Bachelor Enterprise presentation, semester one

I’m going to give you the key elements of the Bachelor I’m preparing at the UWS. 

For the first semester (September 2010 to January 2011), I have 3 courses.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

We have started the 1^st lecture by giving the framework of the economic growth. And our main objective is to try to understand if there is a link between entrepreneurship and economic growth. For that we need to define the concept of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneur (that is in fact complex and wide subject), its role in the economy, the importance of innovation and R&D, why is there a re-emergence of the SMEs from the 1970’, the process of knowledge spill-over and much more.  

It could be seen as a very theoretical approach. Well at first glance it is. They are a lot of economic theories (neo-classical, Austrian, German school…) related to this course but we are not only focused on that (and we don’t need to learn them but just to pick up elements related to entrepreneurship and understand the different concepts). We are starting with the theories to a concrete approach.

The lecture (one hour) starts with the news related to the subject and we are then illustrating the theories studied previously. [For example today’s news were about the protest from England’s students concerned by the future rise of the university fees. We’ve raised the question about positive knowledge externalities that the graduated students’ benefic roles will play in the society. So why will they have to pay more? And also compare the UK and US regarding the university fees.] 

Then we followed by a power point presenting the day’s topic. It’s an interactive lecture where the students can ask questions to the teacher at any moment. (Pas de cours magistral)

And during the last part, we were split into 3 “cohorts” (groups of 15 students) and every week a team (3 to 4 students) is presenting an article selected by the teacher. It’s an Academic article and it’s not about summarizing the article (because every students of the group has already read it) but by giving main elements to make the connection between the course’s subject.  

So with the step back it’s in fact a very concrete and current subject we are studying with multiple everyday life examples linked such as the world financial crisis. 

The final assessment (=exam) is composed of: an oral team presentation / a individual essay / a final exam in January 2011.

Conference and Business Tourism

This is the second course I’ve selected for the 1^st semester. It’s about giving the framework of the Conference and business tourism that differs from the Tourism industry. It’s also related to marketing: how to promote an event? How to create a destination branding? A link is also made with the Scottish tourism industry. During the 2 hours’ lecture (and around 80 students) the senior lecturer presents the topic with a PP.

We’ve got after one hour tutorial to be divided in small groups of 15 students to prepare (in group or individually) a previous article or question that has been asked . And then discuss on it during the tutorial

The course’s notation:  At the beginning of the semester, we had to establish a group and then choose a conference that we will have to present in front of the senior lecturer. I’m in a group with 2 girls from Czech Republic (that’ll, I hope… spoke about the Bachelor they are preparing) and we have chosen the European Green Capital Conference, that took place this year in Stockholm. Then we need to write a report with our conclusions and recommendation (that what we are doing now…). And then an individual essay that you can choose between 3 subjects. I’ve chosen subject 3 “Within the next 5 to 10 years, video conferencing will replace a significant amount of business travel.” (And I’m working on it… almost done).

This is a very concrete course (few theories) and lots of practice.

Contemporary Issues in Business

This course is composed of a two-hour lecture (no tutorial) and its aim is to give a general approach of the “International Business”. This is a wide subject once again. We have started to discuss the issues related to the globalization, the role of government, the cultural aspect, the business ethics, the environmental issues… lots of subjects that can only briefly be presented in a power point, which is way the individual work stays important in this course. I’ve got the feeling that I’ve already studied this aspect of International Business during my previous studies, so it reminds me some elements I’ve formerly forgotten.

The concrete part of this course is our team work. I’m working with 3 Chinese girls from Beijing and one Taiwanese. We could choose between two subjects. We finally chose: “The importance or otherwise of understanding cultural issues for business firms operating internationally”. The oral presentation should take place this Thursday (if not snow storm) and one written report (due for last week’s semester). The final exam will take place in January.

Conclusion; the courses of the 1^st semester are all interesting. I just regret that we only got 3 courses each semester. I found that it’s not enough. However the personal work is quiet important especially at the end of the semester when you start to feel that lots of work has to be done. The courses with the tutorials have permitted me to meet and work with several foreign students (I do my best to stay away from the “French community”) in the objective to acquire knowledge in an English-speaking environment.