New MBA major in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership for fall 2017

Entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership are instrumental to vibrant and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems. MODUL University Vienna is addressing the importance of a quality education to succeed in the modern entrepreneurial environment with a brand new major for the Master of Business Administration Program (MBA). Starting in fall 2017, MBA students will be able to specialize in a major in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership.

Through courses such as Executive Leadership, Managing Start-ups, Financing New Ventures, Strategic Management, and a four day Entrepreneurship ‘Boot Camp’ Capstone Project, students will improve their entrepreneurial skill and ability, become more theoretically informed, critically examine best practice in the management of innovative corporations, and learn to optimize team leadership to achieve growth goals.

The new major was designed by Associate Professor Dimitris Christopoulos, Dean of the Professional School of MODUL University Vienna and Research Professor at the Edinburgh Business School. He has a wealth of experience in the field of entrepreneurship and social networks with publications on the motivation of social entrepreneurs, the networks of political entrepreneurs and leadership networks, among others. Drawing on the expertise of current MODUL University faculty and sourcing external lecturers from leading international business schools, the new major will provide experiential and blended learning to our MBA students in a cornerstone field of business education.

"Entrepreneurial education is vital to economic growth while an understanding of organizational leadership vital to optimizing economic performance. For Vienna, Austria and the wider region, the coupling of innovation to entrepreneurship will determine economic resilience in times of economic change. This MBA specialization combines the key ingredients to up-skill students, while it offers a theoretical understanding and practical training on meeting the challenges of managing innovative enterprises." says Dimitris.

MODUL University faculty, including Dr. Christopoulos, have conducted extensive research on the start-up scene in Vienna, and will use their expertise to guide students towards success in this field. To draw on this strength, a course devoted to learning the background to the skills and ecosystem conditions underpinning start-up success will help aspiring entrepreneurs to familiarize themselves with the managerial side of running a start-up.

‘’A vibrant start-up economy is contingent on multiple interacting factors. These include an entrepreneurial culture, state support and regulations, the educational infrastructure, global competition, innovation creation, knowledge transfer and the availability of capital. All of these are central considerations in our educational program, which is aimed to foster a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem.’’

The financial side of bringing an idea to fruition will be intensively covered, and students will be able to recognize the range of alternative funding sources to new ventures; adapt to the range of investor strategies; and determine the type of investor most appropriate for the different growth phases of a company.

Leadership is a keystone subject in the new major which can be applied across all fields of business. Learning the leadership qualities, management and communication skills required to be an effective leader in a corporate environment is a necessity for the managers of tomorrow.

‘’Students will become versed in managing teams and facilitating organizations in the delivery of efficient operations and in fostering a culture of experimentation, lateral thinking and innovation.’’ Says Dimitris.

An Entrepreneurship Capstone Project will take full advantage of ‘experiential education’, where students will be encouraged to create a business project. The course will culminate in an Entrepreneurship Forum where students compete to pitch their ideas to investors, industry representatives, alumni, and faculty.

Applications are currently being accepted for the 2017/18 academic year!