By Lanita Withers Goins, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-3890
Posted 2-11-09
GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG will launch two new entrepreneurship programs this fall designed to give innovative thinkers the skills necessary to start a business.
Both programs – a minor for undergraduates and a post-baccalaureate certificate aimed at college graduates – will teach entrepreneurial finance, detail how to create a feasibility plan and how to launch and grow a business among other skills.
“Sixty percent of people who start businesses have never taken a business course in their life,” said Dr. Dianne H. B. Welsh, the Charles A. Hayes Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Bryan School of Business and Economics. That lack of training helps contribute to the high failure rate among new start-up companies, she said.
“The future in this country and in the Triad is in being creative and innovative in a corporate environment or by starting your own business.”
Housed in the Bryan School, the minor and certificate programs will have interdisciplinary elements that allow students to focus on one of seven courses of study. Available entrepreneurship concentrations include creative industries, health care, family business, international, social, franchising and technology.
The 15-hour minor is open to students in any field of study at UNCG who are in good academic standing with the university. Two tracks are available: a revamped minor for business majors and a new minor for non-business majors.
The 12-hour post-baccalaureate certificate is designed for people who have already completed a bachelor’s degree in any major from an accredited institution. Applicants will be required to have at least a 3.0 undergraduate GPA, three letters of recommendation, a resume and an essay for consideration. Applicants also must submit a completed application to the Graduate School and pay a $55 nonrefundable application fee. The submission of scores from the Graduate Management Admissions Test is not required.
When students in the programs finish their studies, “they’ll have a product they can take to the bank, show their family and friends, and start a business with,” Welsh said.
Entrepreneurship is one of the fastest growing subjects in undergraduate education, according to a 2008 report by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, an organization devoted to entrepreneurship. The study found that formal programs in the field had more than quadrupled in a span of 30 years, from 104 programs in 1975 to more than 500 programs in 2006.
The Bryan School has also seen dramatic growth in the popularity of its entrepreneurship offerings. Since the fall of 2003, enrollment in the school’s Entrepreneurship/Small Business concentration for business administration majors has increased 86 percent, from 111 students to 206 students, making it the school’s fastest growing area of study.
The new minor and certificate programs build on the university’s Building Entrepreneurial Learning for Life (BELL) initiative, which is designed to fuel entrepreneurial spirit and ability throughout campus.
For more information contact Welsh at (336) 256-8507 or dhwelsh@uncg.edu.
