Discover Business Entrepreneurship

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Hi. My name is Julian Waters-Lynch, and I'm the Manager of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program here at RMIT. I've been teaching in this degree for many years now as an industry fellow, a role that also allowed me to work with many startups and run innovation programs with larger businesses here in Melbourne. So it's been a real pleasure to take on the role of Program Manager for this degree in 2020. Today I'm going to tell you a bit about the distinct suite of courses that make up this degree. I'll explain the structure of the program, some of the key learning outcomes of each course and the kinds of projects you can expect to work on as a student with some of our great industry partners. Before I begin, I'd like to acknowledge the people of the Woiwurrung and Birrarung language groups of the Eastern Kulin nations on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the university. RMIT respectfully acknowledges their ancestors and elders, past, present and emerging.

The essence of our program is about equipping you with the entrepreneurial skills and confidence to launch and manage new products, services, or an entire new business venture. We do this through studying the entrepreneurial process where we study how entrepreneurs identify new opportunities, iterate their ideas in search of that illusive product market fit. In Entrepreneurial Finance we investigate how entrepreneurs find funding for new ventures, but we also consider how these processes take place in other contexts. In Driving Innovation in Organizations, a course I teach, we look at how these processes happen inside existing companies. The focus of Global Entrepreneurship is how this process happens internationally and in emerging countries. And in Enterprise Beyond Profit we look at social innovation and social enterprises and how they add other kinds of value to their stakeholders and communities.

This is a three year Bachelor of Business degree with a major in Entrepreneurship. In your first year you'll study some common core business subjects such as Economics, Marketing Management and Accounting. The first year Entrepreneurship course, that is part of our suite is the Entrepreneurial Process. As you progress through the degree, Entrepreneurship courses will form more of your studies. These include the subjects Applied Entrepreneurship, Driving Innovation in Organizations, Global Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Finance, Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Enterprise Beyond Profit, and of course our capstone course, New Venture Creation where you will put all this knowledge to work in launching your own business enterprise. Along the way, you can also take electives from other programs such as marketing or law that can even form a minor or a second major in one of these disciplines.

There are many pathways into our program, either as a school leaver with the requisite ATAR score or as a mature aged student with some life experience in business. You can also enter our courts through the pathway programs, such as those presented here. This means you begin with a diploma or associate degree in another field and transition into our program after a year or two. RMIT's Activator is one of the real flagship centers for entrepreneurship at RMIT. The Activator is open to students across the entire university with good ideas for new products or businesses. Through the Activator you'll be able to access mentors, access masterclasses, apply for funding to build your skills as an entrepreneur and launch your first venture. Industry engagement, gaining real world work experience is a key strength of RMIT and at the heart of our entrepreneurship program.

There are three formal work integrated learning courses that you can study as part of the degree. The course I teach, Driving Innovation in Organizations and also the Fastrack Innovation Program will see you working as innovation consultants to real business clients. In our capstone course that I mentioned previously, New Venture Creation, you would design and launch your own startup. And many of our other courses also involved contact with industry mentors, guest lecturers, and you can even undertake an additional Business Internship as an elective.

We work with some excellent and well known industry partners, such as NAB, Deloitte and Amazon. We also have a close working relationship with Startup Victoria, which helps us stay in touch with a great collection of growing startups and small businesses across the state. Our students have very impressive outcomes. Some launch their own startups while still studying. Many have launched enterprises overseas or back in their home countries, but many also apply their skills and creativity and innovation inside existing companies. Maxine, featured here, was one of my students a few years ago who applied the strategies and tools we studied in Driving Innovation. First to secure an internship and then an ongoing position working in strategy and innovation.

There are many opportunities to study abroad and RMIT has partnerships with 215 universities around the world. The Entrepreneurship Program specifically has an exchange partnership with Babson College in the USA. Babson is widely recognized as the top university to study entrepreneurship in the world and I really recommend taking advantage of this opportunity. Our program provides a fantastic foundation to understand how to launch your own business and many of our students go on to do just this. But an equal number launch their careers working in innovation, as strategists, product managers, business develop managers, or consultants. The competencies we develop in our program, especially the focus on creativity, design thinking, innovation and learning to launch new products and services, are really well suited for the future of work.

If you'd like to join us, you require an ATAR score of over 67.05 and an English score of over 30. For international students that will be a 65% minimum average in your final year of school. And of course the standard English language proficiency test applies as well. So if you're interested in joining us, important dates to be aware of include orientation between February 22nd and 26th 2021. Our classes begin on March 1st and the last day you can enroll in semester one is on the 8th of March. Let me end by saying thank you for taking time to hear about our fantastic Entrepreneurship and Innovation program at RMIT. For more information about this and any other programs at RMIT, check out our website or call study-at-RMIT on 99252260. Take care and have a lovely day.

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