Fast track to entrepreneurial success at the University of Southampton

The University of Southampton is now offering a specialist qualification to help people with good ideas become successful businessmen and women.

The Master of Business Venturing will be offered by the University's Institute for Entrepreneurship from October 2004. The innovative fast-track programme can be taken either full-time over one year or part-time, usually over two years.

The course includes taught units on finance, marketing and other managerial skills for entrepreneurs, project work and a final dissertation. It also involves business mentors, knowledgeable academics and practical support and is offered in partnership with other academic Schools at the University.

"The Master of Business Venturing course will encourage the melding of theory and practice to help students learn how to explore their ideas and how to sell them convincingly to clients and potential backers while researching relevant knowledge." said Professor Elizabeth Chell, Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship.

"We can't guarantee that every student will end up setting up a company but we can give them the knowledge and skills, tailored to their needs, that will make them more likely to succeed. The Masters degree is open to people who have a business idea or a piece of intellectual property they want to exploit," she added.

The full time course is likely to appeal to new or recent graduates and PhD students. Part time options will be offered to people with some years of experience in their field.

The Institute of Entrepreneurship aims to simulate an entrepreneurial experience in the teaching of entrepreneurship, innovation and small business, expand the horizons of knowledge through research and consultancy and to advise external bodies through policy and practice-based work.