Carolina entrepreneurship ranked 12th for undergraduate, 11th for MBA programs

With a campus culture known for encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, it’s no surprise that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has received top rankings once again for its entrepreneurial studies programs from two major publications.

Tuesday’s Princeton Review rankings placed UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School 11th for graduate programs for its MBA Programs and 12th for undergraduate programs, up from 16th last year. The undergraduate ranking includes the Undergraduate Business Program at UNC Kenan-Flagler and the minor in entrepreneurship in the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC. Entrepreneur magazine published the rankings.

In the U.S. News & World Report rankings released earlier this month, UNC Kenan-Flagler tied for sixth overall and third among the top publics in best undergraduate business programs. Among specialty areas, UNC Kenan-Flaglerranked fifth in management, eighth in finance and tied for ninth in entrepreneurship. The U.S. News ranking is based on surveys of business school deans and directors of accredited business schools.

In January, the Princeton Review ranked Carolina first among the nation’s public universities in its list of the 2014 “Best Value Colleges.”

Since 1997, the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UNC Kenan-Flagler has offered students, staff and faculty the resources to identify and evaluate valuable entrepreneurial opportunities as well as connect with mentors and coaches in one of the nation’s most vibrant entrepreneurial hotspots, the Research Triangle.

The center offers an unparalleled range and breadth of courses and programs, notably:

• A restructured curriculum model that prepares students to learn entrepreneurship, launch their ventures and lead their enterprises and expanded opportunities for real-life learning and engagement with the wider entrepreneurial community.
• Launching the Venture, which has helped UNC students, faculty and staff and students create 100 start-ups since 1999.
• Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC), founded in 1998, the worldwide network of events attracts 1,200 of the top entrepreneurial MBA students from three continents.
• Carolina Challenge awards $50,000 in prize money to UNC startups annually.
• A comprehensive ecosystem to launch and growth student ventures through the 1789Venture Lab and Launch Chapel Hill.

“Our mission is to prepare students with an entrepreneurial mindset that will serve them in any professional setting and during all the phases of their careers,” said Ted Zoller, director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studiesand a strategy and entrepreneurship professor at UNC Kenan-Flagler.  “While we have always focused on new ventures, we’re not just a business program for startups – we’re a school for ‘grow ups.’ We want to support UNC entrepreneurs over their entire entrepreneurial and professional life cycles.

“We are gratified that UNC receives these top rankings for our entrepreneurial programs, as we collaborate to foster a culture of entrepreneurship across UNC,” said Zoller. “We are fortunate to be part of the Triangle’s entrepreneurial hotbed and proud to contribute to its vibrancy with the success of our graduates. Our leaders are powering entrepreneurial hotspots around the world.”