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Posted on Fri, Jul 22, 2011 : 5:58 a.m.

University of Michigan to offer master's degree in entrepreneurship

By Kyle Feldscher

Two University of Michigan schools are joining together to found the university’s first master’s degree in entrepreneurship after a Board of Regents vote Thursday.

The College of Engineering and the Ross School of Business will offer a joint program that will train students to evolve their ideas into inventions and businesses. The program has to be approved by the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan in October.

U-M President Mary Sue Coleman said the university would be leveraging two of its best schools to create the new program.

“It’s a tremendous addition to the entrepreneurial climate flourishing across the university,” she said. “It dovetails with innovation and encouraging and nurturing entrepreneurial spirit.”

If approved by the Presidents Council, the program will begin accepting students in fall 2012.

The one-year program will see students take 36 credits, participating in science and engineering focused courses, along with business-focused courses.

The program will help prepare students for the new ways business and engineering fields are requiring students to be educated, according to Dean of Engineering David Munson.

“The real-time, global economy demands an ever quicker pace and increasing integration between engineering and business,” Munson said in a statement. “This joint program is one of the ways Michigan Engineering is responding to this evolution and training students to spark change and succeed.”

The university has been a recent hotbed of entrepreneurial culture, according to university officials.

In 2010, there were nearly 300 discoveries at the university that went through the Office of Technology Transfer, which led to 153 patent applications and 10 spinout companies. Fifty student-run companies have utilized the TechArb student business accelerator, which is managed by the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies.

The university has also held business plan competitions such as the Michigan Business Challenge and 1,000 Pitches. Approximately 50 teams participated in the 28th annual Michigan Business Challenge and a record 3,000 teams took part in 1,000 Pitches.

Alison Davis-Blake, the dean of the Ross School of Business, said capitalizing on this atmosphere by combining two successful programs will be playing to the university’s best attributes.

“One of the university’s greatest strengths is its ability to foster interdisciplinary collaboration,” she said in a statement. “A degree that aligns two world-renowned schools like Ross and the College of Engineering in a quest to promote entrepreneurship is timely and valuable for students, faculty and the economy.”

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

Comments

Arjun Gupta

Mon, Apr 9, 2012 : 10:17 a.m.

I believe this one of the most amazing programs for aspiring entrepreneurs with strong focus on technology. One of the arguments here say that ideas are not incubated in classroom so while people with real entrepreneurial personalities go out in the wild, more timid souls go to school to learn about. I would say many people here need to learn more about the program and the fact what education is all about. To begin with, there is technology involved. Therefore, I don't understand how are you going to launch a technology venture without having a strong understanding and knowledge about it. Following the same concept, a person with entrepreneurial personality might not ever need to go to a school. Of course, such educational experiences does not convert a person to an entrepreneur or put 100k in your pocket to start a venture but they certainly equip an aspiring one with significant knowledge and resources to succeed as an entrepreneur. And above all, it teaches you how to launch a venture with having those 100k in your pocket. Many students seek out this website for information for this program. These half baked arguments would rather mislead young entrepreneurs in not seeking good experiences that could really make a difference in their lives and may to the world.

Arjun Gupta

Mon, Apr 9, 2012 : 10:20 a.m.

I believe this one of the most amazing programs for aspiring entrepreneurs with strong focus on technology. One of the arguments here say that ideas are not incubated in classroom so while people with real entrepreneurial personalities go out in the wild, more timid souls go to school to learn about. I would say many people here need to learn more about the program and the fact what education is all about. To begin with, there is technology involved. Therefore, I don't understand how are you going to launch a technology venture without having a strong understanding and knowledge about it. Following the same concept, a person with entrepreneurial personality might not ever need to go to a school. Of course, such educational experiences does not convert a person into an entrepreneur or put 100k in your pocket to start a venture but they certainly equip an aspiring one with significant knowledge and resources to succeed as an entrepreneur. And above all, it teaches you how to launch a venture without* having those 100k in your pocket. Many students seek out this website for information for this program. These half baked arguments would rather mislead young entrepreneurs in not seeking good experiences that could really make a difference in their lives and may to the world.

MorKor

Tue, Jul 26, 2011 : 12:37 p.m.

Advanced Degree in Entrenpreneurship--this sounds like an oxymoron!

Lac Court Orilles

Sun, Jul 24, 2011 : 1:04 p.m.

Hopefully we can keep Rick Snyder from selling this program's patented inventions without a license to the Chinese so Americans can benefit from it.

Independent_Thinker

Sat, Jul 23, 2011 : 10:52 p.m.

Hey Ron, I'm not sure what playground you played on, but on the one I played one we picked the people that were good, and not necessarily our friends. I agree with others here, an entrepreneur should be out there doing. Sounds like a money making scheme. IT

WhyCan'tWeBeFriends

Sat, Jul 23, 2011 : 6:51 a.m.

I believe entrepreneurs are born, not made. If they are entrepreneurs, shouldn't they be able to figure things out for themselves? There is a reason some people wildly succeed while others fail - they think differently. That cannot be taught in a classroom; it incubates on its own. Sounds like a way for the university to make money. I have to agree with @Roy Munson's critique.

Ethics Advocate

Fri, Jul 22, 2011 : 4:30 p.m.

I am a former co-director of the first and continuing Ross-College of Engineering joint program, the Tauber Institute of Global Operations, founded in 1993. I can tell you that such a program attracts many outstanding students who otherwise would not enroll here. It also provides excellent job opportunities, including summer projects, by companies that value the sutdents' joint knowledge, and who wouldn't make the offers to students who had only a business or engineering degree. Tauber also receives contributions from many of these companies. I believe that the new joint entrepeneurship master's degree progam will also be significantly successful.

Will Warner

Fri, Jul 22, 2011 : 3:07 p.m.

Common wisdom is that the entrepreneurial personality is out there doing it while more timid souls go to school to learn about it.

Clo Pennington

Fri, Jul 22, 2011 : 2:13 p.m.

I'd like to talk to the DJ, maybe play something you like to hearrrrrrrrr.........maybe something you like to hearrrr...

Hmm

Fri, Jul 22, 2011 : 1:56 p.m.

Did I read that right? Thirty-six credits in a one year course? This is obviously not geared towards people who have jobs as well as family obligations.

Ron Granger

Fri, Jul 22, 2011 : 12:54 p.m.

Roy, so much of the educational process is about making social connections, and how to make those connections. Remember how you played sports on the playground and picked teams? It is no small coincidence that people chose their friends, and those they know, first. Business is a lot like that. Maybe business school is a way of teaching those who didn't play playground sports how to pick a team. Think of how much cheaper it would have been to get that education on the playground!

Roy Munson

Fri, Jul 22, 2011 : 12:27 p.m.

After dropping 100K on this unnecessary degree, good luck trying to scrape together the cash to actually start the business!