UC's Undergrad Entrepreneur Program Makes Princeton Review's Top 25 Rankings

Entrepreneurship is in business and ready for business at UC's College of Business: a new entrepreneurship and family business major this fall, the director of the International Council for Small Business in the house and now a top-25 ranking from Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.

“To be ranked in the Top 25 is strong testimony to the vibrant entrepreneurial spirit at the University of Cincinnati, not only in the College of Business but across the campus,” says Charles H. Matthews, professor of management and executive director of

Center for Entrepreneurship Education & Research

in UC’s College of Business. Matthews was installed as

president of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB)

this summer during the 53rd annual ICSB World Conference in Nova Scotia, in front of more than 500 of his peers from around the world.

“Just with as any entrepreneurial venture, the entrepreneurship program at UC began as an idea and has continued to evolve to directly address the needs of student entrepreneurs in the 21st century and beyond," says Matthews. "Our entrepreneurship program and curriculum are a skillful combination of entrepreneurship as a way of thinking, the essential skills and tools needed to compete, and timely mentorship and support to bring it all together.”

“As dean I am most gratified by the recognition that Dr. Matthews and our fine entrepreneurship program have received from the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine,” says Will McIntosh, dean of UC’s College of Business. “This jewel in our crown of recognized college-based centers is at the center of our strategy to provide thought leadership, excellent, experienced-based opportunities for our students and service to the business community.”

E-Center Executive Director Matthews notes that the challenge is to create a curriculum that not only informs “but also tests, stretches and challenges the student to think beyond the boundaries of 'what is' to the possibilities of 'what could be.'”

From ideation to conceptualization to formulation to implementation, the UC College of Business entrepreneurship program strives to "...remove barriers and create gateways" for entrepreneurs, especially student entrepreneurs.

“We have been a leader in experiential entrepreneurial education since 1972, and it remains one of our core strengths in the program to this day,” Matthews says. “At the same time, we have added new courses that address the changing challenges of technology and electronic commerce as well as global entrepreneurship. On top of that, our highly successful Bearcat Bridge Fund provides critical financial and coaching support to help get student ventures off the ground.”
 
“Three additional core strengths include highly motivated students, great alumni and community entrepreneur role models and coaches, and a research and application ambidextrous faculty that does high impact research and has run their own businesses. The goal of the entrepreneurship program is to bring all of these core strengths together to create meaningful learning experiences for the students.”

Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine surveyed 2,300 schools and have published their sixth-annual rankings in the October issue of Entrepreneur magazine. Through the survey they evaluated entrepreneurial colleges in three areas: academics and requirements, students and faculty, and “outside the classroom.”

“Academics and Requirements” related to things such as coursework and academic opportunities. “Students and Faculty” measured the demographics of the people involved in the entrepreneurial programs. It also measured success factors such as how many students and faculty had started or still ran their own businesses. Finally, “Outside the Classroom” looked at outside activities beyond the classroom at the university, partnerships with other schools, as well as sponsorship of those programs.

Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine’s “Top 50 Entrepreneurial Colleges for 2008” (Local Highlights)

Top 25 Undergraduate Programs

1. University of Houston
4. University of Dayton
11. Ball State University
16. Miami University
21. University of Cincinnati
24. Xavier University

Of note are some of the schools that did not make the list but instead received Honorable Mentions:

• Harvard, home of the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Case Method
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• University of Pennsylvania, home of the Wharton School of Business and Wharton Business Plan Competition
• Stanford University

“The success of our entrepreneurship program is fundamental to achieving our vision of becoming a Top 50 college of business and a catalyst for the growth and development of our region and nation,” says Dean McIntosh. “In addition, with UC’s design, scientific and engineering community so richly contributing to solving great problems and introducing the next generation of innovative products for the economy of the 21st century, the UC College of Business, through our excellent Entrepreneurship program, will help to catapult these ideas into commercializable ventures. We are well positioned to be the nexus of great ideas and the product innovations of the future.”

About the Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research
 
The UC Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research, established in 1997, seeks to create a world-class center for entrepreneurship education, research, and service. The center's vision and mission is to provide a state-of-the-art entrepreneurship curriculum not only for potential entrepreneurs, but also for people in the many organizations that interact with small, entrepreneurial and family owned businesses on a daily basis. Located in the Department of Management in the College of Business, the Entrepreneurship Center seeks collaborative efforts between students from across the university.

The E-Center’s main mission is to “…remove barriers and create gateways,” for all entrepreneurs – especially students entrepreneurs. E-Center programs and initiatives including its Small Business Director’s Center (SBDC), Small Business Institute®, and rigorous curriculum and competitions, among others, facilitate the entrepreneurial journey.

Princeton Review Top Undergraduate EntrepreneurialColleges

Entrepreneur magazine