ENT4000 Entrepreneurship 1: Introduction to entrepreneurship   Course description

This course is an introduction to entrepreneurship and covers entrepreneurial theories, concepts and practices. The course introduces how to identify challenges in society and evaluate new solutions to these identified challenges. Perspectives on value creation for others, entrepreneurship and innovation are emphasized. The course also provides experience in entrepreneurial work methods including design thinking, introduction to market research and feasibility studies.

Students are expected to create ideas and validate their value creation potential in contact with real stakeholders. Throughout the course, students are presented with different entrepreneurial theories, tools and frameworks and are expected to make use of them in their work. The course challenges the students to step outside their comfort zone, expose themselves to a high degree of uncertainty and develop their entrepreneurial competencies and mindset. The goal of the course is to develop the students’ ability to identify, create and evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities that can create value for others.

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After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence: 

Knowledge 

The student has

• in-depth knowledge about innovation, entrepreneurship and value creation 

• a high level of knowledge about the identification, seizing and creation of value creation opportunities by exploring the social, cultural and economic landscape. This includes an ability to identify needs and challenges that need to be met

• specialized understanding of the use of and challenges to using entrepreneurial tools to assess opportunities 

• an in-depth understanding of the impact and implications of innovation and entrepreneurship on people, profit and planet

• a high level of knowledge about idea evaluation and how to create a product or service that can meet needs in the market, and the ability to recognize the many forms of value that can be created through entrepreneurship, such as social, cultural or economic value

• an in-depth understanding of factors that facilitate successful teamwork

• specialized knowledge of how to communicate business ideas 

Skills 

The student is capable of 

• identifying and understanding users’ or customers’ problems and creating new solutions to identified problems

• assessing and evaluating the commercialization potential of an idea, and the potential consequences and effects of entrepreneurial action on the target community, the market, society and the environment

• participating in teamwork and driving teamwork forward in VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) environments

• using and explaining entrepreneurial tools, rules and processes, such as design thinking and business modelling

• communicating and presenting ideas and feasibility studies

• learning and reflecting on team development and cooperation

General competence 

The student can 

• explore and experiment with creative and innovative approaches

• apply knowledge and skills when creating or seizing opportunities

• communicate and master theoretical concepts, language and forms of expression

• identify and assess individual and group strengths and weaknesses and give and receive feedback in a group

• convey academic problems statements, analyze and conclude when it comes to assessing entrepreneurial opportunities in communication with experts and the general public 

• use reflection as a tool to learn from experiences 

The study of entrepreneurship requires an interactive learning environment. The student is expected to actively contribute to and participate in class discussions and exercises, and to support learning processes. This course will include lectures, readings, problem solving, project work, oral and written presentations, field research, workshops, guest speakers and cases. The activities are performed both individually and in groups. 

The following coursework requirements must be approved before the student may take the exam: 

• Teaching sessions in the course are compulsory. The minimum attendance requirement is 70 per cent. Teaching sessions in this course are compulsory to acquire the necessary competencies to meet the objectives of the course; about, for and through entrepreneurship. These competencies cannot be acquired solely from reading the syllabus and/or taking the exam.

• Individual effectuation task, three pages (+/- 10 per cent). 

• Identified problems created in groups. A minimum of two problems per student in a group. If the group size is three, the group must hand in minimum six identified problems (+/- 10 per cent).  

• Oral group presentation of feasibility study, five-minutes (+/- 10 per cent)

• Reflection assignment connected to entrepreneurial experience

Compulsory activities must be completed and approved before the student may take the exam. 

All required coursework must be completed and approved by the given deadline before the student may take the exam. If one or more coursework requirement has not been approved, the student will be given one opportunity to submit an improved version by the given deadline.

The exam

• Term paper (100 percent of final grade)

Term paper concerning the student’s group projects. The exam paper must have a scope of 10-15 pages (+/- 10 per cent). Font and font size: Arial or Calibri, 12 points. Line spacing: 1.5.

Students awarded a fail grade are given one opportunity to submit an improved version of the term paper for assessment.

All aids are permitted if the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A–F

The term paper is assessed by one internal and one external examiner.

At least 25 per cent of the exam papers are assessed by two examiners. The grades awarded for the papers assessed by two examiners form the basis for determining the level for all the exam papers.