Higher Education

Helping universities become more entrepreneurial—not only in what they teach and how they teach it, but in how they operate—is at the heart of the Kauffman Foundation’s work in higher education. We recognize that university environments are natural breeding grounds for creativity, the exchange of ideas, and new ways of looking at and studying things. Colleges and universities have embraced entrepreneurship, making it the fastest-growing field of study on campus and, in some cases, resulting in the emergence of entirely new academic field.

Initiatives

  • The Kauffman Campuses initiative seeks to transform the way colleges and universities make entrepreneurship education available across their campuses, enabling any student, regardless of field of study, to access entrepreneurial training.

  • The Kauffman Panel on Entrepreneurship Curriculum in Higher Education is a multidisciplinary panel of distinguished scholars who will provide recommendations for a comprehensive approach to teaching entrepreneurship to college students.

  • Postdoctoral scholars who take the entrepreneurial steps to get their research to market bring enormous potential benefits to society and the economy. To recognize and encourage postdoc entrepreneurial excellence, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) have launched the Kauffman Foundation Outstanding Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Award.

  • This analysis provides valuable insights into how proof of concept centers can facilitate the transfer of university innovations into commercial applications.

  • /uploadedImages/ibridge(1).gifThis Kauffman Innovation Network, Inc. site provides access to university research and innovations to industry representatives, entrepreneurs, and other universities' researchers.

  • Founded in 2002, the MIT Venture Mentor program supports innovation and entrepreneurial activity throughout the MIT community by utilizing mentors to educate early-stage innovators.

  • Women Innovators
    View video.   

    The Kauffman Foundation is working to unleash the latent scientific wealth of female scientists, ensuring that they have the support networks and financial means to start businesses and advance their innovations.

Highlights

Featured Resources

  • In The Great Brain Race, veteran education writer and Kauffman Foundation senior fellow Ben Wildavsky presents what experts are calling a "masterful" and "compelling" account of how globalization has come to higher education - and why the emergence of a worldwide academic marketplace is an opportunity, not a threat.

  • eLawThe Entrepreneurship Law (“eLaw”) Web site is an online community and tool devoted to expanding legal entrepreneurship curriculum and education. This Web site contains helpful information and materials for professors, as well as the general public.

  • WEF EE Exec Summary CoverThe World Economic Forum's Global Education Initiative (GEI) report, Educating the Next Wave of Entrepreneurs provides specific recommendations for the academic, public, private and non-profit sectors to collaborate in supporting the development of entrepreneurship ecosystems, in which education is a key driver.