Ryerson University Entrepreneurship Recognized by Deshpande Symposium

At the recent Deshpande Symposium Awards, Ryerson University entrepreneurship excellence was recognized with the Entrepreneurial University Award. The award recognizes universities that integrate entrepreneurial education into their strategic plan, curriculum and student engagement.

Ryerson received the award at the annual Deshpande Symposium for Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Higher Education, which is a conference for academics, policy planners and practitioners. In the end, Ryerson University beat out both Cornell University and Northeastern University—the two other finalists—to receive the award.

“Ryerson has had a coherent set of programs across the university: the Ted Rogers School of Management, the DMZ, Zone Learning, and the student groups,” Richard Lachman, the Director of Zone Learning, said in a news release. “The award is looking at how all of these initiatives across the university are working together to encourage entrepreneurship, and Ryerson is a great example of all these different kinds of groups coming together.”

Kenneth Grant, the Chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at Ted Rogers explained that entrepreneurship is embraced broadly across the entire campus. He said that they have striven to make it open and inclusive so that anyone can be a part. For example, the Sandbox allows anyone, even high school students, to explore entrepreneurship. The school is also a leading innovator, with Canada’s largest and most significant entrepreneurship academic program. “This award recognizes that we are amongst the leaders,” Grant said.

In total, Ryerson offers over 75 entrepreneurship classes to 6,000 students every year. The school is also home to 10 on-campus incubators for more than 320 startups as well as Startup School, which is a bridge between structure teaching and practical entrepreneurship. Other entrepreneurial opportunities include two dedicated entrepreneurship units, the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, the Entrepreneurship Research Institute and a variety of competitions including the Norman Esch Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards.

regions: Toronto

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