University of Buckingham

The University of Buckingham is the only independent, campus based, university in the UK incorporated by Royal Charter. It is also one of the smallest universities in UK, with around 2200 students. Honours degrees are achieved in two intensive years of study (8 terms).

As an independent university we must be entrepreneurial in our approach. As a result we are also “student oriented”, leading the National Student Survey every year since 2006.

We launched our innovative BSc Business Enterprise (BBE) Venture Creation Programme in January 2006. The 12th cohort of BBE students will start in January 2017. The BBE programme offers students the opportunity to start and develop their own business, as an integral part of their honours degree. About 4 months after starting the programme undergraduates “pitch” to “Buckingham Angels” for up to £5000 seed-corn capital. Students then launch their business, whilst continuing to study for their honours degrees during the following 18 months.

On graduation BBE students can buy their business for a nominal sum and continue its development. Our graduates have also returned to manage family businesses, started their careers working in companies or have gone on to Masters Programmes.

Here is an example of one of our graduates comments about the BBE programme:

“I learnt that true entrepreneurial spirit is focus and persistence, the ability to work with others and belief in your own capabilities. It is not about textbook knowledge, but from the trials and experiences of real situations in your desired field.”Rumbidzai Kunzekweguta, Harare, Zimbabwe.
 
In January 2016 we launched our BSc Computing and Software Entrepreneurship (BCSE) programme. This programme enables students to creatively develop their own software systems and apps which designed to meet customers’ needs, using “Lean Start-up”, “Minimum Viable Product” and “Value Proposition Design” approaches to business. Our BCSE graduates are able to start their own software business. They work in the dynamic world of launching and running a business, not just designing software.

In January 2017 we are launching our MSc in Entrepreneurial Consultancy and Practice (MECP) programme. Working alongside KPMG enterprise this new programme teaches students to work as consultants for growing SME’s. Through practical methodology and working with real start-up business we offer an authentic growth business consultancy experience.  Graduates from this programme will be in a position to start their own business or gain more experience by working for a start-up, perhaps even one of the companies that they had worked with as a junior business consultant during the programme. They can also develop a career as a consultant to growing businesses with a range of firms, as they will not only have a Master’s degree, but also the experience of several consultancy projects under their belt.

Main contacts:

BBE & MECP –  Nigel Adams  http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/business/bbe/
BCSE –  Dr Harin Sellahewa   http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/sciences/bsc/computing-entrepreneurship
Twitter: @Buckingham_BBE @Buckingham_MECP @UB_Computing @nigeladams