Kauffman Foundation Challenges Universities to Institutionalize Entrepreneurship

The Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City announced on Monday it will award grants of up to $5 million to 5-7 U.S. universities to make entrepreneurship education a common and accessible campus-wide opportunity. The Foundation works with partners to encourage entrepreneurship across America.

In June, the Foundation chose 15 universities out of 30 schools invited to demonstrate interest by developing a preliminary concept to compete in the Kauffman Campuses initiative. Each of the 15 universities selected was awarded a $50,000 planning grant to assist with the development of a comprehensive proposal to be presented this December. At that time, 5-7 universities will be awarded grants of up to $5 million, each based on their creativity and commitment to make entrepreneurship training and experiences available across college departments and to students of diverse disciplines. Universities also must demonstrate their ability to raise matching funds.

The Kauffman Campuses initiative builds on the Foundation's 10-year history of advancing entrepreneurship, which has included support of entrepreneurship education efforts at hundreds of U.S. colleges and universities. While more than 1,500 colleges and universities offer some form of entrepreneurship training, the goal of the Kauffman Campuses initiative is to transform campus life so that entrepreneurship is an integral and natural part of the college experience.

The 15 universities selected to compete for the multi-million-dollar grants include: Florida International University, Howard University, Purdue University, Syracuse University, University of California-San Diego, University of Illinois, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, University of Memphis, University of New Mexico, University of North Carolina, University of Rochester, University of Texas-El Paso, University of Wisconsin, Wake Forest University, and Washington University.

More information on the Kauffman Foundation is available at http://www.kauffman.org/.