Mtech helped UMD rank in the top 10 for innovation and entrepreneurship for sixth straight year

The University of Maryland (UMD) earned a top 10 ranking in The Princeton Review’s annual survey of top schools for entrepreneurship for the sixth consecutive year. 

The Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech), an institute of the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, contributed to those rankings. Mtech is dedicated to entrepreneurship education, helping entrepreneurs launch successful technology ventures, and connecting Maryland-based companies with university resources to help them succeed.

In calendar year 2020, Mtech offered 39 innovation and entrepreneurship classes at the university, with 4,878 enrollments in those courses.

Those enrollments were spread across the following initiatives offered through Mtech:

• The Master of Professional Studies in Technology Entrepreneurship, offered exclusively online, educates and empowers graduate students to launch and lead innovative startups and corporate ventures. The program’s experiential learning model incorporates video-based instruction and coaching, global networking opportunities, and funding opportunities with leading investors. The program has 207 alumni.

• The 15-credit Minor in Technology Entrepreneurship prepares students for launching successful technology ventures and bringing innovative products and services to market. The minor develops the entrepreneurial mindset and functional skill sets of students to improve their ability to create, launch, and manage technology ventures. A total of 813 students have completed the minor.

• The Hinman CEOs Program is a living-learning entrepreneurship initiative focusing on junior and senior entrepreneurial students from all academic disciplines in a unique community. Students can live together, learn about entrepreneurship, and launch new ventures. More than 100 startups have been launched through the program, raising more than $640 million in investment and realizing over $3 billion in company valuations. Hinman CEOs has 689 alumni.

• The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (EIP) provides University of Maryland Honors College freshmen and sophomores with an interdisciplinary, living-learning education to help build the entrepreneurial mindsets, skill sets, and relationships invaluable to developing innovative, impactful solutions to today's problems. EIP has 523 alumni.

Mtech’s edX certificate programs garnered nearly 70,000 enrollments since launching in 2019. These include:

• The edX Professional Certificate in Product Management, which saw over 34,000 enrollments, teaches students how to lead the product life cycle from discovery to delivery.

• The edX Professional Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, with more than 35,000 enrollments, teaches students how to transform business ideas into successful ventures. 

In addition, Mtech has offered Coursera specializations since 2013, with more than 1 million enrollments. Offerings include: 

• The Entrepreneurship: Launching an Innovative Business Specialization, which helps students develop their entrepreneurial mindset and skill sets, learn how to bring innovations to market, and craft a business model to successfully launch their new businesses.

• The Corporate Entrepreneurship: Innovating within Corporations Specialization, which instructs students on how to develop and launch innovations within corporations.

The Princeton Review’s 2021 rankings were featured in the December issue of Entrepreneur magazine. UMD placed No. 6 for undergraduate entrepreneurship education—climbing one spot from last year—and No. 3 among public universities. In addition, UMD was listed at No. 23 for graduate entrepreneurship education, marking the ninth consecutive year that the university has been named a top 25 program. 

The Princeton Review tallied its rankings for top entrepreneurship programs based on a survey conducted from June through August 2020 of more than 300 schools about their entrepreneurship offerings. While most entrepreneurship rankings include only UMD’s extensive business or engineering entrepreneurship programs, the Princeton Review additionally reflects UMD’s efforts to include its entire student population.

The survey methodology looked at each school’s commitment to entrepreneurship education inside and outside the classroom. Among the many criteria were the percentage of faculty, students, and alumni actively and successfully involved in entrepreneurial endeavors; the number and reach of mentorship programs, scholarships and grants for entrepreneurial studies; and the level of support for school-sponsored business plan competitions.

January 19, 2021