
Universities Need To Develop Entrepreneurs - wendyp
http://www.instigatorblog.com/universities-need-to-develop-entrepreneurs/2007/05/21/
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jmw
It's interesting to hear an outside view on entrepreneurship at MIT. Inside of
MIT, most Course VI (Computer Science) students have gone through 4 years
without even having a single conversation about starting a company.

There is a single class with Course 6 that teaches skills for presenting an
idea and putting together a project proposal, but it's aimed at seniors going
into industry and working at a large company, or students going onto grad
school.

There are resources available - but most of them are accessed by MBAs and
Alums. Dropping out of school to start a company is something that's
considered a huge risk by your undergrad peers. The few that do are definitely
given respect, but because the academic program is so tough - dropping out for
most things is considered giving up, and not really an option which most
people think is viable. Most would-be entrepreneurs wait until after
graduation, go to grad school and drop out there - or work at a big company
until they get tired of it. The community (of students and professors) just
doesn't encourage many students to leave or take time off.

This however, is entirely different from the Institute. MIT as an institute
(deans, registrar..etc) let's undergrads in good standing take a leave of
absence with a single sheet of paperwork and a single 5-20 minute phone call.
To get back in after the leave of absence - the same single sheet and 5 minute
phone call are put through, and then any financial aid paperwork has to be
renewed. If most undergrads knew how easy it was - I think more would try it.

It's interesting to me that about 2-3 years out of school, 60% of my older
friends have consistently started "itching" for something more interested
where they can push themselves to their own limits like they did during their
undergrad career. This is in sharp contrast to the countless job fairs
students go to their junior and senior year which encourage them to take the
safe route and work for a "large" company.

NOTE - These comments about MIT and its community are strictly from my
personal experience with taking a leave of absence from MIT to start a
company, coming back, and leaving again with 2 classes left to start another
company. (I did this in the period from 2002-2006). I also think that that the
various MIT (entrepreneurship) clubs around the country really help with the
community.

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RyanGWU82
Out of curiosity, is there a limit to the length of a Leave of Absence? Are
there situations where a leave request would be denied?

Stanford used to have very liberal rules regarding Leaves of Absence, but
restricted them a few years ago. The rumor is that they were losing too many
people to Silicon Valley. Now you're only allowed to take one year off, and
that still eats into the maximum time you're given to complete your degree.
Plus, almost all students are prohibited from enrolling part-time, so it's not
really feasible to pursue a degree while working (or working full-time on a
venture).

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RyanGWU82
Stanford does a lot of this, as the article mentioned, but there's a bit of
tunnel vision in the entrepreneurship resources throughout the university. For
example, it's virtually all geared toward starting ventures which will require
a great deal of Venture Capital. There's a tremendous amount of emphasis on
developing presentations to give to VCs. Those skills are useful, but they're
emphasized at the expense of other critical topics like knowing your customer,
recruiting talented employees, or being able to execute.

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timg
Almost none are remotely capable of this.

~~~
yubrew
"Almost none are remotely capable of this." -this may be true, but what can
you expect from a university?

the best we can really hope for is to provide students with a support system
for entrepreneurial activities, and to expose entrepreneurial students to
potential mentors.

the rest is up to you.

this is randy komisar on "teaching entrepreneurship"
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4crM-PDRpk>

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jlf
There's certainly a lot of interest and activity around entrepreneurship at
Berkeley. This URL gives a sense of some of what's happening here:
<http://cet.berkeley.edu/curriculum.htm>

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omouse
Montreal has a tech scene? Since when? I can't picture _any_ city in Canada
having a tech/entrepreneur scene. At least not one as a solid as the one in
the Valley.

