Jones School’s Entreprenuership Initiative Featured in NY Times

Writer Natasha Singer of the New York Times recently published an article discussing the increasing importance of entreprenuerial studies in today’s business community, centering on Rice University’s Jones School of Business as a leader in entreneurship.

Largely centered around Rice and and their “entreprenuership initiative,” the article discusses the increasing tendency for students to create and run their own businesses, driven in large part by a difficult job market and success stories from Silicon Valley.

Universities have recognized this global shift in self-driven innovation, and the renewed focus on campus entreneurship can be seen widely across the country. The article includes mentions of Harvard’s 2011 Innovation Lab, the “Garage” at Northwestern University, and NYU’s recent campus entreprenuership lab, among many others.

Discussing Rice, the article examines the school’s 1891 charter–which focused on literature, science and art–compared with this unexpected shift towards technological innovation. The article refers to this new focus as an “innovation arms race,” discussing Rice’s new entrepreneurship initiative, a multi-million dollar appeal to establish more classes and labs dedicated to innovation.

The article goes on to quote David W. Leebron, president of Rice University. “We want Rice to be one of the schools at the top of the list of schools that prospective students with entrepreneurial aspirations say would be a good place to realize their ambitions. This is a nontrivial group of students, some of the smartest students, the most creative students.”

The article continues to express some concerns among administrators about the true cost of an entreprenuerial focus. The article points to Rice, however, as an example of a university attempting to overcome such challenges. According to President Leebron, a focus on interdisciplinary studies and hands-on experience will allow students to not just be creative but also achieve the experience they need for a competitive job market.

regions: Houston

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