Master of Science in Business Development and Entrepreneurship
Utrecht, Netherlands
MSc
DURATION
1 year
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
01 Apr 2026*
EARLIEST START DATE
07 Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
EUR 20,605 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for Non-EU passport holders | 1 June 2026 - for EU passport holders
** Non-EU/EEA students (institutional fee) | €2.694 - Dutch and other EU/EEA students (statutory fee)
Key Summary
From ideas to impact
Whether you want to start a venture, grow an organisation, or enable others to innovate, an entrepreneurial mindset will enhance your career opportunities. The Master’s in Business Development and Entrepreneurship (BDE) at Utrecht University equips you with cutting-edge knowledge, relevant skills, and the mindset to foster entrepreneurship and create value for society.
In our diverse international classroom, students from various academic backgrounds exchange perspectives and tackle entrepreneurial challenges together, applying academic insights to real-world cases. During the master's program, you learn to analyse opportunities, test business models, design ecosystems that foster innovation, formulate strategy, and help ventures and organisations grow. The programme combines academic rigour with practice-oriented projects, preparing you to turn ideas into impact—both for yourself and for others.
Content of the Programme
In the Master's programme in Business Development and Entrepreneurship, you learn to:
- drive entrepreneurial behaviour and strategy in both new ventures and established organisations.
- recognise and validate opportunities using entrepreneurial models and tools such as effectuation, co-creation, design thinking, and market analysis.
- organise and manage growth in teams, ventures, and networks.
- understand and shape ecosystems that enable innovation and business development.
- develop and pitch integrated financing and growth plans.
- build advisory skills for diverse entrepreneurial careers.
- apply rigorous scientific methods in research and consulting projects.
The objective of the Master’s programme is to equip students with the mindset, knowledge, and tools to initiate, support, and foster entrepreneurship, innovation-driven growth and business development across diverse contexts, by combining cutting-edge research insights with practice-oriented projects, skill development, and experiential learning.
Dutch Nationals
If you meet the requirements regarding age, school type and nationality, you can apply for so-called studiefinanciering.
- Bright Minds Fellowship
Other EU/EEA and Swiss Nationals
Scholarships, fellowships, and grants offered by Utrecht University, the Dutch government, and other organisations can help fund your studies at the university. Please note that the scholarship options for programmes starting in February are limited.
- Bright Minds Fellowships
- Law, Economics and Governance International Talent Scholarship (LEG ITS)
- Utrecht Sylff Scholarships
- For outstanding graduates from University College Utrecht and Economics and Business Economics (UU)
- Student grant and loan system
- Tuition fee loan
- Erasmus+ Master loans
Non-EU/EEA Nationals
Scholarships, fellowships, and grants offered by Utrecht University, the Dutch government, and other organisations can help fund your studies at the university. Please note that the scholarship options for programmes starting in February are limited.
- Law, Economics and Governance International Talent Scholarship (LEG ITS)
- NL Scholarship
- Utrecht Sylff Scholarships
- For outstanding graduates from University College Utrecht and Economics and Business Economics (UU)
- Canadian student loans
- Fulbright / NAF
- Erasmus+ Master loans
Period 1
- Empirical Economics (compulsory)
- Intrapreneurship (compulsory)
- Entrepreneurial Marketing (compulsory)
Period 1-4
- Professional skills
Period 2
- Entrepreneurial Finance (compulsory)
- Frontiers of Entrepreneurship (Research Project) (compulsory)
- Data-driven Entrepreneurship (compulsory)
Period 3
Period 3: choose two electives from the list*, but at least one of the following courses
- Platform Economy and Business
- Entr. Ecosystems & Economic Development
- Business Development Analytics
* Electives Period 3
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Competitive Strategy
- Management Control Systems
- Financial Regulation
- Asset Pricing
- Economics of Global Challenges
- Behavioural Economics and Public Policy
- Platform Economy and Business
- Entr. Ecosystems & Economic Development
- Business Development Analytics
- Valuation in Mergers and Acquisitions
- Environmental Economics and Policy
Periods 3 and 4
- Thesis (compulsory)
Period 4
- Global Business and Society
Thesis
Your Master’s thesis is the culmination of the MSc in Business Development and Entrepreneurship. Done well, your thesis is a piece of work that will make you proud. You can choose to complete your thesis in a number of ways. Though a thesis is typically written in the context of one of the ongoing research programmes at the Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.), you can also choose your own thesis topic or combine it with an internship (external research) and record the outcome in a research report
Each year, we select a winning Master's thesis for each U.S.E. 1-year Master’s programme. These theses need to be written and completed in semester 2 and are chosen for their relevance, academic merit, and particularly for their integration of a ‘real-world perspective’ into an economics issue. From these winning theses, one overall winner is selected by a jury. This thesis is recognised with the U.S.E. Master's Thesis Award. The author of the winning thesis of U.S.E. is awarded a certificate and cash prize during the Master’s Graduation ceremony.
Across these profiles, BDE graduates stand out for their ability to combine economic and managerial insights with entrepreneurial skills.
You will be able to:
- Analyse opportunities and markets using rigorous methods.
- Build and manage entrepreneurial teams and networks.
- Develop strategies, business models, and financing plans through evidence-based approaches.
- Understand and help shape the ecosystems that support entrepreneurship
- Communicate effectively and work in multidisciplinary settings.
Graduates of the Master’s in Business Development and Entrepreneurship are equipped to thrive in careers where entrepreneurship, innovation, and business growth are central.
Depending on your ambitions, you can position yourself in three distinct profiles:
- Venture Builder: Drive, shape, and grow new ventures from within. You may become a founder or co-founder, or join a startup or scale-up as an early employee. Typical roles include (co)founder, business developer, sales or growth manager, operations associate, or entrepreneur-in-residence.
- Business and Innovation Consultant: Advise organisations on how to explore, validate, and scale opportunities. Graduates take roles such as innovation or strategy consultant, business analyst, venture strategist, or management trainee in corporates, consultancy firms, or public organisations.
- Ecosystem Enabler: Foster entrepreneurship by creating the conditions for ventures to thrive. You may work for incubators, accelerators, venture capital firms, or government bodies, in roles such as programme/community manager, venture analyst, startup scout, or policy officer.
Educational Methods
- Lecture: to all students
- Guest lectures with professionals from the field
- Seminar: groups of 50-60 students. Occasionally, depending on the nature of the seminar, course coordinators may provide a further explanation in brackets, e.g. seminar (workshop) or seminar (review session). This teaching format still enables interactive small-scale teaching.
- Tutorials: groups of 25-30 students
- Tutorials take many forms. Some are used for general discussion of important concepts and topics, some to solve quantitative problems using analysis and mathematics, and some to present and discuss case studies or review literature.
- Project: groups of max. 5 students
- Assignments range from performing a statistical analysis to investigating the validity of an interesting hypothesis using empirical methods, doing a case study on a company’s strategy with respect to M&A or risk management, or writing a country risk report. In many cases, you will present your findings and discuss them with your fellow students and professors.
- Writing academic essays and a thesis
- Field trips to organisations and institutes
Examination Methods
The assessment typically consists of a mix of:
- written exams;
- written assignments such as writing an essay, a research proposal, a policy note, or conducting a panel data study; and
- for certain courses, your classroom performance will contribute to your overall grade.