Frequently Asked Questions
about the Entrepreneurial Enterprises course
Q: Is this a "free elective" or BUGE course?
Yes, for students who are enrolled in a program that does not belong to the Division of Business. For students in a Division of Business degree, this is a business elective.
Q: What is the fee for this course?
This is a standard 4.5 unit course, as far as fees are concerned.
Q: Do I have to enrol on a particular campus?
You can enrol at whichever campus this course is offered.
Q: What are the prerequisites?
You need to have completed any 8 courses (36 units of study) before enrolling in this course. This is a course that you cannot take in your first year of full-time study. The reason for having these prerequisites is that entrepreneurship is a field that draws on knowledge of all aspects of the operation of the business (in particular marketing, human resources management, financial management, strategy), and integrates them in the small-business context. In practice, this means you will find this course easier to handle if you have completed a reasonable number of courses across a range of areas -- ideally, you have completed the Division of Business core courses.
Q: Why would I want to do this course?
Our experience is that we have three different segments of students taking this course. One segment is very interested in the topic, wants to know about entrepreneurship and innovation, and perhaps wants to complete a minor in entrepreneurship and innovation. If you are in this group, you will find that this is a challenging course that gives you a great deal of knowledge and insights that will help you to either start your own venture, or to be entrepreneurial in an existing business. You will find that this is a great preparation for working in the small-business or entrepreneurial business environment.
The next segment includes students who simply want to do an elective so that they can quickly complete the requirements for their degree. If you are in this group, you may find that this course is more challenging than you expect - it is a standard university course that requires about 120 hours of your time, and it cannot be completed successfully simply by coming along to a few lectures in the first week. This is a course that offers a great deal of benefit, but you must do your part by putting time and effort into the coursework, and particularly by contributing to the teamwork that is a central part of this course. You may find that this course will help you to integrate knowledge across different study areas, and may give you ideas about how to apply your knowledge in an innovative and entrepreneurial way.
The third segment includes those students who are required to do this course as part of their study program. If you are in this group, you will find that this course will help you to see how different areas of study are linked together in a business. In particular, you will find that this course gives you insights into the way that small business works, and will help you to be innovative and entrepreneurial in their future work environment. Finally, this course may help you to identify an innovative and entrepreneurial way in which you could apply the knowledge that you are gaining in other parts of your degree.
Q: What if I am attending another university?
If you are enrolled in another university and you have space in your degree for an elective course, then you can apply through your own department to take this course as a cross-institutional transfer student. We have a number of people doing this already. You will also need to get the form signed by one of our administrative staff - visit the School of Management office, which is on the ground level of the Elton Mayo Building at the corner of George Street and North Terrace, City West Campus.
Q: What if I don't have room in my degree, or have already completed my degree?
If you do not have room in your degree for an elective, you can apply to attend this course as an audit student, but there is a fee attached. UniSA Campus Central (8302 0511) can provide information about this option and the fees. The HECS fee for this course is at 'Band 2'.
Q: Are there any places available in this course - what do I do if a class is full?
The entrepreneurship courses are popular, and some of them are very quickly filled even though they have a large intake. You can always see how many people have enrolled in any course by looking at the class timetable for that course -- you will see the enrolment capacity, and the current enrolment total. In addition, when you go through enrol online, this facility will give you the most current number of places available in a particular class. If the class is full, please do not contact the lecture or the school with a request to be allowed to join the class, as they will not override the enrolment capacity -- please enrol in another class in a different study period.
Q: Is this course offered externally?
We regret that this course is available only face-to-face. It is not offered externally or online. Some regional and interstate students take this intensive course by coming to Adelaide for the week of the lecture/seminar sessions (as well as for the written examination). They also need to be very well-organised, and make sure that they communicate frequently with their project team. However, it is important to note that the exam is offered only in Adelaide.
Q: How big will the class be?
At City West and City East, classes are limited to 130 or 140 students. At other campuses, maximum numbers are smaller: 80 at Mawson Lakes.
Q: How can the course content be covered in five days?
See the schedule for the course. The five days are taken up with seven lecture/seminar sessions, and these are followed by the equivalent of more than two full days of workshop sessions where you can get support from the lecturer or tutor for preparing your team feasibility study. In this way, you have the equivalent of five full days to cover and explore the course content, and this is the same as the contact hours for a full semester of lecturers and tutorials.
Q: Why don't the workshops appear on the official timetable?
The university system is not really geared to present a simple view of the timetable for an intensive course. Including the optional workshops would make the timetable section of the official home page confusing, and would cause timetable conflicts that prevent students from enrolling. That is why we include the note "IMPORTANT: See timetable details at www.unisa.edu.au/cde/" on the timetable page.
Q: How much work does this course involve?
The 'rule of thumb' for business courses is that you spend 2 hours of your own time on assignments, group work, tutorial preparation and self-directed learning for every contact hour. This course is about 40 contact hours (including seminars and workshop sessions). This means that we expect that you will spend about 120 hours of your own time in attending lecture/seminar sessions and workshops, as well as preparing for the exam, working with your team to develop your business idea and writing your team report.
CDE staff have taught this course a number of times, and we have observed that students who are well organised seem to have few problems. Students generally arrange to meet in their teams on a regular basis to plan and coordinate their activities and allocate tasks. They then spend time on their own doing their allocated tasks and own study.
Q. Are course materials provided?
You receive a printed study guide of about 200 pages. This includes the course outline, copies of lecture presentations and a template for each class exercise. You will also have access to the course web site that includes supplementary readings and templates and instructions for preparing the feasibility plan.
Q: Will I need to get the textbook?
Students sometimes ask if it is worth getting the textbook. As we point out in the first lecture session, our task is to educate as well as to train. This means that we present current thinking in this field, and draw on research findings, as well as materials from a wide range of sources (including academic and business publications). This means that we do not lecture out of a textbook, and we do not necessarily lecture out of the study guide. We expect that you will use the text to supplement the content that is delivered in a lecture/seminar sessions, as it is just not possible to cover all of the relevant material in those sessions. That is why we go to some effort to identify a text that adds value to the course and contributes to your learning and education.
Q: Aren’t entrepreneurs born? How can you teach someone to be entrepreneurial?
If you have an entrepreneurial inclination, this course will give you the knowledge and confidence to identify and evaluate a business opportunity, and how to go through the process to develop this opportunity as a business venture. It will help you to be entrepreneurial when the situation arises. It will also give you the knowledge and confidence to join a team (led by an entrepreneur) to set up a new business venture – either as a new business or within an existing organisation.
UniSA's aim is to offer this type of course to students across the whole university as part of a strategy to become an 'enterprise university'. The purpose is to encourage all students to consider starting their own business after they graduate. That is, the course will open up another career option - for our graduates to become the employers of the future. However, we recognise that not all students will want to start their own business. The purpose of the course is also to give those students an introduction to the entrepreneurial process and a better understanding of what it is like to work in a small business, so that these people will feel more comfortable working in a small or entrepreneurial business after graduation.
Q: What is the individual assignment?
In the first session of the seminar series, you will be given four questions addressing the course content of the first couple of days. At the end of the seminar series, you will be given 30 minutes to answer one of those questions, and this will be done under exam conditions. The lecturer/seminar series includes a session on "answering examination questions" that will help students to understand the expectations regarding this assessment.
Q: What is the exam?
A two-hour written examination will be held about two weeks after the feasibility plan has been submitted. This will cover all aspects of the course. This accounts for 50% of the total assessment for the course. The lecturer/seminar series includes a session on "answering examination questions" that will help students to understand the expectations regarding the examination.
Q: What do I do if I have a timetable clash for the exam?
If the exam for this course is scheduled at the same time as a lecture or tutorial in another course, then we would expect you to attend the examination. If you have another examination scheduled at the same time, then apply for a deferred examination for one of the courses; do this through Campus Central. If you will not be in Adelaide when the exam is scheduled, you can apply through Campus Central to take the examination in another location.
Q: What are the arrangements for deferred exams, or for special consideration?
If you wish to apply for a deferred examination (or for special consideration), then you need to do this through Campus Central within the required number of days following the examination. Arrangements will then be made by School of Management staff, and you will be advised by e-mail. Please do not contact the lecturer regarding these arrangements.
Q: How are we allocated into teams?
The lecturer will allocate the class into teams before the start of the intensive seminar sessions. You will be asked to sit with your team members, as you will carry out a number of team exercises during the three days of intensive sessions.
Q: Can we form our own teams?
Team allocation reflects the workplace, where people are put together to carry out specific projects. Our experience has been that teams that are self selected do not get on as well as teams that are allocated (and this is why we go to the trouble of allocating teams). If two or three members of a project team are friends or work together, then this can put the other team member(s) in a difficult situation, or at a disadvantage, if the relationship is not well managed. In addition, if something goes wrong in the project team, the problem may be carried over into the workplace if members of the team work together.
Our view is that University offers a great opportunity to meet people from other study programs and from other countries, and the people you work with in a project team may be valuable members of your (International) network in the future.
Q: What is the team assessment?
The class will be given three business ideas, and your team will be able to select one of these as the subject for your project work and your project report. (Alternatively, your team may identify and choose your own genuinely innovative and new idea.) These ideas have been selected on the basis of their potential for development in the form of a feasibility report. There are many advantages that arise from this approach. In particular, each will be discussed during the week of seminars and exercises. This means that your team will be able to develop a very good feel for these projects during the lecture sessions, and this will make the project more interesting, and easier to deal with (than if you chose your own topic).
You will be given access to details about these business ideas before the start of the lecture/seminar series.
You will cover key aspects of the feasibility planning task in your team exercises during the intensive sessions. You will be expected to meet as a team to produce the feasibility plan. You must use the Word document and the Excel spreadsheet templates (that are provided on the course web site) to develop the Feasibility Plan. The full specification for the report is included in the course website. The report is assessed as a whole - that is, a grade is given for the report, so that each team member receives the same grade for this assessment (although it is possible to award different grades if necessary).
Q: What is the screening tool?
The CDE has developed a number of electronic questionnaires that are used to evaluate a wide range of business activities and capabilities, including innovation capability, entrepreneurial orientation, strategy development, opportunity screening, technology screening, and product portfolio management. Students taking this course are given access to a version of the CDE Business Opportunity Screening Tool that allows teams to evaluate business ideas in a professional way.
Q: Where is the course home page?
At www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/courses/course.asp?Course=BUSS3043