DCU Business School’s BSc in Digital Business & Innovation: Innovating to lead by example
In today’s fast-paced digital economy, society needs graduates who can do more than just follow a playbook—it needs innovators. Progress is contingent on students’ ability to balance technological understanding with human awareness and learning. But how do you teach that? Traditional university courses often struggle to keep pace. That’s the challenge DCU Business School decided to meet head-on.
Launched as part of the broader DCU Futures initiative, the award-winning BSc in Digital Business and Innovation (DBI) was co-created with multiple industry partners, including Accenture, to completely rethink how business is taught. The result is a unique, hands-on degree that is already gaining international recognition and producing the next generation of digital leaders.
With our first cohort graduating in October 2025 and over 200 students trail blazing after them the programme is one of the first in Ireland to have no terminal examinations i.e. it is 100% digital and continuous assessment. Students build e-portfolios, produce podcasts, compete in industry lead/focused hackathons, and deliver real-world business pitches. This approach is founded on challenge-based learning, where students tackle complex real-world problems for national partners like Uisce Éireann and Accenture. This real-world focus extends globally. DBI students collaborate virtually with peers from Babson College, the top-ranked entrepreneurial university in the US. This collaboration provides invaluable experience in cross-cultural competency and entrepreneurial pitching.
The programme also includes a dedicated module on failure, a focus on digital tools and experimentation via digital labs, coupled with a suite of dedicated modules ‘Transform’ developing self-awareness, collaborative skills and demonstrating the ability to reflect and learn.
The impact of this innovative approach, developed within and beyond the university, is clear. The programme’s innovations have been recognised with a prestigious AACSB ‘Innovation that Inspires’ Award (2023), the Best Student Experience at the Higher Education Awards (2022), a DCU President’s award for Distinctive Approach to Innovation in Assessment (2025), a national Outstanding Educator of the Year (2025) and international European Consortium of Innovative Universities Team Impact Award (2025).
ECIU University Forum 2025, Trento, Italia, 11/6/2025. Day 2; Team Impact Award and Closing Ceremony.
© Pierre Teyssot / UniTrento
But the most important measure of success comes from the students themselves. Graduates of the first cohort have secured employment with the likes of Accenture, Grant Thornton, PwC, Deloitte, Flutter, HP, Ryanair, Insurance Ireland, AI start-ups in addition to taking up further studies, including on the ESTEEM Programme, University of Notre Dame.
The BSc in Digital Business and Innovation isn’t just teaching students about the future; it’s giving them the tools, experience, and partnerships to create it.
- Learn more about the DCU BSc in Digital Business and Innovation
- Student led podcasts- Learning Beyond Lectures: The EdTech Talks – Thomas Coleman – Sleep Coach and Health Scientist
- Team delivery of Innovative pedagogy “Innovation In Programme Design & Assessment” DCU Podcast
SOCIAL CHANNELS
LATEST NEWS
