Bachelor of Business

First-year Bachelor of Business students at Melbourne Polytechnic all sit the same foundation subjects - accounting basics, economics, marketing principles, business communication - before picking a direction. From second year they specialise into one of three streams: Management, Marketing or Entrepreneurship, choosing electives that build toward whichever one fits.

The entrepreneurship stream is the one that gets talked about most, partly because Melbourne Polytechnic runs it with actual startup mentoring and pitch events rather than just a unit called "Entrepreneurship 101." Students in that stream often leave with something they've actually built or tested, not just a business plan sitting in a folder. The management and marketing streams are more conventional but still keep a practical, small-business bent that suits the kind of student who wants to run something rather than analyse a multinational from a distance.

Because it sits within a dual-sector institution, students who aren't sure business is for them can often move sideways into a related diploma without losing credit, and those coming up from Melbourne Polytechnic's own diplomas can usually get credit going the other way. Three years full-time, campus-based teaching at Preston or the CBD campus depending on intake.