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2024/2025  BA-BBLCV2302U  Startup Internship at CSE

English Title
Startup Internship at CSE

Course information

Language English
Course ECTS 15 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Autumn, Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc and MSc in Business, Language and Culture, BSc
Course coordinator
  • Lena Olaison - Department of Business Humanities and Law (BHL)
  • Maximilian Schellmann - Department of Business Humanities and Law (BHL)
Main academic disciplines
  • Entrepreneurship
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 16-02-2024

Relevant links

Learning objectives
The aim of Startup Internship at CSE is to demonstrate the ability to conduct a qualified piece of research within the field of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial process. More specifically, to achieve grade 12, students must meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes.
  • Identify a relevant entrepreneurial problem in your company’s start-up process during the Startup Internship at CSE
  • Mobilize relevant research literature that addresses the entrepreneurial problem and identify one or several shortcomings of the literature
  • Develop a coherent research question that addresses these shortcomings of the academic literature
  • Choose and adapt relevant methods for collecting and analyzing data during the Startup Internship at CSE
  • Consider and discuss the implications of your study for the research literature and for addressing your entrepreneurial problem
Course prerequisites
We recommend that you only begin ‘the Startup Internship at CSE’ once you have passed all the exams in the first two years (120 ECTS). This will give you the solid academic foundation required for carrying out tasks during the Startup Internship at CSE, as well as heighten the quality of the written product you have to submit for examination after the Startup Internship at CSE.

There are three types of internships in a startup:
- Internship in students’ own startup
- Internship in a CSE startup
- Internship in a CSE alumni and/or partner startup

Registration process:
There is a dual registration process for this course.

Step 1. Students must apply to CSE with their own startup (idea) (internship in own startup) or the idea of an existing CSE startup (internship in another CSE/alumni startup) in order to become an active member of Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship (CSE) community which means to be enrolled in CSE’s Incubation or Acceleration programs. To learn more about the CSE application process, see here: https:/​/​cse.cbs.dk/​internship-with-ects/​.
Note: If the student AND the startup interning in is already part of CSE students can skip to step 2.

Step 2. Students must sign up to this course during the electives rounds at CBS. More information about how to sign up for electives can be found here: https:/​/​studentcbs.sharepoint.com/​sites/​ChoicesAndOptions/​SitePages/​en/​Registration-for-electives.aspx
Prerequisites for registering for the exam (activities during the teaching period)
Number of compulsory activities which must be approved (see section 13 of the Programme Regulations): 1
Oral presentations etc.
Students must provide the internship completion certificate from the Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship (CSE).
Examination
Startup Internship at CSE:
Exam ECTS 15
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Group exam
Please note the rules in the Programme Regulations about identification of individual contributions.
Number of people in the group 2-4
Size of written product Max. 80 pages
Max. 80 pages
1 student max. 20 pages, 2 students max. 40 pages, 3-4 students max. 60 pages
Assignment type Report
Release of assignment Subject chosen by students themselves, see guidelines if any
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Winter and Summer
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure

The report must be structured as an academic research paper with an introduction that states an entrepreneurial problem, a review of relevant academic literature addressing the entrepreneurial problem and developing a research question, a methodological section that outlines the methods for data collection and the analytical approach, an analysis that presents the findings of the study and a discussion section that shows how the findings contribute to the academic literature and provide new insights or approaches to your entrepreneurial problem. The paper must use appropriate academic references. The paper must be written in English. It must include a 500 words executive summary written in English. In the appendix, students must include their Internship agreement with CSE and documentation of the completed ‘CSE Business Project’, which are requirements for the completion of the course. The internal examiner is the academic supervisor. The report must be submitted via Digital Exam.

Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

‘The Startup Internship at CSE’ provides students with the opportunity to collect hands-on experiences in developing their own or another CSE startup while developing a research paper that tackles an entrepreneurial problem. ‘The Startup Internship at CSE’ offers students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience of developing an entrepreneurial venture. The main objective of the internship is to link business theory with entrepreneurial practice. The program has high demands both on the practical side of developing a startup or business idea within the entrepreneurial ecosystem at CSE AND on the academic side of crafting a qualified piece of academic research based on students’ entrepreneurial experiences.

 

The Internship Process

The internship process focuses on developing students’ entrepreneurial knowledge and equips them for resolving humanity’s challenges of today and tomorrow through building their own entrepreneurial venture. Therefore, it is required that students participate in 6-8 mandatory activities each semester that may include the following:

kick off and concluding events to plan, goal set, meet entrepreneurial peers and reflect; business development sessions (combination of teaching, workshop and peer-peer learning format), individual feedback from CSE staff; access to CSE startup workshops within customer, user & business validation, business model innovation, pitch & presentation practice among other workshops to build & apply one’s entrepreneurial competence, office space and what we offer as CSE workplace provider. If students fail to participate in all mandatory sessions, they cannot complete the ‘Startup Internship at CSE’.

 

The Supervision Process:

Students must find an academic supervisor within the first week of ‘the Startup Internship at CSE’. The CBS supervisor must be an academic faculty employed at CBS within the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship or with expertise knowledge within the startup’s business field. Individual students are eligible for four hours of supervision, and teams are eligible for five hours. During the first six weeks of ‘the Startup Internship at CSE’ students should reach an agreement with your CBS academic supervisor on a topic and a research question that is linked to their business problem and falls within the subject area of students’ study program. The academic supervisors are responsible for guidance on the research paper, which students will hand in at the end of the project. Their role is similar to a bachelor/master thesis supervisor in that they provide input and feedback on questions about academic literature, research question, methodology, and discussion of findings. They will not help you with developing students’ business. Teaching formats are individual or group sessions where the supervisor gives guidance or feedback on the students’ research paper. 

 

Bridging your Internship Experience with writing your Research Paper

CBS faculty associated to CSE will provide the students with input on how to close the gap between their practical internship experience and writing a research paper. There will be several sessions that – on a general level – cover topics such as identifying a business problem, formulating a research question, finding academic literature, collecting and analyzing data. It is important to stress that this input is specifically adjusted to the types of entrepreneurial experiences students have during their internship program. However, it is not specific in relation to each students’ individual project for which guidance will be provided by the academic supervisor.

Description of the teaching methods
Academic Supervisor: supervision, reading of drafts, conversations (both online and offline)
CSE: Workshops, business development sessions, community sessions, exercises
Feedback during the teaching period
Group supervision and feedback by academic supervisors on research. Group and individual feedback on startup by CSE staff. Workshop sessions with CSE-associated academic staff on bridging the gap between theory and practice.
Student workload
Sessions and workshops provided by CSE (incl. preparation) 32 hours
Academic supervision 4 hours
Study of literature, data, analysis 100 hours
Writing of the report 100 hours
Working on own startup 176 hours
Last updated on 16-02-2024