$25.5 Million In Kauffman Campus Grants For Entrepreneurship Education
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation recently announced a total of $25.5 million in grants to nine U.S. universities that pledged to make entrepreneurship education a campus-wide opportunity, leading a more than $200 million effort to transform the way entrepreneurship education is taught in the nation’s colleges and universities.
The Kauffman Campuses Initiative was launched in 2003, when eight schools were awarded a total of $25 million to transform the campus culture by providing entrepreneurship courses and programs within liberal arts, engineering and other disciplines outside of the business school. The schools were selected based on a series of criteria, including the ability to create a culture of entrepreneurship that permeates the campus, the potential to create new representative models, and the ability to partner with other foundations and funders.
With the Kauffman Foundation’s current investment of $26.5 million and matching commitments from other funding partners, more than $200 million will be directed to cross-campus entrepreneurship programs over the next five years. “These new Kauffman Campuses schools will empower all students on campus to access the skills, orientation and networks that can lead to greater individual opportunities and to the creation of jobs, innovation and prosperity for America,” said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation.
“We know there’s an entrepreneurial spirit sweeping across college campuses today, and we’re thrilled to build on this momentum so that entrepreneurship becomes a natural and vital aspect of the American education experience,” said Judith Cone, the Kauffman Foundation’s vice president of entrepreneurship. “Our goal is to make the entire university system more entrepreneurial.”
Indeed, entrepreneurship is fast becoming the hottest ticket on campus with the demand for entrepreneurship education growing exponentially in the past few decades. Of the two- and four-year accredited not-for-profit colleges and universities in the United States, more than 80 percent currently teach entrepreneurship.
Furthermore, approximately 90 percent of the nation’s 888 accredited master’s and doctoral degree-granting institutions now offer entrepreneurship courses, and in most cases, multiple courses and degree options. Of the 1,191 accredited two-year colleges, 78 percent offer one or more entrepreneurship courses for credit. Over 700 four-year colleges and universities now have entrepreneurship centers to help students, faculty, and community members launch new ventures.#
Further information on the Kauffman Campus Initiative, including a Fact Sheet and Q&A is available at www.kauffman.org.
