Program Overview

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BSc International Business and Entrepreneurship (Including Foundation Year) is open to Home and EU students. It will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your academic skills. This four-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three years of study. During your Year Zero, you study four academic subjects relevant to your chosen course as well as a compulsory English language and academic skills module. You will spend Year Zero of your four year degree studying at our Colchester Campus. For your second, third and fourth year of study, you will be based at our Southend Campus. You are an Essex student from day one, a member of our global community based at the most internationally diverse campus university in the UK. After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department , you progress to complete your course with Essex Business School . Entrepreneurship is broader in scope than traditional business studies. It explores enterprising mind-sets, new venture creation and innovation in the private, public and voluntary sectors. It examines ways in which creative people, dynamic organisations and facilitative environments help to generate economic growth and social transformation. This course provides you with insight into new venture creation and growth, as well as the internationalism of business. We equip you with business knowledge and develop your practical skills through a combination of entrepreneurial theory, group work, business simulation games and interactive projects. Upon graduation, you may decide to use what you have learnt to launch your own business. You explore topics high on the agenda of international businesses, governments, policy-makers, researchers, educators and wider communities. For example:

• business start-up and growth
• strategic entrepreneurship
• the international business environment
• international business strategy
• innovation
• international trade
• economics
• technology
• international human resource management

The University of Essex is one of just three UK universities to have received Q-Step Affiliate status, including for our BSc International Business and Entrepreneurship, to support the way we develop the quantitative skills of our graduates. This means we can provide work placement bursaries to develop your skills in evaluating numerical evidence, analysing data and designing research. We also offer the opportunity to follow a specialised degree path, where you graduate with enhanced quantitative skills. These are evidenced on your degree transcript, to help give you the competitive edge in the graduate job market. We empower you to take control of your career in business and create ideas, products and services with real value.

Taster Session

Find out more about our teaching style at Essex Business School, watch Dr Marta Fernandez de Arroyabe Arranz’s Entrepreneurship taster session: Why we're great.

• We are ranked in the Top 150 for Business and Economics in THE World University Rankings by Subject 2023.
• Experience innovative teaching methods, including our business simulation game.
• We're one of just three UK universities to have received Q-Step Affiliate status.

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Our expert staff

Our academics have a global understanding of business, specialising in both established and developing markets. They are at the forefront of entrepreneurship research and challenges effecting Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and use this knowledge in their teaching to ensure your education is at the cutting-edge of real-world business issues. Our staff specialise in areas including:

• internationalisation
• innovation
• new product development
• international marketing
• microfinance
• ethics
• social responsibility
• sustainability
• international human resource management

At Essex Business School we are home to academic staff who are on the cutting edge of their research areas. Dr Marta Fernandez De Arroyabe Arranz , one of our undergraduate tutors, is a Senior Lecturer in Strategy Operations and Entrepreneurship and is passionate about innovation in small-medium sized businesses. Her research encompasses environmental management, digitalisation and cybersecurity, and entrepreneurship, meaning that she is able to stimulate our students with relevant and topical debate. Essex Business School is home to a number of research groups. Our Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship Group , based at our Southend Campus, are a group of international researchers with an entrepreneurial focus. This means that your teaching in international business and finance will cover the latest insights from research conducted in partnership with businesses from all over the world.

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Specialist facilities

Our BSc International Business and Entrepreneurship is based at our Southend Campus , in the heart of the Thames Gateway, one of the Government’s key areas for economic growth and a fitting location for entrepreneurial study. Essex has the highest number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, meaning you are ideally located for launching your business or gaining inspiration to take back home. Southend-on-Sea combines the charms of a traditional seaside resort with the attractions of a vibrant, modern town. The town centre location gives you easy access to transport links, a host of restaurants, bars and shops, and is just a few minutes’ walk from the beach and world-famous mile-long pier. London Southend Airport is 15 minutes by taxi, but you can also reach it in just 5 minutes by train. We are just an hour’s train journey from London which is, and always has been, a bastion of innovation. It fosters a creative climate with business incubators and accelerators feeding into Europe’s largest concentration of tech companies. 37 percent of Europe’s total unicorn companies are in the capital city which is one of the world’s richest and most open data cities. When you choose our Southend Campus for your studies, you’ll have access to excellent, dedicated facilities , including:

• 24-hour computer suites and study pods
• extensive library
• employability support, events and initiatives
• study skills advice
• dental practice
• Faith Centre
• our cosy SU Lounge, with pool tables and large-screen TV for socialising and relaxation!

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Your future

A degree in entrepreneurship can add to your credibility as an innovator or business owner while a clear grasp of international business practises can open the door to global trading opportunities for you and your business. Therefore, we embed a series of core and specific skills into our undergraduate curriculum for BSc International Business and Entrepreneurship to ensure that our graduates are suited to careers in business management, business ownership and leadership roles. All of our taught modules embed elements of our skills map which emulate the skills which are required by employers of business graduates, these generally include:

• Academic and cognitive skills
• Research skills
• Technology skills
• Communication skills
• Data analysis skills
• Soft skills

We embed a structured approach to student development and skills support throughout the curriculum and through additional support from the Essex Business School Learning Team . Our students have gone on to become business analysts, successful entrepreneurs, account managers and management trainees, with recent graduate destinations including:

• Entrepreneur in Residence at Founders Factory - a tech startup business partnering company
• Consultant at TEKsystems – a data insights and business systems provider
• Associate Professional Business Analyst at DXC Technology – an end-to-end IT services company
• Delivery Consultant at RED - The Global SAP Solutions Provider - a specialist recruitment firm
• iX Business Consultant at IBM – the multifunctional information technology conglomerate
• CEO and Founders of WYSPR – a ‘Friendvertising’ social media start-up

Our entrepreneurship graduates enjoy successful careers in their fields. Additional to the skills development offered by Essex Business School, BSc International Business and Entrepreneurship students can also take advantage of the University of Essex Careers Service which focuses in particular on supporting the development of undergraduate employability , including: careers fairs, career mentoring, skills development, careers advice and guidance, placement year support, job opportunities, start-up support and more. “My favourite part of the course has been the business strategy simulation game, where I applied theory to a practical situation mirroring current market conditions. I had to use analytics, statistics and my own gut instinct to make business decisions and solve challenges. I chose Essex Business School because it invests in its students and facilities. I enjoy spending time in the SU lounge and it’s useful to have 24/7 access to the building’s study areas.” Myles Wood-McGrath, BSc International Business and Entrepreneurship