Are you ready to shape the future through design entrepreneurship? Our MSci in Design, Enterprise and Innovation is at the forefront of a competitive global market and the only one of its kind in the UK.

Develop both the design and business skills necessary to thrive in the modern enterprise environment and prepare yourself for a career in product design leadership, entrepreneurship and the skills to set up your own enterprise. Entrepreneurship and design innovation are seen as fundamental aspects of the UK economy. Creating value through design is a challenge that requires being business savvy as much as it requires talent, methods and skills.

The course, delivered jointly by the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Aston Business School, will equip you with solid design skills as well as enterprise development competence to take on design leadership and entrepreneurship roles in future.

You will be supported by a wide network of entrepreneurs, mentors and investors from local and national communities such as Birmingham Skills for Enterprise and Employability Network (BSEEN), Birmingham Enterprise Community (BEC), Enterprise Nation and Aston’s Centre for Growth throughout your study.

What you'll learn

On this four year programme, you will achieve a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree. If you choose to take a year in industry the course length will be five years.

You will gain a grounding in the principles of design management in technology, manufacturing and concept development, combining both theoretical and practical skills training alongside relevant industrial experience. Plus, you’ll develop the skills necessary to stimulate design entrepreneurial activity, brought to life by our up-to-date and professionally focused curriculum.

Develop your specialist knowledge, build on your experience and become better equipped to contribute to entrepreneurial activity and develop your own fledgling enterprises.

If you choose to take a year in industry, you’ll be able to develop your learning and showcase your skills, improving your employability through real work experience, as well as gaining a deeper understanding of the roles and career path that best suit your interests and skills.

For more information about this course, please contact Dr Wei Liu ([email protected]), Programme Director and Senior Lecturer.

Modules

We make extensive use of case studies and projects, many of which are team-based and simulate product development in the working world. You will undertake individual and group projects throughout your studies and there are opportunities to undertake projects that have industrial partners, all of which helps to prepare you for working life.

As a Design, Enterprise and Innovation student at Aston, you will experience our innovative approach to teaching, which combines lectures, tutorials, coaching, labs and directed study. Additional lectures and seminars will be provided by specialists from industry to support your learning.

You will be assessed by a combination of coursework, case studies, design projects and in-class tests. At Enterprise Development stage (Years 3 and 4), all of the assessments are authentic, practical and developmental, allowing you to demonstrate what you have achieved without having to endure the stress of revision.

This course will provide you with the theoretical knowledge of product design and development, business and entrepreneurship as well as develop your skills to apply this to real-world situations, beneficial to a broad range of career paths in product development and business.

You will develop specialist skills in product design and development, transferable entrepreneurial understanding and experiences in establishing your own enterprise that support not only your own but other organisations which all recognise innovation, creativity and problem-solving.

Typical career paths may include product design leadership, CEO of your own enterprise, product development/design consultant among others.