UMD Recognized for Top Entrepreneurship Programs

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Sep 19, 2013, 02:27 ET

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Sept. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The University of Maryland has once again made The Princeton Review's list of the country's top entrepreneurship programs. In the 2014 list of the "Top 50 Schools For Entrepreneurship Programs," published in Entrepreneur magazine, UMD ranks No. 15 for its undergraduate program. The university also ranks No. 16 for its graduate program, up eight spots from the 2013 rankings.

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"The University of Maryland has been a pioneer in entrepreneurship for over two decades with nationally recognized entrepreneurship programs in both the business school and the engineering school. But our rise in these rankings over the last few years also reflects our growing campus-wide emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship in all twelve schools," says Dean Chang, UMD's associate vice president for innovation and entrepreneurship. "Over the past year, we have ramped up our entrepreneurship course offerings, mentoring opportunities and competitions all across campus. This work is still only a starting point for where we plan to take entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland in the future."

Based on surveys sent to school administrators at more than 2,000 institutions from April to June in 2013, the lists recognize 50 programs in all—25 undergraduate and 25 graduate—for their excellence in entrepreneurship education.

Schools are chosen based on a number of factors, including:

The levels of their commitment to entrepreneurship inside and outside the classroom;
The percentage of their faculty, students, and alumni actively and successfully involved in entrepreneurial endeavors;
The number of their mentorship programs; and
Their funding for scholarships and grants for entrepreneurial studies and projects.

UMD is a leader in educating the next generation of entrepreneurs. The university currently offers 51 undergraduate entrepreneurship classes and 25 graduate classes across 18 different campus departments; and UMD students have access to more than 30 entrepreneurship mentoring opportunities involving more than 70 different mentors. UMD offers 16 different business/innovation and seed fund competitions for aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators with cash prizes in excess of $400,000. The university also celebrates its annual '30 Days of EnTERPreneurship' and offers a Coursera MOOC course in entrepreneurship.

In addition to The Princeton Review's ranking, U.S. News and World Report recently ranked the university's entrepreneurship program No. 12 in the country in its latest undergraduate rankings.

UMD recently released a report on entrepreneurship efforts across campus, which is available here.

To view the full list of rankings, visit www.princetonreview.com/entrepreneur. To learn more about entrepreneurship and innovation at UMD, visit http://innovation.umd.edu.

About the University of Maryland

The University of Maryland is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, Maryland is ranked No. 21 among public universities by U.S. News & World Report and No. 14 among public universities by Forbes. The Institute of Higher Education, which ranks the world's top universities based on research, puts Maryland at No. 38 in the world, No. 29 nationally and No. 13 among U.S. public research institutions. The university is also one of the top 10 highest-rated D.C.-area employers, according to Glassdoor.com. Its faculty includes three Nobel laureates, two Pulitzer Prize winners, 49 members of the national academies and scores of Fulbright scholars. The university is recognized for its diversity, with underrepresented students comprising one-third of the student population.

SOURCE University of Maryland