Accolades Show UC to be a Top Choice for Entrepreneurial Education

In competition and in publication, the College of Business Administration (CBA) at the University of Cincinnati has gained significant new national accolades as home to one of the best entrepreneurial education programs in the country.

In the just-released April edition of Entrepreneur Magazine, UC placed in the top tier (13 colleges) of all regional entrepreneurship programs, out of a field of 700 entrepreneurship programs across the country evaluated by TechKnowledge Point Corp. for the magazine. UC was one of only three regional entrepreneurship programs ranked in the top 10 by both entrepreneurship program directors and entrepreneurship faculty.

This ranking comes on the heels of news that a team of MBA students from UC’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Education placed first nationally in the Small Business Institute’s Case of the Year competition. After 28 years in the competition, this is the second consecutive UC entry to win the nation’s top honor for small business field case studies.

The team of students Mark Exterkamp, Matt Sabo, Pranav Shah and Shane Smith won for their plan developed for Tri-State Plastics, a Northern Kentucky manufacturing firm. The project began as a capstone assignment in the strategic management course taught by Charles Matthews, an associate professor of strategic management and the director of UC’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Education.

 The team’s plan addressed marketing, organizational and operational goals for the client. After results from the judging were announced, the team picked up its award at the 27^th annual Small Business Institute national conference in New Orleans.

UC’s ranking by Entrepreneur Magazine adds a new perspective to entrepreneurial education opportunities, as this is the first time the magazine has published national rankings. UC’s ranking reflects the prominence of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Education, as well as a related program within the College of Business Administration, the Goering Center for Family and Private Business.

Other schools in the top tier of regional entrepreneurship programs included Florida, Oregon, San Diego State and St. Louis University.

In the Cincinnati area, Miami University was in the second tier among regional entrepreneurship programs, and was ranked in the top ten by alumni. Other schools in the second tier included Marquette, Tulane and VPI. Third-tier schools included Minnesota, North Carolina State, and Utah. Fourth-tier schools included Alabama, John Carroll and San Diego. Xavier and NKU were not ranked.

Although not in Entrepreneur’s Top 100, Dayton, Kentucky and Purdue were all in the top 25 of "entrepreneurship emphasis" programs, schools offering "fewer entrepreneurial courses, usually as an emphasis within a business or economics major."

National programs (designated "national" on the basis of the size of their investment in entrepreneurship and the overall reputation of the university) that were ranked in the top fifty include the following from the tri-state region: Indiana (1^st tier), Notre Dame (3^rd tier), Ohio State (3^rd tier), and Case Western (4^th tier).

More information about the UC Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research and the Goering Center for Family and Private Business can be found at www.business.uc.edu. More information about the rankings can be found at www.entrepreneur.com/topcolleges.