Top 50 Best Undergrad Programs for Entrepreneurs in 2020 The Princeton Review, in partnership with Entrepreneur, ranks the top undergraduate programs.

About the program

A focus on the total person. Personal as well as business mentors, major curriculum includes dreams, values, life plans, leadership training, retreats to bond the class, and more. Integrated, lockstep curriculum. This allows us to manage the curriculum as a whole.

Experiential learning. Students don't just learn entrepreneurship, they do entrepreneurship, including developing business plans for UH technologies, starting Amazon shops, planning and operating pop-up food stands in Wolffest, and launching their own businesses.

Breadth of coverage. We enroll students from almost every major on campus with offerings that serve business, STEM, arts, communication, and more.

Community engagement. More than 450 mentors. Off-campus activities at co-working spaces, banks, and law firms. Social outreach through our SURE program and the Prison Entrepreneurship Program. Partnering with Rice U. The city of Houston is a major asset that brings enrichment, networking, and business opportunities.

Diversity. One of the most diverse universities in the nation, 43% Hispanic and African-American, and reflecting the international mosaic that is Houston.

Accessibility. Low tuition makes us accessible to a broad range, and more than 1/3 of ENTR majors have scholarships that cover the full tuition for program courses.

Travel. Our students have the opportunity to travel to Silicon Valley to experience the start-up world, NY to learn all about Wall Street, Panama to mentor small business owners, and more.

About the program

Babson teaches Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® across all disciplines. The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship is the hub for resources, including the Butler Launch Pad that offers co-working space, mentors, workshops, competitions, EIRS and access to a Seed Fund. Our application-based Summer Venture Program, a 10-week intensive accelerator provides free housing on campus, advisors and mentors, and programming worth over $200K in-kind services, helps students launch and grow their businesses. The Center for Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership (CWEL) at Babson empowers women entrepreneurs and offers a WIN Lab, an application based 6-month accelerator for female founders, based on milestone planning, competency building and connections to the local ecosystem. The Social Innovation Lab connects a global, interdisciplinary community of students and mentors dedicated to building social impact ventures. All programs may be taken either for credit or for experience (ungraded). Our Institute for Family Entrepreneurship fosters entrepreneurship in the family businesses and offers a 4-year Amplifier Program for students to work with classmates from other family businesses, connect with parents and owners of family firms, with the goal of launching entrepreneurial ventures in their family businesses. Our new 10,000 sq. ft. Weissman Foundry offers a collaboration space, media lab, woodshop, kitchen and performance space where students can create ideas and prototype.

About the program

We believe we may have the finest INTEGRATED core for teaching entrepreneurship in the world. The curriculum reflects the latest academic thinking and research in the field and is augmented with real-world experiential components.

Our competition series awards over ¼ million dollars to BYU student teams. The series includes 10 robust competitions/programs and each year helps to guide more and more students through the venture creation cycle. We believe our extensive network of mentors is unparalleled and the secret sauce that allows our students to achieve so much success. Lack of relevant know-how among a company's founders is a leading cause of startup failure. Our mentors not only help students navigate specific, short-term problems, but also commit to helping promising teams on a longer-term basis as lead mentors.

Our summer accelerator program is on par with Y Combinator and Techstars. During the program, startups receive a myriad of amenities and the top companies pitch to investors at the end of the summer.

As an NSF I-Corps Site, BYU awards $1,000-$3,000 grants to promising student teams working on ideas in STEM-related fields.

The International Business Model Competition is the first and largest lean startup competition in the world and is fully funded by BYU. The competition offers cash prizes totaling over $200k to teams all over the world. The IBMC is one of the last student competitions offering so much in cash prizes

About the program

At Michigan, preparing students for entrepreneurial success has been part of the University's fabric since the nation's first small business management course was offered in 1927. While Michigan's entrepreneurship history is anchored by efforts in its business and engineering schools, our campus startup ecosystem has greatly expanded to include programs in the School of Music Theatre and Dance, College of Literature, Science and the Arts, School of Information, and 10 other schools. Michigan's network consists of 15 centers and programs, over 30 entrepreneurial student organizations, several pitch competitions, 2 accelerators, immersion treks to nearly a dozen entrepreneurial ecosystems, internships, and a plethora of community events.

The University's most differentiating aspect is its breadth and accessibility of programs. Courses are designed for undergraduates who are simply curious about entrepreneurship, such as the flagship Entrepreneurship Hour with renowned alumni entrepreneurs, to a series of yearlong in-depth fellowship programs, such as the Zell Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs Leadership Program, which provide the most entrepreneurially-driven students with mentorship and skills training needed to transform their ideas into successes. Michigan's entrepreneurship programs incorporate disciplines from 19 schools/colleges, with programming that enhances every aspect of the entrepreneurial journey. In 2015, U-M 1st offered its campus-wide minor in entrepreneurship.

About the program

Baylor offers great depth and breadth in its program. It offers majors, minors, certificate programs, and a large number of co-curricular programs to meet the needs of our students. In addition, events such as the New Venture Competition, we provide entrepreneurship training and expertise to students and practicing entrepreneurs. Our recently launched Baylor Student Entrepreneurship Incubator, for example, supports cross-disciplinary teams from across campus as they move start-up businesses forward. In addition, at the heart of the curriculum is learning from experience. Baylor professors have experience starting and running businesses and those experiences are shared with students. Guest speakers and mentors are an integral part of the program as they share their wisdom with students. Students engage in a variety of curricular and co-curricular experiential activities designed to stimulate ideas, scrutinize them with colleagues and research their feasibility by getting out in the field and talking to potential customers and suppliers. Through these experiences, students learn first-hand that entrepreneurship is a set of interdependent decisions and by engaging in research, experimentation, and iteration the decision path becomes much clearer. As students progress through the curriculum these experiences focus attention on aspects of opportunities and action that are critical for success. The Opportunity to Action process is infused throughout the undergraduate curriculum.

About the program

Washington University in St. Louis remains committed to creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship at all levels and across all disciplines. This distinguishes it from its peer institutions that limit entrepreneurship education to the business school. Undergrad students can easily take classes, minor and double major, in other schools, emphasizing the importance of an interdisciplinary approach at WashU. Many courses admit grad and undergrad students, allowing for a variety of interactions. Entrepreneurship classes are highly experiential, collaborative and encourage students to test their concepts. Most opportunities connect students to the St. Louis community, expanding students' network. Complementing WashU's rigorous academics, the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation & Entrepreneurship operates an independent, cross-disciplinary center where creative minds connect. The Center acts as a hub for co-curricular entrepreneurship activities for students. The Center provides hands-on workshops, a summer internship program, student-owned business opportunities, mentors, business plan competitions, and links to the St. Louis entrepreneurial ecosystem. Most notably, the majority of opportunities are open to ALL undergrad and grad students, faculty, staff, postdocs, and alumni. It is this blend of curricular & co-curricular; campus & community; creativity & entrepreneurship; unlimited by discipline or school that distinguishes our entrepreneurial offerings.

About the program

UMD's entrepreneurship programs have been featured in two Chronicle of Higher Education cover stories: "Now Everyone's an Entrepreneur" umd.box.com/v/iechronicle (2015) and "Can Design Thinking Transform Higher Ed" (2017). AIE is embedding design thinking and lean startup into the core curriculum of all students of all majors in every school and department.

UMD's online Intro to Entrepreneurship course enrolls over 4,000 students each year. For reference, there are 4,000 incoming freshmen each year! Based on UMD's Coursera MOOC which has enrolled over 1 million students and was Coursera's #1 Entrepreneurship MOOC. This 3-credit online-only course satisfies a key UMD gen ed requirements and allows students to easily learn about entrepreneurship and complete a gen ed requirement in a very schedule-friendly manner. The course is also the gateway to a Minor in Technology Entrepreneurship, which is also entirely online and enrolls around 400 students from 10 out of the 12 undergraduate colleges.

National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps): UMD is one of only seven universities named a lead university in NSF's lab-to-market I-Corps program.

Hinman CEOs program: Launched in 1999, featured on CNN, and replicated at 53 other universities, this is a first-of-its-kind entrepreneurship living-learning program that puts students in a hybrid dormitory/incubator.

Startup Shell: UMD's 100% student-founded, student-run startup incubator and co-working space with over 100 members

About the program

TEC21: REVOLUTIONARY UNDERGRADUATE COMPETENCY-BASED ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATIONAL MODEL. Based on semester-long challenges, intensive technology use, mentorship-like teaching, real-life experiences, and customized curricula design, The "Tec21' model develops competencies explicitly identified for entrepreneurship: opportunity identification, resourcefulness, resilience, and overcoming fear of failure. See http://sar.itesm.mx/ranking_2019/Tec21.pdf

ENTREPRENURSHIP MAJORS AND MINORS. Full English and Spanish programs designed to make students run their own business.

UNIQUE AND POWERFUL LOCAL AND GLOBAL NEW VENTURE DEVELOPMENT INFRASTRUCTURE & ECOSYSTEM. Unrivaled nation-wide array of incubators, coworkings and tech parks. Networking capabilities in Silicon Valley, Israel and China. Strategic partnerships with national and international VCs funding.

"SEMESTRE i'. A full no-class semester devoted to the creation and growth of a new firm, regardless of major.

FRESHMAN ENTREPRENEUR CHALLENGE. 13,000 first year students launch a business in 5 days with $100 seed money.

INTERNATIONAL APPROACH. More than 100 elite competitions like Hult Prize, IBMC, Babson, GSEA; multinational programs like GESS. Full undergraduate English programs for global students.

FACULTY AND MENTORS GLOBALLY EXPERIENCED IN TEACHING AND DOING ENTREPRENEURSHIP. All faculty trained on teaching and stimulating entrepreneurship regardless of majors. More than 900 mentors from alumni and national business leaders.

About the program

IDEA is a unique student-led incubator nurturing undergraduate and young alumni. It is managed by a team of 35 undergraduates from across campus, with a student IDEA CEO. A student Investment Committee makes recommendations to an alumni Advisory Board that "gap funds" specific ventures to test business models. Each year, student ventures receive $240k in Gap Funding and another $70k in grants for prototyping. In the past 5 years, more than 100 ventures have received $1.5M in gap funds.

There are more than 300 ventures at present, 90% of which are led by current undergraduates or recent alumni. Each month, one or two ventures emerge as real companies. Over the past 5 years, IDEA ventures have raised more than $155M, truly impressive for a University-based undergraduate entrepreneurship program.

IDEA has a Ready-Set-Go process: solution design, business modeling, and then business planning and investment. Peer coaches, 200+ industry mentors, 5 professors of practice, and professional staff support entrepreneurs. The model has attracted international interest and acclaim. Andhra Pradesh (India) has partnered to launch IDEA in 5 engineering colleges in Vijayawada. We are now expanding to other universities under Prime Minister Modi's Ministry of Human Resource Development. 5000 students have worked through the IDEA on-line courseware during 2018-19, 100 venture teams entered local IDEA incubators, and 32 ventures are now advancing forward towards financing and launch.

About the program

NC State Entrepreneurship is a partnership between all of the entrepreneurship units at NC State. Designed to serve as a unifying hub for entrepreneurship efforts across the university, NC State Entrepreneurship enables member units to keep their program autonomy without any changes to mission statements or reporting lines and is made up of an alliance of members representing twenty entrepreneurship units and programs across all academic disciplines.

Three key areas of opportunity were identified during a visioning session with university leadership: communications strategy, campus collaboration and strategic direction.

Our first step to make this vision a reality was to create an online platform for NC State Entrepreneurship that provides a central location for stakeholders on and off campus to easily navigate the complex entrepreneurship landscape at the university. It is a vehicle to highlight the successes in areas of research, teaching and outreach, and launched in November 2017.

Other accomplishments include the creation of a university-wide NC State Entrepreneurship advisory board to help guide our strategic initiatives and an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship certificate program, where students can take part in a workshop series designed to create more well-rounded entrepreneurs, teaching them necessary financial skills and hiring practices.

About the program

Interdisciplinary approach to entre. edu. involving 2,800+ students from EVERY undergrad major at Miami annually in classes taught by entre. faculty. Annually, 100% of undergrad bus. freshmen (1,000+ students) take creativity, innovation, & entrepreneurial thinking; analytical problem-solving; & coding courses: http://ow.ly/otj130lxIWm

Practice-based approach to entre. edu. that includes 15+ co-curricular programs. and involves 1,000+ students from EVERY undergrad major at Miami, incl. RedHawk Launch Accelerator, Venture Capital Immersion, Impact Investing, Techstars® Startup Weekend Miami, & a Creativity Capstone taught at IDEO. Only undergrad entre. pgrm. in the US to provide course credit to students who participate in Techstars® Startup Weekend.

Ecosystem-integrated approach to entre. edu. that annually connects more than 450 angel investors, venture capitalists, accelerator directors, startup founders, & other ecosystem builders with students & student-founders.

Home to World Creativity & Innovation Day, April 21, & World Creativity & Innovation Week, April 15-21. The United Nations recognizes April 21 as World Creativity & Innovation Day to "encourage creative multidisciplinary thinking to help us achieve the sustainable future we want."

Home to two student-led funds- RedHawk Ventures and the Arthur D. Collins Jr. Social Impact Fund.

A University President, Greg Crawford, who is deeply committed to building an entrepreneurial university.

About the program

The ability for students to get an exceptional academic experience inside of the classroom and then apply what they have learned through our wide array of programs and offerings outside of the classroom is unmatched. Our opportunities for students include academics, networking opportunities, competitions, grants, workshops, prototype assistance and more (lassonde.utah.edu/directory). This ecosystem provides students with a complete entrepreneurial platform to launch their ventures. We also provide our students with leadership opportunities through our student leader program that gives students experience in creating and supervising high-performance teams. These team's carry out much of our programming and get valuable project management and leadership skills to create well-rounded entrepreneurs. Our entrepreneur program is also at a unique advantage of being situated in Salt Lake City, Utah. Utah is consistently ranked in the top three states for business in the country by Forbes and other national publications. At the same time, the University of Utah was recently ranked No. 1 for technology commercialization by the Milken Institute. Lastly, in 2016 we opened a cutting edge 160,000-square-foot residential facility dedicated to inspiring young entrepreneurs to start their own companies. The one-of-a-kind building mixes a 20,000-square-foot creative space on the main floor with 400 residences above. Students from over 60 different majors live, create, and launch in the building.

About the program

Strength of curriculum (20 state-of-the-art courses) plus numerous electives with entrepreneurial content; Award-winning program (UTD's Blackstone LaunchPad awarded a DFW Tech Titan award in 2018, UTD a finalist for a Blackstone LaunchPad continuing grant); Strength of Faculty. Extensive experience including as CxO's with public/private firms and 4 faculty as current or former Managing Directors or General Partners at VC Firms; Strength of students (high caliber, diverse in background and ethnicity); Outstanding extracurricular activities including our Big Idea Competition (240 student teams applied, 1200 attendees, Tan France "Queer Eye" on Netflix as judge and keynote speaker), Comet X Accelerator, Venture Development Incubator, Blackstone mentoring, special events, etc. https://innovation.utdallas.edu/ ; Experiential focus in courses and programs ($300K Seed Fund and Support course where students work as "venture associates" & make investment recommendations, Innovative startup launch courses with funding up to $5K, Comet-X accelerator; Blackstone mentoring); Our Startup Launch course has over 80 undergraduate students working on startups and over 500 undergraduate alumni entrepreneurs. 8. Strength of the DFW Metroplex. Rated a best city for jobs by Forbes (2018 and 2019). 9. UTD is now a "Tier 1" university in Texas, receiving over $100 million in research funding each year. 10. UTD is ranked No. 1 in the U.S. among universities under 50 years old.

About the program

The interdisciplinary nature of entrepreneurship offerings is a major distinguishing factor for the university's students. Students from any other college on campus can take classes to enhance their knowledge base in the entrepreneurial process. This allows students the opportunity to learn from those with different perspectives, an important factor in entrepreneurship education, and also allows them to learn from the experience of faculty and current entrepreneurs who have successfully navigated the entrepreneurial process. Another distinguishing factor is the hands-on approach to entrepreneurship taken by the university. Between practicum courses, relationships with co-working spaces, internship opportunities, mentor relationships, and several makerspace centers, students are not only encouraged to dream big but to utilize resources to make their dreams a reality. Finally, Austin, Texas has a vibrant and growing entrepreneurial ecosystem and the university has cultivated strong partnerships throughout the ecosystem for its students. Partnerships between the university and local startups and startup resources enhance the student experience and make it so that students don't have to venture far from the university to find additional support. For students not ready to build their own business, many can find professional opportunities through internships with startup ventures located in the city or through practicum courses.

About the program

TCU is generally recognized as having one of the leading undergraduate programs in the country. TCU has ranked in the top 25 of Entrepreneur Magazine's Undergraduate Entrepreneurship programs (2012-2017), U.S. News ranked us at #25 in 2016, and BusinessWeek ranked our Entrepreneurship program #6 in the country before canceling their ranking. A distinguishing aspect of our program is how we combine coursework with a wide range of co-curricular activities, facilitated by our research and practice faculty across our standalone department and campus-wide institute for entrepreneurship and innovation. Our co-curricular programs include: the Richards Barrentine Values and Ventures Competition (has become the largest and most prominent undergraduate business plan competition in the nation), TCU Elevator Pitch Competition, Bill Shaddock Venture Capital Fund (provides startup capital for undergraduates), Entrepreneurial Intern Scholars Program, Cowtown Angels Scholars Program, Jane and Pat Bolin Innovation Forum, Coleman/TCU Faculty Fellows Program (an initiative to train faculty throughout the university to meaningfully incorporate entrepreneurship into their courses), and the Small Business of the Year Award. Finally, we regularly bring back alumni who are successful entrepreneurs to mentor our current students, serve on various entrepreneurship-related boards and committees, and act as external advisors on the assessment and continual development of our programming.

About the program

The breadth and diversity of MSU's entrepreneurship programs are its distinguishing features, and they are entirely consistent with our land-grant mission. The Minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) is open to any undergraduate regardless of their major or the college in which they are enrolled. Last year 786 students, a number that has grown by over 50% in two years, from thirteen different colleges (every undergraduate college)—representing 159 different majors—declared their intention to earn the minor in E&I.

During that same interval, the number of female students has increased from 35.7% of all students in the E&I Minor to 41.7%. 12.4% of all students earning the Minor identify as African American compared to 7.8% for the entire undergraduate population.

MSU's entrepreneurship program is supported by all undergraduate colleges. The program is inclusive, and success is not measured by the number of student startups, but rather by the diversity of students who develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Over the long run, the post-college success of our graduates is the metric that matters most. The entrepreneurship programs are augmented by a student incubator, experiential offerings, study abroad programs, visiting scholars, entrepreneurs-in-residence and a venture capital fund. This assortment of resources and an open, cooperative model are serving to create a culture of entrepreneurship among both students and faculty at Michigan State University.

About the program

Record of accomplishment: We graduate successful entrepreneurs as evident by our Wall of Honor Awards, and recent grads are building Saucey (raised $10M), LiquidIV ($10M), Genius Fund ($100M) and Dave.com ($100M). Family atmosphere & Dedication: We form and maintain a family-like atmosphere among students, alumni, faculty and community- we are dedicated to each other's success. Entrepreneurial Competency: The unique/action-based nature of entrepreneurship suggests pedagogical approaches beyond traditional lecture, discussion & exam formats. In concert with business competencies, we focus on opportunity identification, risk mitigation and resource leveraging. Silicon Beach: We are in the heart of the most vibrant/diverse ecosystems for entrepreneurship. Belkin, Snap, SpaceX, Facebook, Google and Yahoo are within walking distance. Ethics and Social Responsibility: Our curriculum and research focus on values-centered entrepreneurs; Our newly launched Good Lab engages students in projects, research and internships so partner companies do well (financially) by doing good (societally). Innovative Curriculum: Courses begin freshmen yr allowing students 4 yrs to reach their potential and our program is uniquely interdisciplinary as all students take science/tech courses. We also offer 3 pathways-startup, social and corporate.

Expansive Co-Curricular Programs: Incubator, Lecture Series, Pitch Competitions, Dinner with a Winner, Summits, Design Challenge/Thinking and Personal Initiative Training.

About the program

There are many highlights: 1). all KU entrepreneurship students receive experiential learning in which they both learn and do: from class participation and developing their own startups; 2. each Teaching Professor has both academic and clinical experience having started and successfully exited their own companies so students learn from those who have "been there and done that"; 3). we've expanded this year's program with a new Minor in Entrepreneurial Design, a multi-discipline dual School degree; 4). we broadened our Startup School offering to KU Med Center and all KC hospital researchers with 47 faculty attending; 5) advanced entrepreneurship students have the opportunity to continue development and launch the faculty created and patented bio science or KU Med technologies; 6). we offer a wide variety of degree alternatives (Minor, Concentration, Certificate) to all 28K KU students, regardless of school affiliation; 7). we are a University Center - one of a handful of universities recognized by the Economic Development Administration and receive a $1M grant to help fund Entrepreneurship Center activities; 8). we are the 2018 recipient of UEDA's highest award for the creation of a new venture (RedTire) that has saved 550 jobs since inception in rural KS; 9). KU's strong entrepreneurial alumni base actively participates in mentoring, job counseling and job placement (we have 3 boards of advisers totaling 40+ active members) and most importantly 10). we're a Princeton Review Top 25 rated program.

About the program

INNOVATIVE TEACHING EXPERIENCE: A unique component to our curriculum includes a focus on four different 'tracks' in entrepreneurship: new venture creation, as well as social, family, and corporate entrepreneurship. These tracks serve as guides for students around their specific/unique interests, matching courses with skills and career goals. No other school offers such a broad array of courses in such a structure. We also offer courses in conjunction with other schools on campus. This allows students to access additional skillsets and resources to run companies.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING: Our focus is to help our students take what they learn inside the classroom and put it into action with growing companies in Central NY. We work with interested students and match them with entrepreneurs through internships, consulting projects, specialized courses, community engagement, and other practical experiences. Classes such as Corporate Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprise Consulting give students hands-on, experiential learning opportunities. We work with over 2000 local entrepreneurs in our WISE Women's Business Center and South Side Innovation Center, among other projects. Our Blackstone Launchpad has tremendous success with student startups through robust mentoring and coaching activities. This has led to students receiving national media exposure (Newsweek and AdWeek, among others). All of these experiences help our students gain experience in the world of entrepreneurship.

About the program

The Jack C. Massey College of Business was founded by a nationally acclaimed entrepreneur who is the only person to take 3 companies public at the NYSE. The mission of the MCB is to educate entrepreneurial and ethical future business leaders. It is unique to require ETP courses at the undergraduate level. Also, Belmont created the first Social Entrepreneurship major in the country, which focuses on creating sustainable social enterprises. We provide a clear path to equip our students through ideation, launch and development. This year we received a $2 MM pledge to name and endow the Center which will fund new initiatives, such as a Runway Loan program for graduating seniors needing capital for new ventures. Since launching the ETP major in 2003, it has become the largest major in the business school. ETP is at the core of the MCB mission. Experiential learning is at the heart of everything we teach in the MCB, but it is especially relevant within the ETP program. The robust offerings we've developed for our student entrepreneurs include our Hatchery, Accelerator, Endowed Grant Fund, Workshop Series, Alumni Mentor network, E-Village, and Business Pitch and Plan Competitions. Our robust mentor network includes over 125 alumni and local entrepreneurs. Through our innovative curricula, Center for ETP co-curricular programming, emphasis on experiential learning, mentor network and endowment, we offer students the tools and resources to become successful entrepreneurs.

About the program

The UI's John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC) is a campus-wide experiential learning-based program. Iowa JPEC offers a BBA in Management-Entrepreneurial Management (on-campus and online), BA in Enterprise Leadership (EL) (on-campus and online) and 4 certificates that focus on business, technology, arts and media entrepreneurship. Over the last five years, the EL major is the fastest-growing new major on campus with over 800 students. Students from almost 90 majors take entrepreneurship classes. Beyond the classroom, Iowa JPEC offers a significant amount of programs to support student entrepreneurs: Founders Club – 70+ student startups annually; includes office space, mentoring, competitions, networking, and technical and marketing support. Iowa Startup Games – interdisciplinary student teams build a business venture over a weekend. Iowa Medical Innovation Group – interdisciplinary teams develop innovative medical device solutions. Iowa Innovation Associates - teams provide commercialization assessments of UI discoveries and complete internships for Iowa SME's. Hawkeye Summer Accelerator - a 12-week program where teams develop MVP's and launch new ventures. Student Treks – trips to Midwestern cities to meet alumni and network with successful entrepreneurs. Multiple Student Organizations – networking, guest speakers and community-based projects. Mentoring – two mentoring programs connecting students to experienced alumni and business professionals.

About the program

A primary distinguishing characteristic of our undergraduate offerings is the breadth of opportunities that we have available for the students. Our programs range from individual workshops that introduce various opportunities/topics in business and entrepreneurship up to year-long incubator programs that help students advance their ideas and successfully operate their own business ventures. In addition, we host multiple idea/pitch competitions, study abroad programs, and university-recognized student organizations, all of which help to foster the varied entrepreneurial interests and talents of the students on our campus. As compared to many entrepreneurship programs that focus on idea development or startup creation, any student at Texas A&M has an opportunity to engage with us, regardless of their specific goals or what entrepreneurial stage they are in.

Furthermore, participation in our programs is not limited to a specific major or degree program, so we regularly work with students from over 10 different colleges, including the Mays Business School and the Colleges of Engineering, Liberal Arts, Agriculture, Science, Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine. Because of this, our Center is home to a diverse and growing community of Texas A&M students unlike any other on campus, all of whom have come together with a mutual interest in exploring, developing, and pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities.

About the program

DePaul University sits in the heart of Chicago's business district and was ranked in the top 25 "most innovative schools" in 2016 by U.S. News & World Report. DePaul has offered academic programs in entrepreneurship since 1982. The Coleman Entrepreneurship Center (CEC) launched in 2003 and provides experiential programs to complement our strong academic record. The CEC opened a new $1 million, 5,000-square-foot center in 2016. As the hub of entrepreneurship at DePaul, the CEC connects students/alumni with the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Chicago. CEC programs are designed to be relevant for students/alumni from every college no matter which industry they enter. The CEC empowers students, alumni and community members to build sustainable businesses that do good and do well in Chicago. Academic Director Dr. Harold Welsch served as President of the International Council for Small Business and President of US Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (1984) and is DePaul's Endowed Coleman Chair. Executive Director of the CEC, Bruce Leech (DePaul MBA 1981), founded a $90 million business. He brings strong experiential components to the CEC, connecting the CEC with the entrepreneur community through memberships at 1871, the premier business incubator in the US, and 2112, an incubator for music, film, and creative tech. In 2019, we launched the first Women in Entrepreneurship Institute to provide programs, accelerator and research to women in entrepreneurship.

About the program

• Interdisciplinary approach to entrepreneurship
• Heavy emphasis and support for deep startups
• Institute wide goal to launch real startups
• Support given to undergraduate, graduate, faculty, alumni, and non students to pursue
• entrepreneurship
• The institute does not own any of the students' intellectual property

About the program

A distinguishing aspect of our program is our experiential approach, mentorship programming, and our rich history of "E-day" or "Evaluation Day" where students put their graduation on the line during their Senior year. We don't just teach entrepreneurship, we "do entrepreneurship". Our program involves high degrees of experiential learning projects with the venture community. Some of the best learning takes place through risk-taking and getting outside the building to engage with potential customers or stakeholders. Engagement with the venture community is vital to offering our students real-world experiences and helping them expand their networks. At the same time, business organizations leverage student talent with their challenges and opportunities. Our program is immersive and there are entrepreneurs from the real word visiting our program and working with students on a regular basis. We have consulting projects with our venture community, internship opportunities for entrepreneurship students (many with ENT alumni), and a highly engaged group of mentors.

About the program

Iowa State offers an established interdisciplinary undergraduate program that combines a set of required courses with a wide range of discipline-specific entrepreneurship courses offered by all colleges of the university. All students in the minor will engage in team-based interdisciplinary experiential learning projects focused on opportunity recognition, feasibility evaluation, business plan development and presentation. Each graduate will conduct an entrepreneurship-focused experiential learning project with a faculty supervisor in their home college. Outside the classroom, ISU offers programs including an entrepreneurship learning community, student clubs, speaker series, summer bootcamp, summer accelerator, pitch and business competitions in every college on campus, startup internships, community and startup co-working events, hackathons, conferences, workshops, student consulting program, 1MC, EO fellowship, and a 52-week super accelerator focused on technology startups. In January 2020, the entrepreneurship program offerings will be available to students in all disciplines at the new 140,000 sq. ft. Student Innovation Center located on central campus. The entrepreneurship major is currently the fastest-growing major in the business college. Currently, more than 600 students, representing all six colleges across campus, are enrolled in nine separate introductory courses of entrepreneurship every year.

About the program

There are several key distinguishing features of the Illinois undergrad entrepreneurship ecosystem that set it apart from its peers. First and foremost is the quality at scale. There are over 1,300 unique students that participate in the University of Illinois' entrepreneurship courses each academic year in addition to the vast number of entrepreneurship programs that happen outside of the classroom. Many of these courses include project and team-based projects that enable student innovations to flourish on campus. Over 100 teams participate in the annual student new venture competition. Many of the winning teams go on to participate in the IVenture campus venture accelerator.

Another distinguishing feature is the collaborative nature of the key players in the ecosystem. The Illinois entrepreneurship ecosystem is distributed without a single leader, instead, it is led by a roundtable with co-chairs appointed by the Provost and Vice Chancellor of Research. The campus roundtable on entrepreneurship has representatives from across campus and meets monthly to ensure that campus efforts are coordinated and to the key players are meeting the demands of faculty, staff and students. This unique setup has led to a highly functioning campus ecosystem that serves the needs of a diverse student body.

About the program

The Buerk Center focuses on integrating entrepreneurship across UW. With the launch of our entrepreneurship minor for non-business students at the UW in 2013, science and engineering students as well as biology and design undergraduates are now in the SAME entrepreneurship classes with our entrepreneurial business students. The ENTRE Minor has grown from 56 enrolled students in 2013 to 215 enrolled students in 2019. The growth of the minor has led us to increase many course offerings, growing the Creating a Company series from twice to five times a year (totaling 10 courses). In addition to the core curriculum and electives, we also create specialty classes (Software Entrepreneurship, Environmental Innovation, Venture Investing, Grand Challenges for Entrepreneurs, etc.) in partnership w/ schools and departments across campus. This makes entrepreneurship accessible.

Undergrads also form cross-disciplinary teams to compete in various challenges for startups, health and environmental innovation, and pitching, as well as the largest collegiate hackathon in the Pacific Northwest. Students have use of several makerspaces on campus, and can apply for prototype funding from a pool of $30K yearly.

In addition, the Buerk Center hosts a plethora of events designed to build on coursework, such as the Build Your Own Business workshops—a bi-weekly series for undergrads-only lead by serial entrepreneurs—Team Formation nights, and a variety of entre practicum courses open university-wide.

About the program

1. Committed: TU's entrepreneurial founder, Russell Conwell, envisioned a school serving self-determined youth who seek to improve their lives through education; TU is committed: "To be a leader in encouraging entrepreneurship across all disciplines, so students can create their own success, regardless of economic conditions".

2. Scope & Breadth: we serve all 17 Schools/Colleges including undergrads/grads/alumni/faculty/staff/partners & impact thousands of students every semester.

3. Urban: Temple is integral to Philly urban educational environment—TU students come from the region—community college & urban high-school students being a significant portion of our applicant pool—& TU grads tend to stay in the region. Our SBDC support Norths Philly & MontCo startups.

4. Accelerator / Early-Stage Funding: our 1810 Accelerator—a 9,000 sqft co-working & accelerator space—opened in 2019 with extensive accelerator programs. We also run several other funding/support programs (e.g., Be Your Own Boss Bowl, Lori Hermelin Bush Seed Fund, SmarTemple Innovation Fund, Temple Ventures w/ Ben Franklin TP, Blackstone Launchpad).

5. Philly Ecosystem Keystone: TU is a founding member of the Philadelphia Regional Entrepreneurship Education Consortium (PREEC), runs the regional early-stage investment forum MADV, supports angel group Robinhood Ventures, & our Executive Director is ranked among the 100 most influential people in the region.

About the program

FGCU's interdisciplinary approach to entrepreneurship allows students from all fields, talents, and interests to work together to create something original. The School of Entrepreneurship and the Institute for Entrepreneurship offer many different ways to get involved, including an undergraduate interdisciplinary major and minor, a student lead club, internships, general ed courses and an on-campus incubator. The uniqueness of our program stems from its interdisciplinary nature; students from all disciplines work together to maximize potential value creation. The Capstone course combines students from different disciplines who must develop a working prototype and a plan to take the product to market. Students accepted into our incubator (no cost) have a structured program they must complete before they can pitch for seed funding; students in the incubator are required to spend 80hrs and complete a full startup plan before they can pitch. One faculty and community mentors are matched with each student based on his/her idea and needs. In addition to various programs and courses, we offer paid internships to students who have successfully completed the incubator program. These students become mentors for the new students entering the program and help to build a network of like minds. We offer many ways to get involved with entrepreneurship around campus to ensure students will always have access to the tools they need. We provide $135,000 in ENT student scholarships annually.

About the program

The JMS is the first stand-alone school of entrepreneurship at a public university. This enables the school to have complete creative control to deliver a uniquely appropriate experience to its student entrepreneurs. This flexibility allows the school to explore entrepreneurship education beyond the course offerings within typical colleges of business. In addition, the JMS employs full-time, interdisciplinary "Entrepreneurs in Residence" (EIR) housed throughout almost every college at FSU. The EIR's further foster entrepreneurialism throughout not only the JMS, but also throughout the whole university. This multidisciplinary resource is a force multiplier for collaborative problem-solving. For instance, the EIR in the College of Law, offers a law clinic that pairs entrepreneurs with upper-level law students to mentor and guide the entrepreneurs with their business law questions and concerns. The EIR in English mentors students who are interested in the publishing industry since she used to own a publishing company herself. These examples are found throughout the university, which creates a unique and in-depth mentoring for students in the JMS and for all students across campus.

About the program

Our undergraduate offerings in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (3-, 4-, and 5-year degree options, and certificate) are designed to prepare students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset not only in starting one's own venture but also as an innovator within established companies, and in small and growing ventures. Students learn and apply diverse approaches to building entrepreneurial skills and ways of thinking. Our curriculum features a unique capstone course, Launch It! which makes available to students $2,000 in seed funding to start a business; a second-year course, Ready Set Fail, which creates the conditions for students to learn from failure and appreciate risks that come with launch and early growth; and Life Strategies, which reinforces entrepreneurial traits such as execution, nonconformity, idea generation, action orientation, and passion as life skills. Our Entrepreneurship Co-Op gives qualified students the opportunity to use the Baiada Institute, our incubator, as their own headquarters, gain access to faculty, staff and professional mentors, and $15,000 in financial support for a 6-month co-op cycle. Schuylkill Yards, a new 14-acre "innovation neighborhood' under development along the west side of Drexel campus extending to Amtrak's third-busiest rail hub, includes 5M sq ft of entrepreneurial space, teaching and research facilities, corporate, residential, retail, and cultural venues, making the Close School central to an expanding entrepreneurial ecosystem.

About the program

We have dense undergraduate academic offerings: entrepreneurship majors in business, campus-wide minors and supporting areas in entrepreneurship open to all, 97 classes with entrepreneurship content across 16 departments in 5 schools. We support entrepreneurship in all its forms with a nationally recognized center, student business and medical technology accelerators, an NSF I-corps site, a shared-use kitchen and student-led cafe, a student-led entrepreneurship legal clinic, a nationally-ranked university-based angel network and two on-campus incubator spaces. We strive for innovation in action from our collection of competitions [new idea, elevator pitch, hackathon, pitch decks, innovation challenges, and student business competitions], to the textbook we have developed that showcases our approach [Entrepreneurial Small Business from McGraw-Hill] and is used in over 250 US schools, to innovative pedagogy such as classes co-taught by standing faculty (many with entrepreneurial experience) and local practicing entrepreneurs and experts. We have tight and deep integration with one of America's top-ranked startup cities (see WSJ, Kauffman, etc.). Our teams are prominent players in national entrepreneurship efforts like SXSW Student Startup Madness, Coleman Fellows Network, Kern Engineering Entrepreneurship Network and the Experiential Classroom.

About the program

UD has long emphasized hands-on learning inside and outside the classroom (micro-companies, angel investing, student-run business, competitions, etc). These opportunities have distinguished UD's offerings. Our newest investments in entrepreneurship education are what we believe will most distinguish undergraduate entrepreneurship education at UD. In 2019 UD committed to investing $12 million to create the largest university anchored innovation space in the country that will launch and connect students to new ventures. The transdisciplinary space will house UD's Crotty Center for Entrepreneurship, Dayton's main incubator, a community co-share space, technology firms, partners in higher education, and academic programming for entrepreneurship, engineering and innovation. Students will learn entrepreneurship immersed in a space where new ventures are created every day. The HUB also includes a satellite incubator in an underserved area and students involved will support disadvantaged ventures. This is part of UD's vision to create a more entrepreneurial university. The vision also includes a new undergraduate entrepreneurship course that every student, regardless of major, will complete. Students will be connected to a vibrant ecosystem and will learn firsthand the resources new ventures need. UD's program will not just span one department, one academic unit, or even the university. Entrepreneurship will span the entire Dayton region and involve every undergraduate student at UD.

About the program

Our system of educational experiences spans our undergraduates' time here, steadily building their entrepreneurial skills and confidence. Our programs start with the Schulze Innovation Scholarship. Provided to 10 incoming freshmen each year, this is a four-year, full-tuition scholarship with specialized programming to accelerate their entrepreneurial leadership and relieve the debt burden that can discourage entrepreneurial pursuits. All university incoming freshmen are invited to start their St. Thomas experience at the Freshman Innovation Immersion, a two-day event that engages students in creative collaboration and business concept development. In addition to the major and minor, students participate in workshops and increasingly challenging competitions, that culminate at year-end with eFest, our national competition that awards $250,000 annually to top entrepreneurship undergraduates from across the country. Our students draw upon a suite of on-site services including the Small Business Development Center, Legal Corps, Schulze Innovation Fund, Family Business Center and a pool of experienced mentors. As they get ready to graduate, students have the opportunity to benefit from the professional accelerator services of gBeta St. Thomas, offered to students and alumni in partnership with a nationally ranked accelerator, gener8tor. These programs work together to support, educate and inspire our students throughout their time here and beyond.

About the program

The McGuire Experience provides an experiential learning environment grounded in principles of entrepreneurship education, innovation, research, interdisciplinary collaboration, the entrepreneurial mindset, and venture development. An institution rich in a heritage of inspiration and innovation, the McGuire Experience provides an immersive understanding of ideation, design thinking, and new venture development. A diverse multi-disciplinary faculty group and mentors-in-residence work with teams full-time throughout the year, guiding students through rigorous customer and product validation activities, to collaborative and intellectual property validation with the Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. This interdisciplinary collaboration across healthcare, engineering, bio life sciences, agriculture, food sciences, medical, retail, and space sciences allows students to exercise and apply the entrepreneurial mindset to explore the commercialization and venture development of technologies and solutions. This comprehensive integration of hands-on experiential learning is the core of the McGuire Experience and cuts across all of the McGuire Center offerings including academic courses, elective offerings, and co-curricular activities such as hackathons, startup weekends, and community support.

About the program

The primary goal of the UT entrepreneurship programs is that students who graduate from the program have the capacity to find solutions to complex problems and take advantage of unforeseen opportunities. The curricular and co-curricular programs offered provide the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to think creatively, design and recognize opportunities, and transfer that knowledge beyond the classroom. Our curricular and our co-curricular programs are linked through the competency model that was derived from real entrepreneurs. This is a critical element in that our measures of effectiveness are built into our teaching excellence.

The value of any system is the creation and use of data for continuous improvement. Measurement and assessment are the backbone of our curriculum and co-curriculum. Summative and Formative evaluation form an integral component of the system with Summative measurement of how our students are learning within the curriculum and co-curriculum and Formative evaluation to determine how the program as a whole is working. Establishing measurement across a complex system is not an easy task but it is a key differentiator of our program as it simply is not done to this level in any other program. This is the power of the competency model we have been researching and building over the past seven years. This model is connected to every aspect of our undergraduate program.

About the program

We focus on community building, maintaining an entrepreneurial culture and creating synergies between academic and enrichment programming which are both led by Horn Entrepreneurship and open to all University of Delaware students. Horn offers more than 50 programs and events that are intended to enhance students' available means for making an impact through entrepreneurship, including skill enhancement, networking and access to resources. Select enrichment offerings include: Delaware Innovation Fellows, a four-year, selective enrichment program for creative, innovative and entrepreneurial students in any major (see www.udel.edu/DIF) and Summer Founders, a pre-accelerator program providing students with stipends to enable them to work fulltime on their ventures while benefiting from regular educational programming, active mentorship and external/investor feedback and guidance.

About the program

At FAU we have a completely integrated and holistic system of student educational offerings, resources, and support for all of the phases of the entrepreneurial process ranging from exploration, experimentation, and ideation, to plan development funding, and full operation and growth.

About the program

Our students have the ability to pursue their interest in entrepreneurship in a flexible way that suits their schedule and fuels their passion. There can take a wide breadth of for-credit entrepreneurship classes whatever a student's chosen major. We recently added a minor in innovation and entrepreneurship students which is available to all Undergraduate students. We also have courses in "new venture creation" and "design thinking" in the new general education program that BU recently introduced (The Hub) in these courses you get Hub units which students now need to graduate. Lastly, we have a thriving co-curricular program that allows students to create their own ventures or work on their own projects. This is through the Innovate@BU initiative which is now two years old. A wide variety of programming is held in the BUild Lab a customer-build innovation space on campus that is closely located to EPIC which is a 15,000 square foot maker space. Both these facilities are open to all students on campus.

Our Entrepreneurship Program is about creating entrepreneurial leaders, people who view entrepreneurship as a means for solving big problems. We value equally social, non-profit and for-profit ventures. We encourage our students to think big and to make an impact in the world

About the program

In 1988, NJIT formed what is now the largest small business incubator in NJ, VentureLink (https://venturelink.njit.edu/), with 90 companies (primarily in biotechnology and telecommunications sectors), $156M/yr in 3rd party funding, and $67M/yr in revenue. Entrepreneurship students work in this ecosystem as part of their experiential learning, and some establish their startups there.

About the program

The University of Rochester has infused entrepreneurship into each school, allowing innovators to grow in whatever field they choose. Moreover, entrepreneurship can be found in unusual disciplines. This past summer, we partnered with Rochester Institute of Technology to offer a summer accelerator program. U of R also offers a signature program called e5 ("experiential," "entrepreneurial", "exploratory"), a tuition-free fifth year to pursue an entrepreneurial project. Many students have used the e5 program to launch businesses, especially those with a social focus. The iZone, a new collaborative innovation space located in UR's Rush Rhees Library, expanded its program offerings related to idea generation and design thinking specifically for undergraduates. Finally, the University of Rochester encourages undergrads to flex their entrepreneurial skills by participating in competitions, Lean Startup Methodology training and grant programs, and other events with their peers, as well as with graduate students. This encourages students to grow their networks and push their ideas to a more complex level.

About the program

Among the distinguishing aspects of our undergraduate offerings, the rigorous 3-course New Venture Development (NVD) sequence is pivotal for building entrepreneurial thinking and skills. The course content includes: 1) ideation and opportunity recognition, 2) customer discovery and feasibility, and 3) implementation and launch. Students get to choose one of 4 Innovation tracks—Technology, Market, Corporate, or Social. The pedagogy is highly experiential and iterative, consistent with a lean startup approach, with the aim of adapting and refining concepts and promoting actual launches. Students work in small groups guided by mentors from the local entrepreneurship community. This approach creates multi-semester cohorts of students leading to lasting relationships and strong team dynamics.

Beyond that, the undergraduate program provides a range of resources and experiences to support and guide the student's entrepreneurial journey. We offer proof-of-concept funding from the Sooner Innovation Fund, and access to the Tom Love Innovation Hub, a 20,000 square foot maker space with cutting-edge 3D printing, digital fabrication technologies, advanced VR technologies, and hi-tech collaborative learning spaces. Electives and coaching are offered by highly experienced adjuncts and world-class faculty. The OU entrepreneurial ecosystem supplies a rich network of alumni and friends. To facilitate learning, entrepreneurship students are awarded nearly $200,000 in scholarships each year.

About the program

We offer an immense range of experiential undergraduate courses and programs led by a dynamic mix of leading academic researchers and experienced practitioners that enable students to gain practical experience and connections with the entrepreneurial community. Our courses enable students to design new products, commercialize University technology, support corporate innovation, solve grand social challenges, and launch and operate real businesses (both within and outside their classes). In 2019, the Atland Ventures fund raised $1 million for a student-owned venture capital fund run by 26 undergraduate students.

As one of the only land-grant research universities located in the heart of a major metropolitan area, students are continuously connected with the business community. More than 400 speakers, mentors, and judges frequent our campus each year to advise and inspire our students. MN Cup is the largest statewide new venture competition in the country, awarding $3.5 million in cash prizes and supporting 15,000+ entrepreneurs since 2005. Gopher Angels investor network provides invaluable connections with leading entrepreneurs and investors, in addition to supporting our new student-owned fund. Grow North initiative connects students and alumni with emerging food/ag startups and MN-based Fortune 500 corporations. Internship programs place 50+ undergraduate students each year with local startups and $150K+ of seed funding is available each year for student-founded companies.

About the program

The School of Entrepreneurship is an active and busy unit. Because entrepreneurship is its own department, all of our faculty and staff focus strictly on entrepreneurship education, research & service. Our undergraduate program is overseen by two Advisory Boards. One consists of successful entrepreneurs and the other consists of our top entrepreneurship undergraduate majors and minors. Our students have access to an array of courses, along with unique outside-the-classroom offerings. For example, our department is involved in university-wide tech transfer. We run our university's I-Corps program, which some undergraduates have participated in. We're particularly proud of the Riata Pre-seed Fund, which is a fund that invests in student businesses. With the help of the OSU Foundation, we raised $330,000 to place in the fund. The first round of pitches took place this spring, with one undergraduate team and two graduate teams receiving funding. We have 200+ undergraduate entrepreneurship majors and an entrepreneurship minor that attracts students from across campus. As a result, many of our classes have STEM students along with business students. Our physical facilities are world-class. In spring 2018, we moved into a new building, and the Riata Center (our entrepreneurship center) is prominently located on the main floor. We're also a partner in 36 Degrees North in Tulsa, which is a world-class co-working space and entrepreneurship event center.

About the program

Our evolving overall university approach to entrepreneurship is a distinguishing aspect, as we are currently working to bring an Intro to Entrepreneurship course in the general education requirements and have included entrepreneurship in the core curriculum of our honors program. As a function of this evolution, we have relied heavily on a team-based, multidisciplinary approach that focuses on validation testing and prototype iteration. Almost every course in the entrepreneurship curriculum has moved away from exam-based assessment and theoretical course content, in favor of building and doing.

This evolution has been lead by a major gift from alumni and a focus by the University President and Provost on driving agency across our curriculum. The University of Connecticut views experiential learning through entrepreneurship curriculum, co-curriculars, and extra-curriculars as a means to bring the many different educational focuses into one point of learning how all of this works in the generation of value for society, customers, and markets. Furthermore, we are leading the way with a course structure that allows for massive engagement of alumni in the current students' education. In our technology innovation and entrepreneurship course, every team that forms is assigned an alumni mentor for regular meetings so that these students are able to broaden their view beyond the classroom and theoretical problems.

About the program

The Miller School of Entrepreneurship is the only endowed school of entrepreneurship in North Carolina, and we are committed to an experiential-based curriculum and co-curricular activities for all students in our undergraduate degree and certificate programs. Our faculty are involved in scholarly activities with a focus on applied and/or sponsored research and thought leadership in the fields of entrepreneurship, small business, family business and innovation. We provide internships and award-winning student consulting projects for regional business clients. In addition, our Small Business Resource Center provides students and the surrounding community with best practices and proven knowledge required to start and sustain enterprises in eastern North Carolina. The Center helps convert curricular programs in the Miller School into actionable ideas and ventures created by students from all academic fields. The Miller School was also involved in a $1M grant in 2018-19 with the three-year goal of developing a national model for emerging entrepreneurs in a rural setting. This grant will allow ECU and the Miller School to help transform our region through new venture growth, job development and existing business support. ECU has pledged to create the most student-led startups of any university in the state. The Miller School is also highly involved in the ECU NSF I-Corps site grant and we have secured a $2 million gift to create a 15,000 square feet innovation hub on our campus.

About the program

Our university has a technological background, which spills over to all other schools outside of engineering and makes the perfect melting pot for imparting lessons in innovation and entrepreneurship in a very holistic, interdisciplinary fashion in the school of business. The mix of students allows for a learning environment where the exchange of ideas is welcome and everyone learns to exploit each other's skills to the maximum. Our undergraduate courses in entrepreneurship cover all disciplines, from marketing to economics, with a very hands-on approach from the very first day a student steps on campus. Thus allowing our students to come out with a well-rounded background that paves a solid path to success in life.

About the program

The AUCI is transforming the American University (AU) community, providing a range of opportunities tied directly to the ways our students, faculty, staff, alumnae, and other stakeholders live and work. At the undergraduate level, we offer an entrepreneurship minor for non-business students (18 credit hours) and an entrepreneurship concentration for business students (12 credit hours). AUCI's three key components are the AUCI Incubator, research, and curricula/programming. The Incubator's mission is "to help students and recently graduated alumni develop and stabilize early-stage ventures as sustainable business models ready to advance to the next level of their evolution." To achieve this, the Incubator provides faculty coaching, a shared workspace, networking opportunities, educational resources, skills training, and services to ventures selected for participation in the Incubator. The research component of the AUCI has the mission to "Provide impactful research and thought leadership in the areas of entrepreneurship theory, practice, and pedagogy." Other key programming components include the Venture Capital Investment Competition, our partnership with New Dominion Angels, and a variety of DC-aligned activities. AUCI emphasizes experiential learning in its programs through the Incubator, pitch competitions, venture funds, and curricula for all AU students, to teach creative problem-solving skills and skills to create business and nonprofit ventures.

About the program

Purdue's Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program has been a pioneer in the cross-campus entrepreneurship education movement. The program was recognized with a 2017 Excellence in Curriculum Innovation in Entrepreneurship Award from the Deshpande Foundation. Distinguishing features include: (1) the size and scale of a program that engages 1,800 students a year from all academic majors, including 450 new students each semester; (2) the number of course offerings- 34 sections/divisions of two introductory entrepreneurship fundamentals courses are taught each academic year; (3) the Longest-running entrepreneurship Living and Learning Community- started in 2004; (4) a modular and flexible program that students from 120 academic majors across Purdue can participate as it fits into any academic program; (5) unique "track" options, including a large portfolio of classes and experiential learning opportunities tailored to meet different career interests and student backgrounds (Examples include: Social Entrepreneurship: Students interested in social entrepreneurship can swap out an entrepreneurship fundamentals course for one focused on social and nonprofit ventures; Women and Leadership/Entrepreneurship: To raise awareness of the need for more diversity in entrepreneurship, a course focuses on gender and diversity within the context of entrepreneurship; Online Career Preparation: Course prepares entrepreneurship students to get the most from internships and recruiting activity.