Certificate in Business Development
For many students, the path to self-employment is an attractive option. Students often consider self-employment early on, but shy away from it because they believe they do not have the necessary skills. Or they lack the ability to assess the suitability of their own business idea and develop a profitable business model.
The skills required for this task necessitate in-depth theoretical and practical training, which students receive and demonstrate as part of the certificate program. The certificate is already part of the Start-up Academy at the Center for Key Qualifications—a qualification program designed to promote entrepreneurial skills. The Business Development certificate represents a further development of the previous uniENTREPENEUR certificate.
This certificate covers all the topics you need to know to develop a business idea and start a company under the umbrella term “business development”: from the initial idea to the product, business model, and company concept.
The content, skills, and abilities conveyed in the certificate form the technical and methodological basis for starting a business as a foundation for the path to professional independence.
The certificate program combines the teaching of theoretical knowledge (technical and methodological expertise) with practical elements (exemplary work on a business model) in order to promote students' practical skills in the best possible way.
Structure and composition
The certificate consists of three modules that build on each other and are interlinked:
A total of 12 ECTS credits can be earned as part of the certificate program. The core curriculum comprises 4 ECTS credits. The elective component consists of 8 ECTS credits, which can be earned by attending two BOK management courses.
1. Orientation phase
The first step is to participate in the crash course on starting a business (module 1). The half-day workshop offered by the Start-up Office not only provides a compact and intensive insight into all aspects relevant to the development of a business model. The workshop also puts the various aspects into relation to each other and distinguishes between important and less important topics. The workshop helps students orient themselves in the certificate program, i.e., it opens up the content framework within which the certificate operates.
By gaining insight into all areas of business development, students will find it easier to tackle their own theoretical and practical business development (module 2) and plan their personal specialization (module 3).
2. Fundamentals: Practical Business Development
Independent work and self-directed learning are at the forefront of the practical module. The start date of the module can be chosen freely. The basic section comprises 4 ECTS credits. By participating in the individual practical module Business Development, students acquire the fundamentals. The practical module is structured on three levels:
The didactics and methodology of the practical module are based on close integration of the three levels throughout the entire duration (6-9 months).
Learning objectives
Personal decision-making skills:
Students are aware of their personal strengths, resources, and skills with regard to their own entrepreneurial independence and, in the context of self-reflection, develop a clear vision for their professional prospects in terms of self-employment or starting a business.
Technical and methodological expertise:
Students independently identify and acquire specialist and methodological knowledge that can be used to develop their specific business ideas. They are aware of the weaknesses in their entrepreneurial independence and can actively acquire knowledge to improve their entrepreneurial skills.
The students
- learn how to evaluate a business idea for its potential and develop business models from it.
- learn how important customer-oriented thinking and action is, what resources and framework conditions need to be taken into account, and how to successfully place a product on the market.
- learn how to use tools that enable them to create reliable cost planning.
Implementation expertise:
Through their personal commitment, students can realize their entrepreneurial independence by implementing their own business ideas.
At the end of the Business Development practical module, students independently wrote a business plan that included all the necessary elements for starting a business:
- Description of the product/service
- Industry / Market / Customers
- Marketing / Sales
- Business structure / Founder / Team
- Financial planning – 3-year planning
- Implementation schedule / Risks and opportunities
- Equity capital / Capital requirements / Financing
Through individual coaching, students receive support in developing their business idea and drafting a business plan and accompanying pitch deck.
3. Advanced and specialized studies
During the practical module (2nd component), students identify areas in which further consolidation or supplementation of their specialist knowledge is desirable: either because there are gaps or deficits that need to be filled or reduced, or because further training of existing personal skills is beneficial.
In this way, theoretical and practical work on business development is meaningfully supplemented and deepened, while at the same time promoting the individual skills of the students.
The choice of specialization is left to the students. However, they will receive advice on their selection as part of the practical module. The selected courses for specialization, totaling 8 ECTS credits, must be taken in the BOK area of management. The courses in the Management area follow a strict competence orientation with clearly defined learning objectives, which can be viewed in the respective module descriptions via HISinOne. Each course is worth 4 ECTS credits.
Learning content for consolidation or specialization can be found in particular—but not exclusively—in the following subject areas:
Project management
Project management refers to the initiation, planning, control, monitoring, and completion of projects. Most companies rely on projects when complex tasks need to be accomplished. Many terms and procedures in project management are established and standardized. Knowledge of project management is therefore extremely useful for founders.
Basic business management knowledge
Even if you are not a business economist, you can still run a company successfully. However, it always requires in-depth knowledge and confidence in using business terminology.
Time management
Effective time management to work as productively as possible is important both for good self-organization and for the efficient management of a company.
Marketing
Aligning a company with the needs of the market (marketing) is fundamental to its existence. Basic marketing knowledge is therefore crucial to a company's success in an increasingly competitive environment.
Sustainable business practices
A company does not operate in a vacuum, but is now part of a complex and profound systemic and cultural change: the consumer-oriented maxim of growth must be replaced by a sustainable economy and way of life.
This learning content is currently taught in the following BOK courses, for example:
- Introduction to Project Management
- Basic knowledge of business administration
- Agile project management, Scrum & Co
- Time and self-management
- Entrepreneurship – legal and business management issues relating to starting a business
- The business plan – methodological foundations for entrepreneurial independence and for realizing your own ideas
- Marketing fundamentals – developing and implementing a marketing plan
- Entrepreneurship – legal and business management issues relating to starting a business
- Internationally successful – how globalization affects companies
- Economy and responsibility in the face of multiple crises – areas of action for the transition to sustainability
Contact person:
Dr. Harald Schützeichel
Questions about the Business Development certificate? Then get in touch with us!
Tel: 0761/ 203-98653