University of Maryland Continues Rise in Ranking for Innovation & Entrepreneurship Education

After ascending into the Top 10 for the first time last year, the University of Maryland moved up again in the latest rankings of the Top Schools for Entrepreneurship by The Princeton Review. 

In the 2017 rankings released this week and featured in the December issue of Entrepreneur Magazine, UMD improved one spot to No. 9 for undergraduate entrepreneurship education and also earned a spot in the Top 25 for graduate entrepreneurship education at No. 20. This marks the sixth consecutive year that UMD has been named a Top 25 program. UMD also ranked No. 5 among public universities for its undergraduate program and No. 12 among public universities for its graduate program.

The University of Maryland historically has had a strong 30-year foundation of entrepreneurship in business and engineering. In 2013, President Wallace Loh expanded this foundation into a campus-wide initiative to engage students of all majors in innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E).

“I&E at UMD is not limited to just the business and engineering schools. In fact, non-business and non-engineering students are every bit as important to include in the innovation process because that process isn’t as rich without that diversity,” said Dean Chang, associate vice president for innovation and entrepreneurship at UMD and head of the Academy for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (AIE).

“AIE’s mission is to engage all 37,000 students in I&E, and UMD is currently 35 percent of the way toward that goal as a result of extensive campus-wide collaboration across all 15 colleges and schools.” 

Last year, there were 10,300 student enrollments in I&E courses at UMD and another 2,900 student engagements in I&E extracurricular activities. UMD offers 203 innovation and entrepreneurship courses representing 59 different campus departments. Students have access to more than 30 organizations and clubs that support entrepreneurial efforts with more than 113 external mentors. There are 10 different competitions as well as grants and seed funds that collectively award up to $780,000 for the best students and innovations in business, social value, technology, sustainability, and other areas. In addition, UMD celebrates I&E during its annual “30 Days of EnTERPreneurship” and offers the #1 Entrepreneurship MOOC on Coursera and the #5 overall business MOOC with close to a million cumulative worldwide enrollments.

The Princeton Review tallied its rankings for top entrepreneurship programs based on a survey it conducted from June through August 2016 of more than 300 schools offering programs in entrepreneurship studies. While most entrepreneurship rankings only include UMD’s extensive business or engineering entrepreneurship programs, the Princeton Review additionally reflects UMD’s unique efforts to engage all 37,000 students in I&E across all 15 colleges and schools.

The 60 question survey looked at each school’s commitment to entrepreneurship education inside and outside the classroom. More than three dozen data points were analyzed for the rankings. Among them were the percentage of faculty, students, and alumni actively and successfully involved in entrepreneurial endeavors, the number and reach of mentorship programs, and funding for scholarships and grants for entrepreneurial studies and projects. 

For more information on The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur’s rankings, visit www.princetonreview.com/entrepreneur. To learn more about innovation and entrepreneurship at UMD, visit http://innovation.umd.edu/.

November 18, 2016