Formação

Course for UNL students (2012)

An initiative of the Entrepreneurship Council of UNL

Creating and Managing Entrepreneurial Ventures

This course, also in its second edition, is for Portuguese and foreign students enrolled in master’s programs at any of the schools or institutes of UNL.

No previous formal education on business is required. It was designed to foster and develop entrepreneurial skills and knowledge among a small number of exceptionally qualified participants.

Thus, although this is a course about business foundations, it has a strong emphasis on the development of students’ abilities and skills, especially on these more directly related with the forming of corporate and social ventures.

The course will have 11 3-hour classes on a weekly basis. Every other week, class will be followed by a 1-hour lecture by an invited speaker. Besides the formal classes, students will participate in Nova Idea Competition, the business plan competition of Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

Selection for enrolment in the course is on a competitive basis. FCT-UNL financially supports a maximum of 18 of its students. Deadline for applications: 31th January 2012.

At FCT-UNL, the course is credited with 6 ECTS. Interested participants should contact their course coordinators (Coordenador de Mestrado ou Coordenador de Mestrado Integrado) to see if this course can be accepted as part of their study plan. Those who complete the course will receive a certificate issued by UNL.

Detailed information and submission forms for this course are available at:
http://www.unl.pt/empreendedorismo/formacao/master-course-entrepreneurship.

Please contact Ana Sofia Esteves at extension 15034 to know about last year’s edition of the course and student reviews.

Last Year´s Course (2011)

Course for FCT-UNL students

Turning ideas into assets. 

This course was intended to motivate students for entrepreneurship and the need for technological innovation. It covered a list of topics and tools that are important for new venture creation as well as for the development of creative initiatives within existing companies.

The course was intended for students who have not taken any courses on entrepreneurship yet, typically students enrolled in the 4th and 5th year of ‘Mestrado Integrado’ programs, and students enrolled in 2nd cycle Master’s programs. In the current edition of the course, students in the first year of doctoral programs will also be accepted.

Multidisciplinarity was fostered by classes sitting students from different programs, as well as by lecturers and mentors with different backgrounds in engineering, science and business.
The course was offered with 3 ECTS.

COURSE MEETING TIMES
The course comprised a 2-hour lecture per week, for thirteen weeks. The course started in February 2011.

LIST OF SESSIONS AND DATES

  1. 14-18 Feb. Welcome address. Introduction to the course
  2. 21-25 Feb. Building entrepreneurial teams.
  3. 28 Feb-4 Mar. Entrepreneurship and creativity
  4. 14-18 Mar. Ideation
  5. 21-25 Mar. Marketing. Creating value from innovation
  6. 28 Mar-1 April. Product design, development and manufacturing
  7. 4–8 April. IP and Law for entrepreneurs
  8. 11-15 April. IP and commercialization of academic research
  9. 26-28 April. Finance for entrepreneurs
  10. 2-6 May. The art of pitching
  11. 9-13 May. Business plan
  12. 16-20 May. Strategies to improve pitch presentations
  13. 23-27 May. Final pitch presentations

LANGUAGE
The official language of the course is English.

GRADING
At the beginning of the course, students formed teams (4 members). Teams worked on a proposal for a business project’ (12 page limit), to be handed in no later than the day before session 13.
The projects were graded by the lecturers from FCT-UNL, based on a common evaluation grid. Emphasis was given to the degree of innovation of the idea, market potential and feasibility of the project.
Teams presented their projects in elevator pitch sessions. Each team had 7 min to present its idea in a convincing way, and must be prepared to answer questions.
Grade for teamwork: Elevator pitch 10 % and proposal for a business project 90 %. All team members shared a common grade.