School of Entrepreneurship & Business
Research (PhD) Programmes
The School of Entrepreneurship and Business offers two doctoral programmes:
a) PhD in Entrepreneurship
b) PhD in Business Administration
The two distinctive programmes offer students the opportunity to focus their work on a specific topic related to new venture creation in a variety of contexts or on a topic of general business administration which has links with entrepreneurship and innovation.
New venture creation covers a range of issues from business formation to entrepreneurial growth, the generation of new products and services, regional development through entrepreneurship, social enterprise, spatial aspects of entrepreneurship and related topics. These are indeed some of the topics that are being covered by the current group of PhD students. They are also of interest to our academic staff.
Similarly, research topics in the Business Administration area cover strategic and operational issues, including business strategy, internationalisation, marketing, human resources, organisational behaviour and related topics.
There also has corresponding MPhil or MSc by Dissertation for the above two PhD programmes.
Students are required to attend courses in research methodologies and methods, plus recent theoretical development in entrepreneurship and business as appropriate. Candidates are normally required to be in residence at the University for at least two years. A PhD thesis should be completed within four years; an MPhil thesis should be completed within two years.
Opportunities for teaching on undergraduate degrees
There are opportunities for PhD students in the second year of their studies to undertake some undergraduate teaching. Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) training is compulsory before taking up teaching, and the training is offered at the Colchester campus. Students need to make the Head of the School aware that they are interested in teaching.
Course info
Entry Requirement
Applicants should have a higher degree by examination (MA, MPhil, BPhil etc) from a university in the UK or equivalent outside the UK.
Language requirement
For students whose native language is not English, a good command of English is required since all instruction and written work are in English. The minimum entry requirement is one of the following:
- IELTS score of 6.5
- TOEFL paper score of 570
- TOEFL computer score of 230
Please note that all offers are usually conditional upon English language as set out above.
Supervision
Each PhD candidate is supervised by a member of staff who is competent in the field of research. A brief outline of the research interests of staff in the School is available on the Research Centre section.