NYU Joins Nationwide Kauffman Campuses Initiative to Expand Entrepreneurship Education across Campus
New York University has been awarded a $1 million grant by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to make entrepreneurship education a common and accessible campus-wide opportunity for college students. The grant is part of a $200 million effort to transform the way entrepreneurship education is taught in the nation’s colleges and universities. Under this initiative, NYU will raise $5 million to match the Kauffman funds.
NYU was one of a select number of colleges and universities across the country that received grants as part of the Kauffman Foundation’s Kauffman Campuses Initiative, which was launched in 2003 to foster the creation of interdisciplinary entrepreneurship education programs in American higher education that are available to all students regardless of major.
With this grant, NYU will create The Kauffman Entrepreneurial Campus Program, led by The Berkley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, housed in NYU’s Stern School of Business. The Berkley Center, with its multi-tiered research, pedagogical and co-curricular emphasis, has an established track record of success in uniting the schools of NYU in entrepreneurial endeavors.
William Baumol, Harold Price Professor of Entrepreneurship and Academic Director of the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at NYU Stern, will lead this pan-campus initiative, which will focus on the preparation and effective training of both innovative (vs. replicative) entrepreneurs, as well as social entrepreneurs, while working as a catalyst for enhanced entrepreneurial activity throughout the University.
NYU President John Sexton said, “Among the defining characteristics of the NYU community are its energy, its creativity and its affirmative lack of contentment with the status quo. Entrepreneurship was key to creating the NYU that exists today. This grant from the Kauffman Foundation is a perfect fit for NYU, and it will slake a great thirst among our talented for entrepreneurship learning and activities. We are grateful to the Foundation for selecting us.”
NYU was 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 Entrepreneurial Campus at NYU, we have an unprecedented opportunity to bridge the gap between replicative entrepreneurship-the creation of new enterprise that duplicates an abundance of preexistent establishments-and innovative and social entrepreneurship-which are critical for economic growth and the reduction of social ills, but for which no teaching program whose effectiveness is based on evidence currently exists,” said Professor Baumol. “Our goal is to create a model program at NYU through collaboration with our University partners, one that can serve as a model for educational institutions around the world.”
“At the core of entrepreneurship is a dissatisfaction with the status quo, an addiction to change, a drive toward bigger, better and faster and the exercise of the imagination without restraint,” said William R. Berkley, BS 66, Chairman of the W.R. Berkley Corporation as well as NYU Stern’s Board of Overseers, member of NYU’s Board of Trustees, and main benefactor of Stern’s Berkley Center. “This is the culture we will continue to make synonymous with that of NYU.”
The Kauffman Campuses Initiative
With the Kauffman Foundation’s current investment, combined with matching commitments from other funding partners, including the Burton D. Morgan Foundation in Akron, Ohio, more than $200 million will be directed to cross-campus entrepreneurship programs over the next five years.
“New York University, along with the other 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.
The Kauffman Campuses Initiative launched with eight schools that 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.
“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.
About New York University
New York University, which was established in 1831, is one of the largest and most prestigious private research universities in the U.S. It has more international students than any other U.S. college or university. Through its 14 schools and colleges, NYU conducts research and provides education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, dentistry, education, nursing, business, social work, the cinematic and performing arts, public administration and policy, and continuing studies, among other areas.
About the Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City is a private, nonpartisan foundation that works with partners to advance entrepreneurship in America and improve the education of children and youth. The Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. Information about the Kauffman Foundation is available at www.kauffman.org.