It seems that entrepreneurial education has been catching on lately, according to a recent article from the New York Times.  This subject is now being taught at universities across America.  A subject typically reserved to the “School of Hard Knocks” and experience has a formal curriculum now.

With this move to more traditional eduction in Entrepreneurial Studies, I wonder if the up and coming generations will be more apt to survive the difficulties of starting and running a small business?  Not sure, but the article did make a good point.  As stated by Marjorie Smelstor, the Kauffman Foundation’s VP for the Kauffman Campuses Initiative and Higher Education Program (which spends $50 million to finance entrepreneurial programs at various universities around the country):

If it [entrepreneurial studies] is taught purely in a traditional classroom with lectures and talking heads with an emphasis on a theoretical approach, then no, it won’t be taught or learned.

But, she goes on to say, real-life experiences will truly make this teaching more real world, thus making the students better and more successful entrepreneurs.  What a welcome change to current higher education - a focus on doing business rather than simply learning about it.

I welcome the focus on a younger level of entrepreneurs.  Here’s to our future.

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

More on entrepreneuriship: Entrepreneurship Week USA, Entrepreneur, the magazine, the Entrepreneurial Mind blog (where we learned about this article), Small Biz Labs blog, Forbes