management 1 (7.5 units)

'Starting a Business' Module Assessment of the students’ written business plan and their Venture capital “pitch” (Oral examination) for up to £5,000 business start-up funding.

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“Seed-corn” Capital & Other Support

• All BBE students “pitch” for up to £5000 “seed-corn”

capital to start and run their businesses within 4 months.

• Funding was originally provided by Legal & General,

Mr John Desborough (a private donor) & NACUE.

• When the BBE’s businesses are running, they can operate

from “Buckingham Enterprise Hub” in Prebend Cottage.

• External business people and entrepreneurs mentor and

support the students throughout the programme.

Maintaining academic rigour,

but also involving Entrepreneurs

• All BBE Modules are taught at the same level as the

Business School’s other business degree modules.

• 7.5 unit modules are used, so that all the important

subjects can be covered with the more practical work.

• Different/appropriate forms of assessment are used,

e.g. Quarterly Business & Personal Review Reports.

• External entrepreneurs have replaced academics for

the two “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” modules.

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What has been positive?

• Personal development of the BBE students.

• Positive reaction to the programme from a wide

range of people, though not all teachers approve.

• Support of colleagues throughout the university.

• Widening participation in higher education.

• Involvement with the business community.

• Successful employment/businesses of

BBE graduates.

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What have been the results?

Year Started Completed Drop-

out Rate 1st 2.1 2.2 3rd

Withdrew/ Dip/Failed

Took 3

years

Percentage 1st/2.1

2006/07 10 9 10% 0 3 5 1 1 0 33.3% 2007/08 7 6 14% 1 2 2 1 1 0 50.0% 2008/09 8 3 63% 0 2 1 0 2 1 66.7% 2009/10 3 4 -33% 0 2 2 0 0 0 50.0% 2010/11 5 4 20% 1 1 2 0 1 0 50.0% 2011/12 11 5 55% 0 3 2 0 3 3 60.0% 2012/13 13 11 15% 4 4 3 0 1 0 63.6% 2013/14 16 17 -6% 2 11 3 1 1 1 76.5% 2014/15 13 8 38% 3 4 1 0 4 1 87.5% To date 86 67 22% 11 32 21 3 11 6 64.2%

NOTE: Drop-out rates are affected by students re-starting the programme

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Total graduates to December 2015: 67 (+6 withdrew & started a business/returned to a family business)

The 67 BBE graduates on the first 9 cohorts who graduated from December 2007 until December 2015:

Started their own business 36% 24 (+5 withdrew & started a business)

Returned to a family business 16% 11 (+1 withdrew & returned to a family business)

Employed 33% 22

Continued in higher education 9% 6

Not known 6% 4

We believe that no BBE graduates have been unemployed 6 months after graduation.

What have BBE Graduates done?

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Example of a BBE Business

You will now hear from Matthew and Sean

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Sean Ruane

Matthew Campbell

Students for

Start-ups

Our Challenges

as BBE Students

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We would like to add a few words

to describe our experience in BBE:

• Stressful

• Intense

• A heavy workload

• Hard work

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Our Experience &

Personal Growth

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All things considered, it has been a life

changing experience.

• Confidence boost

• Knowledge to start and operate a business

• Practical life skills

• Multidiscipline skillset

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Our Business

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• Students For Startups

• The Origin – our own personal

challenges

• The Solution – save businesses

capital and offer relevant, paid work

experience to undergraduate students