Brigham Young University's Marriott School has been named one of the best collegiate entrepreneurship programs in the United States. In the April 2005 issue of Entrepreneur magazine, BYU appears in the first tier of the top 50 regional programs in the country.
"This honor is one of many external validations of what we are teaching here," says Donald Livingstone, director of the BYU Center for Entrepreneurship. "We have a lot of entrepreneurial activity here on campus, including the largest business plan competition in the country. Many of our student teams have received national recognition in other competitions."
This is the third year Entrepreneur has ranked entrepreneurship programs at U.S. colleges and universities and the second time the Marriott School has been included. The rankings were performed by TechKnowledge Point Corp. in Santa Barbara, Calif., a 24/7 online research and referral exchange for entrepreneurship and enterprise development.
A recent study conducted at the University of Arizona showed that entrepreneurship students start more companies, and they are also more successful. Sales and employment growth of companies owned by or employing entrepreneurship graduates were more than five times the rate of other firms. In addition, entrepreneurship graduates working in large firms earn, on average, $23,000 a year more than non-entrepreneurship business graduates.
A full ranking report is available in the April issue of Entrepreneur magazine and online at www.entrepreneur.com/topcolleges.
The Center for Entrepreneurship is a part of BYU's Marriott School of Management.
Writer: Chad Little
