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.

Language of instruction is Norwegian or English.

None

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 master’s degree programme in entrepreneurship is a two-year extension of a three-year bachelor's degree programme. The programme is an interdisciplinary full-time programme of study taught in English and Norwegian, where the student acquires the knowledge, skills and general competence required for entrepreneurial activities at both a practical and a theoretical level. After completing the programme, students are awarded a master’s degree in entrepreneurship and qualify for admission to relevant PhD programmes. However, the pedagogical approach of this programme differs from traditional master's level programmes in its strong emphasis on insight into entrepreneurial processes achieved through practical experience.

The master's programme is designed as a Value Creation Programme where students learn through creating new value for others. This value can be financial, cultural or social, and is anchored in a broad definition of entrepreneurship that includes intrapreneurship (creating value internally in companies or the public sector) and social entrepreneurship (focusing on creating social value in NGOs/non-profits, organisations and ventures) as well as traditional entrepreneurial activities (starting a commercial venture).

Students completing this programme will acquire entrepreneurial competence that will enable them to start their own ventures as well as finding employment as change agents within private and/or public enterprises or NGOs. Entrepreneurial competence enables students to act upon opportunities and ideas to create value for others. Entrepreneurial skills enable students to act and adapt when exposed to situations with a high degree of uncertainty. Entrepreneurial abilities such as creativity, leadership, communication, critical thinking and flexibility are often termed 21st century competencies, and these competencies have been identified as crucial to succeed in future work life.

The following coursework requirements must have been approved in order for the student to take the exam: 

• Coursework 1: Teaching sessions in the course are compulsory. The minimum attendance requirement is 70 per cent active participation. 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. 
• Coursework 2: Identified problems created in groups of 2-5 students and handed in. A minimum of two problems per student in a group.
• Coursework 3: Oral group presentation (2-5 students) of feasibility study, five minutes (+/- 10 per cent).
• Coursework 4: Individual reflection assignment connected to entrepreneurial experience. The assignement must be between 600-800 words. Font and font size: Arial or Calibri, 12 points. Line spacing: 1.5.

The students can hand in their coursework requirements in Norwegian or English. 

All required coursework must be completed and approved by the given deadline in order for the student to take the exam. If one or more coursework requirements have not been approved, the student will be given one opportunity to submit an improved version by the given deadline.

The exam in the course is a term paper concerning the student’s group projects. The exam paper must have a scope of 10-15 pages. Font and font size: Arial or Calibri, 12 points. Line spacing: 1.5.

The students can write their exam in Norwegian or English. 

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

All aids are permitted, as long as the the rules for source referencing are complied with.

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

Knowledge

The candidate has

• thorough knowledge of perspectives and theory related to entrepreneurship
• advanced knowledge about how to identify, analyse and develop value creation ideas and opportunities
• a high level of understanding about how to identify one’s own resources and the resources of others with an aim to inspire entrepreneurial activity
• in-depth knowledge of, and the ability to apply, social science research methodology in an entrepreneurial setting

Skills

The candidate has

• specialised knowledge of how to utilise different entrepreneurial tools to assess and analyse value creation activities
• specialised skills to develop a vision for a value creating activity
• advanced skills related to estimating the cost of turning an idea into a value-creating activity
• in-depth skills in identifying and assessing their individual strengths and weaknesses, particularly in the context of high-pressure teamwork
• broad skills in setting long-, medium- and short-term goals, defining priorities, planning and carrying out tasks, and adapting to unforeseen changes, both individually and as part of a team
• a broad understanding of how to manage ambiguity and uncertainty through value creation and process learning
• advanced skills in communicating and learning together with others, including peers, mentors and external stakeholders
• specialised skills in reflecting on and learning from success and failure

General competence

The candidate is

• capable of analysing ethical challenges related to entrepreneurship, market research and use of data
• able to gather, utilise and assess the relevance of academic and popular sources of information
• able to present results and findings from independent and group work, both orally and in writing
• able to communicate and discuss theoretical concepts and problem statements with experts within different academic and industry domains
• able to confidently challenge truths and norms, and continue to question how society is structured

The master’s programme in entrepreneurship is a two-year programme worth 120 ECTS, consisting of four foundational entrepreneurship courses (40 ECTS), a methods course (10 ECTS), four elective courses (40 ECTS) where the students can pursue domain knowledge related to the development of their idea, and a master´s thesis (30 ECTS).

During the two-year programme, students need to choose four elective courses (40 ECTS). The students are presented with an overview of several existing courses across the four faculties at OsloMet. One of the most common factors that lead entrepreneurs to fail in their venture creation ambitions is the lack of domain knowledge related to their idea/project. OsloMet offers a wide portfolio of courses in disciplines close to their practice fields. Students are strongly encouraged to utilise this opportunity to identify courses that can provide them with important domain knowledge.

All elective courses on the master's programme must be pre-approved by the head of department at Oslo Business School (OsloMet), or the head of department delegates to. A maximum of two out of four elective courses on the programme may be at a bachelor's level.

The master's thesis is an independent project that is conducted after the students have completed and passed the foundational and elective courses. The foundational entrepreneurship courses build on each other, meaning that the entrepreneurship courses in semester 3 build on the entrepreneurship courses in semesters 2 and 1. The programme also offers an optional summer exchange programme offering extra credits (30 ECTS).

The four semesters are structured as follows:

Semester 1:

The first semester offers an introduction to entrepreneurship theory and methods. The goal for semester 1 is that students acquire skills in and knowledge about creating and testing solutions for different ideas and societal challenges. The challenges can originate in the student's own idea, research or TTO (Technology Transfer Office) environments or in private business, the public sector, NGOs or non-profit partner organisations. Up to 100 different ideas/challenges are tested in the first semester. The goal in the first semester is to form student teams (of two to five members) that can work on a solution that solves one of the tested ideas/challenges. These solutions can be commercial or non-commercial, within companies, the public sector, NGOs or non-profit organisations or can involve the creation of new ventures.

Semester 2

In the second semester, the students work in the newly formed teams and attend courses that are linked to the development and implementation of the selected solution that solves one of the tested ideas/challenges from semester 1. In addition, students are required to take two elective courses from the wide range of courses offered at OsloMet.

Summer term (extra credits)

During the summer term between semester 2 and semester 3, students are encouraged to apply and attend one of several international summer school exchange programmes in Boston, San Francisco, Toronto or Cape Town. The summer school is offered in collaboration with the Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship (Gründerskolen) run by the University of Oslo. Participation in the summer school is not compulsory.

Semester 3

In the third semester the students further specialise in the entrepreneurship field as well as have the opportunity to take a wide range of elective courses offered at OsloMet that can provide domain-specific knowledge to their teams for working, developing and implementing their solution. At the end of the semester the students are expected to launch a pilot and implement the chosen solution together with their team.

Semester 4

In the final semester the students write their master's thesis. The thesis topic can be related either to their solution or to companies, ventures, or projects with which OsloMet has a collaboration partnership, as well as addressing relevant entrepreneurship-theory challenges. The master’s thesis is usually written in groups of two students.