Overview

Start date: September 2023
Duration: 12 months full-time, or 24 months part-time
Fees: UK £18,000 (f/t) or £9,000 (p/t) and Overseas - £38,300 (f/t) or £19,150 (p/t)
Application deadline: Applications will open on 17 October 2022 and close on 31 March 2023 at 17:00 UK time.
Entry: Minimum of 2:1 honours or equivalent in a relevant discipline. International students, please note that UCL’s English language requirement for this programme is a 'Level 2' - further details regarding this can be found at the UCL English Language Requirements page.
Events: Register for our upcoming MSc Entrepreneurship virtual information session with the Programme Director on Thursday 02 February 2023. 

Programme

The MSc Entrepreneurship at UCL School of Management is designed for students who intend to start and run high impact, 'for-profit' innovative businesses.

Right from the start of the programme, you will learn the skills and gain the tools to start an innovative, high impact, new business.

From the first few weeks, you will be interviewing prospective customers, and subsequently learn how to do ‘rapid prototyping’, using the tools of ‘lean’ entrepreneurship, and pitching new ideas. Using UCL’s networks and reputation as a starting point to access London’s thriving entrepreneurship scene, you will find or develop a founding team and learn how to raise investor finance, or ‘bootstrap’ your business. This programme is about creating 'for-profit' enterprises which are committed to the principles of sustainable capitalism. 

This programme was the first of its kind in Europe, for its single-minded focus on giving you the knowledge, skills, and network to start-up a business successfully. We pride ourselves on our rate of successful start-up creation, and every year work to launch more successful start-ups.

On this programme, you will find yourself among like-minded students who will be your allies during your studies – and in some cases, the co-founders with whom you will establish your future business.

The latest rankings from the Complete University Guide (2023) place UCL School of Management 3rd (out of 124) in the UK for Business and Management Studies, and the Guardian's 2023 rankings for Business and Management placed UCL School of Management 5th in the UK. The MSc Entrepreneurship programme achieved a 91% Overall Satisfaction score in the 2021 Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES), with 99% of students agreeing that they would recommend UCL to prospective students. This is an exceptionally strong performance and reflects the outstanding quality of our teaching, culture, and facilities.

In summary, this course is suitable for anyone who:

• Wishes to start a business now. We can help you with the development of your idea and introduce you to the London business community.
• Wishes to start a business at a later date, possibly in your home country if a foreign student. We can teach you the skills of researching and developing business ideas.

If you are not looking to start your own business, you may be better considering our MSc Management programme. Our programme is strictly for entrepreneurs!

Notes

• It is possible to take the programme over two years. For 2022/23, around 15% of students were part-time, which has allowed them to continue working whilst studying.
• This MSc is heavily over–subscribed each year and has limited spaces available. You are advised to apply early. 
• Unless taking the degree as a part-time student over two years, remaining in employment whilst studying full-time is not recommended.
• The programme is suitable for entrepreneurial candidates who have not studied management previously. We actively seek a diverse cohort in terms of undergraduate degrees.
• If you have studied management and/or entrepreneurship at undergraduate level it is likely that some concepts may be repeated. However, our approach to topics may be different, and there is a varied range of core modules. In addition, the choice of two elective modules allows some personalisation of your degree.
• The MSc Entrepreneurship was formerly called MSc Technology Entrepreneurship. The name change has reflected the fact that technology is now a feature of almost every start-up business. 

Teaching approach

The programme is taught with a ‘learn by doing’ approach. While, like any UCL Master's degree, a rigorous base of research underlies the programme, the emphasis is on supporting students to develop the skills needed to succeed as CEO and/or co-founder of a high impact, innovative business.

Modules are academically testing, requiring a combination of assessments, and reading of key texts.  

However, all coursework is intended to give students an opportunity to develop a start-up, and most of the teaching is collaborative, experiential and driven by ‘build measure learn’ cycles where students take action, analyse, and reflect on the effects caused by that action, and decide on the next action to take. Themes of sustainable capitalism are embedded into several of the modules of the programme, reflecting our desire to create for-profit businesses that can also benefit our wider society and respect the environment.

The MSc Entrepreneurship teaching team is made up entirely of faculty with experience both of academia and of the world of industry and entrepreneurship, including several active venture capitalists and investors. Several of the teaching team have created and very successfully exited from start-ups. As a team, we take enormous pride in our programme and the world-class standard of teaching we offer to aspiring entrepreneurs. In the 2021 PTES survey, 100% of our students agreed with the statement ‘Staff are enthusiastic about what they are teaching’; and 95% with the statement ‘Staff are good at explaining things’. 

This high level of student satisfaction is partly down to our approach to classes. We discourage the use of laptops during lectures (unless specifically required for an exercise) as they are a known distraction to both the student and those seated adjacent. Instead, we encourage students to fully engage in a ‘big conversation’ with their lecturer and fellow students. Prospective students should also be aware that we regard punctuality for lectures as critically important. Students are expected to be fully engaged in all their classes from the outset. 

Beyond the lectures

Students are encouraged to work in a collaborative manner in a positive, friendly and dynamic environment. Additional training workshops, such as in pitching skills, are provided – the aim is to build up the skills to successfully pitch business ideas in real-life scenarios. See our YouTube channel for videos of our student pitching events.

Throughout the programme, we build in opportunities to connect with experienced, highly engaged mentors who, like our teaching team, are seeking to share their experience and wisdom with the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Students also have the ability to organise treks to visit other start-up ecosystems, which typically travel at the beginning of Term 3. Past treks have visited Barcelona, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley and Singapore. Please see our YouTube channel for videos of the trips. Students should note that a place on these treks is not guaranteed, and we also cannot guarantee right of entry into the countries selected. Small grants are available for student organisers, but in most other cases the cost is entirely funded by the students themselves.

The programme remains continually connected with its alumni, who are invited to treks, social events, workshops and pitch days throughout the year, subject to available spaces. This allows the creation of both friendships and business relationships beyond simply the year’s cohort.

Student diversity

We are proud that our programme is particularly diverse in terms of student backgrounds, and the typical make up of a student cohort each year will be as follows:

• Size of 65-75 students.
• Approximately 25% of students are from the UK (with a significant proportion part-time).
• Approximately 75% of students from the EU and the rest of the world.
• Ages range from 22 to 40+, with an average age of around 27.
• For 2022/23, 35% of our students are female. We are proud of this support for female entrepreneurship and aspire for a balanced cohort each year. 
• Undergraduate degrees are also diverse, including management, computer science, engineering, fashion and many others.

This mix of age, experience, and cultures has proved to be extremely powerful in creating a positive working atmosphere, innovative teams, and life-long friendships. The ethos of our programme is one of helping students to achieve their highest potential during the year by offering positive encouragement and support.
 

Programme structure

The programme structure comprises:

Optional Modules

All students select two of eight specialist modules, aimed at giving more domain-specific knowledge, networks, and skills. Some of these optional modules will be taught with students from other School of Management Master’s programmes, thus providing further opportunities for student inter-action across the school.

The optional modules listed are subject to change each year and are indicative only. Optional modules can change for a variety of reasons including but not limited to updated learning outcomes, lack of demand and resourcing. For questions about optional modules, please reach out to us at: mgmt-e@ucl.ac.uk

Students select their chosen optional modules during Term 1, and they are taught in Term 2.

In Term 3, and up to early September 2024, students will develop a dissertation project with a supervisor from within the UCL School of Management. The project allows students to work full time on developing their start-up, or to conduct research-based field investigations of the desirability, feasibility, and viability of a business opportunity. The dissertation project is documented in a 12,500 word report.

Part-time study

Due to UK visa requirements, this programme is only available to study part-time if you meet one of the following requirements:

• You hold UK citizenship
• You are an EU student who has obtained EU Pre-settled or Settled status

UCL does not sponsor part-time study visas due to their restrictive nature. Learn more.

Part-time study offers a student the opportunity to carry on working in a career or in their own start-up or to simply study at a slower pace. Prospective part-time students should note:

• Students take two modules per term (instead of four for full-time students). These modules are taught during the daytime on separate days of the week. 
• Part-time students are taught alongside the full-time students. They will therefore get to know two cohorts of full-time students over the two-year period.
• Lecture times can vary between early morning, middle of the day, or late afternoon. There are no weekend lectures.
• Lectures cannot be taken online.
• The modules are taught in a specific order, with the optional modules chosen in the second year.
• Students will need to have a level of work flexibility (if employed) in order to cope with the School’s timetable.
• The dissertation project is undertaken in Term 3 of the second year, hence there will be limited activity during Term 3 of the first year. 
• We will not accept part-time students who are residing outside the UK whilst studying.

Further details about part-time study are available on request.

Location

The UCL School of Management is located at Level 38 and Level 50, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London’s global business district. The above photo is one of the many exciting views from this prestigious location. The quality of our lecture theatres at Canary Wharf are outstanding and have been described by guests as some of the best in the UK. Canary Wharf is a dynamic modern district of London, with superb train connections to other parts of London. The district is particularly known for financial services, and the Level 39 incubator, specialising in cyber security, fintech and retail tech, has 1,250 occupants spread across adjacent floors of the building. MSc Entrepreneurship students can connect and collaborate with some of the businesses.

In addition, all facilities at our historic Bloomsbury campus, including libraries and a recently completed student centre, are available to our students.

Many networking and collaboration events take place in Bloomsbury, or at UCL Innovation & Enterprise facilities at BASE KX, and IDEALondon in Shoreditch.  

London was recently identified as the no.1 city in the world in which to study by QS Top Universities on criteria such as student mix, quality of living, opportunities, and affordability.

Applications

Application Requirements

This programme is designed for entrepreneurs who wish to start their own business. It is not designed for students who wish to have a traditional management career with a large corporation.

We require a minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor’s degree from a UK university, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard (see international students qualification equivalents).

Together with the academic requirements, applicants must normally have:

• Demonstrated interest in pursuing an entrepreneurial venture or career and must have undertaken entrepreneurial activities, not simply aspire to entrepreneurship.
• Two years’ work experience (subject to exceptions outlined below).

Additional notes for applicants:

• Personal statements should be no longer than 1,500 words. They must clearly state why the applicant wishes to undertake our programme; describe their entrepreneurial (or other) experience; and indicate what contribution they can bring to this exciting course.
• If making references to businesses that have been started by the applicant, please include any relevant web links to it in the personal statement. 
• Applicants who reach the final stage of selection will be asked to take part in a short video interview.
• Although not an entry requirement, we are particularly interested in applicants who are able to start a business in the UK at the end of the programme. We have incubator facilities and/or funding available to high quality start-ups at the end of the programme (subject to status).
• We are also open to applicants working in corporate innovation hubs/accelerators and intend to return to a career specifically in this space.
• No exceptions are made in meeting the English Language requirements. You are strongly advised to have passed this test prior to application. As well as passing this test, the fluency of your English will be assessed during your interview.
• We are particularly keen to welcome students with a computer science background onto the programme, as historically students with these skill sets are valuable members of founding teams. Students who have studied computer science are not required to have any work experience before applying. 
• We are also open to undergraduates from top global universities with engineering or other technical degrees who may also make an interesting contribution to founding teams. Again, such applicants are not expected to have two years work experience, but must be able to demonstrate they have been engaged in some entrepreneurial activities, even if small in scale.

For more information or clarification on the above, email mgmt-e@ucl.ac.uk

How to Apply

Applications for the 2023/24 academic year opened on 17 October 2022.

If English is not your first language, you will usually be required to take an IELTS test and reach the ‘Level 2’. To find out whether you need to take the test or not, please review UCL’s English Language requirements.

UCL Admissions assess whether overseas degree qualifications fulfil the course requirements and they require a full application to be submitted with all relevant supporting documentation - such as degree transcripts and references - before they can make this assessment.

All enquiries about submitted applications should be directed to the UCL Admissions Department, and not to UCL School of Management.

For further information regarding admissions please see the UCL Postgraduate Admissions Website. 

Interviews

Applicants who meet the entry requirements and are suitable for the programme may be invited for an online interview via Kira Talent. This is automated, where you are asked some short pre-recorded questions and your responses are then recorded. You are given the opportunity to practice with the system and will have some limited preparation time for the actual recorded questions. Applicants invited to interview will have a window of 7 calendar days from receipt of the email to complete the interview. An applicant’s failure to complete their interview within this window would lead to an unsuccessful application.

Fees

2023/24 fees are as follows:

UK

£18,000 (FT) £9,000 (PT)

Overseas

£38,300 (FT) £19,150 (PT)

For details of available UK and overseas scholarships, and further funding information, please take a look at the UCL fees and funding pages.

UCL also has guidance on how and when to pay fees.

Course Dates

One Year Full-Time:

Late September 2023 to late September 2024

There is only one intake per year, which is in September at the beginning of the UCL academic year. In the first week, new students take part in a dynamic range of induction events. Unlike some UCL Master's degrees, we do not operate a January intake.

Two Years Part-Time:

Late September 2023 to late September 2025

Scholarships and Bursaries

There are a number of sources of scholarship and other funding available for both UK and overseas students. More information is available at the UCL sources of funding webpage. Note, UK applicants are advised to apply as early as possible if seeking funding from scholarship sources since these funds are usually limited in their size and availability. 

The Fulbright Commission Award is available for a US graduate student to study MSc Entrepreneurship. For further information, please see Fulbright US to UK. Please note this is only available to citizens of the United States of America.

Open Days

Join us on Thursday 02 February 2023 for our virtual information session with Programme Director, Simon Hulme. During the session, you will have the opportunity to get an insight into the programme and out your questions to the Programme Director and current students to give you an overview of the programme and what it’s like to study with us.

Book your place today!

Innovation and Enterprise

UCL Innovation & Enterprise is UCL’s centre for entrepreneurship. Through UCL Innovation & Enterprise, students will be able to:

• Compete in external competitions for prize funds e.g. the London Mayor’s Entrepreneurs Challenge, Santander Entrepreneur,
• Take part in the UCL Innovation & Enterprise extracurricular training for prize funds
• Network across the UCL’s world-leading Faculties of Engineering, Arts & Humanities, Brain Sciences, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences and the Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment, to find fellow entrepreneurs and potential collaborators and co-founders.
• On graduation, many student start-ups continue their journey in the Hatchery,
• Secure an visa for the continuity of your business in the UK
•  Access to a growing number of world leading accelerators Y-Combinator, Techstars, etc.

Learn more

Follow them on Twitter: @UCLEnterprise

Like them on Facebook: UCLEnterprise

Join them on LinkedIn: UCL Innovation and Enterprise

The MSc Entrepreneurship global community

The MSc Entrepreneurship is a lifelong community. Our alumni continue to participate in the UCL ecosystem, and increasingly are hiring our graduates.  

Approaching half of the graduating students will continue to develop their start-up rather than seek employment. However, others will want to secure additional work experience before starting their ventures. 

MSc Entrepreneurship start-ups

Former MSc Entrepreneurship students have gone on to create a diverse range of start-up companies. A large selection can be found on our ‘Hall of Fame’ website. Alumni have also taken on positions within the tech entrepreneurship ecosystem, both in London and overseas, supporting other start-ups. For recent news of MSc Entrepreneurship alumni activity visit UCL School of Management.

Other Entrepreneurial Careers

We are also very proud of those graduates who have gone on to exciting careers, using the innovation skills they have gained to make a difference for the organisations where they work.  

As an MSc Entrepreneurship student, you will have access to a dedicated careers team who will help you present yourself to graduate employers with confidence, should you wish.

For further information on the Careers provision for UCL School of Management, please see our Careers page.

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