HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The University of Houston C. T. Bauer College of Business and the Greater Houston Partnership announced today a ranking for the college’s entrepreneurship program that is indicative of the city’s strength in growing businesses and creating jobs.
For the third time in five years, the Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center at UH Bauer has been ranked the best of its kind in the nation, landing at the top of The Princeton Review’s list of leading undergraduate entrepreneurship programs in the U.S. for Entrepreneur magazine.
The program again is No. 1 on the list of the Top 25 Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurs, released by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur on Sept. 20. The program was ranked No. 1 in 2008 and 2010, and No. 2 in 2007 and 2009.
“With so many excellent entrepreneurship education programs across the country, this latest national recognition for UH’s Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship is truly an honor,” said UH President Renu Khator. “I congratulate the success of this visionary program and its students and faculty.”
“UH entrepreneurship students at the Bauer College receive the education, insight and practical experience that prepare them to start their own businesses or to work for an existing entrepreneur — providing a significant boost to the economy of the Houston region. It is fitting that this announcement be made at the Greater Houston Partnership, which has been such a strong supporter of the University of Houston in its mission of building regional economic prosperity,” Khator said.
Bauer College Dean Latha Ramchand agreed, adding, “At a time when job creation is the nation’s top priority, we are proud to be grooming graduates equipped with the skills needed to find jobs and to create jobs. We have always believed that Houston is a city that celebrates and rewards entrepreneurship. Being in Houston helps us attract the best talent, both in terms of students who want to monetize their ideas and in terms of instructors who are successful entrepreneurs who have created and managed businesses in the area.”
Ranking second and third on the list are Babson College and Baylor University, respectively. The entrepreneurship program at UH Bauer also tops Syracuse University, the University of Southern California, the University of Arizona and 19 others.
“We are proud of the students, faculty and staff of the Wolff Center at Bauer,” Ramchand said. “This is quite an achievement — The Princeton Review is one of the country’s premier ranking surveys for college, and Entrepreneur is the top business title in the U.S.”
The ranking for the city’s business school is the latest of several national recognitions of the Houston job market and economy. “It is no secret to anyone that Houston is a great place to do business — to start a small business, to work collaboratively with business partners, to expand globally,” said City Controller Ronald C. Green.
The ranking validates the world-class education Bauer students receive through the Wolff Center’s entrepreneurship program, its global business minor and its corporate entrepreneurship certification program, Ramchand said.
“The education you receive at the Wolff Center focuses on creating an entrepreneurial mindset and process that is applicable to any major at Bauer and students across the university. Faculty teaching in the program are experienced entrepreneurs, all of whom have landed, bought, or successfully run their own businesses. About 40 percent of students involved in the entrepreneurship program are not business majors, and 53 percent of undergraduate students at Bauer participate in the program,” she added.
“Most importantly, the students we graduate go on to start their own business here in the city of Houston, benefiting our local economy,” Ramchand said. “From restaurants to service-oriented companies, the success stories of the Wolff Center graduates have become an integral part of the business landscape of the city.”
Each year, between 30 and 35 students are selected through a rigorous application process to become entrepreneurship majors, a program that includes six courses and enrichment activities to supplement academic instruction.
In addition, a certificate in corporate entrepreneurship is the foundation of the college’s global business minor for non-business students. Nearly 1,000 non-business students take WCE courses each year, applying entrepreneurial thinking to their interests in engineering, science, social science or the arts.
Each year on average, 65 percent of WCE students start a business while in school or shortly after graduating. Others go on to join existing ventures and apply lessons learned at Bauer to innovate and expand those businesses. WCE students have also won numerous awards in national business plan competitions — outperforming MBA teams from other schools including Carnegie Mellon. Students in Bauer’s executive MBA program have also had the opportunity to take elective courses in entrepreneurship and corporate entrepreneurship.
The Wolff Center was created in 1993, with the Commission for Higher Education approving the entrepreneurship major in 1995. The program has since developed courses for entrepreneurship majors and business minors, attracting over 1,800 students a semester.
The program has also brought in mentors from members of the Houston community. Houston philanthropists Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff became the namesakes of the program in 2008. Wolff is a 1953 graduate of Bauer College, a member of the Dean’s Executive Board and chairman of the board for Star Furniture, a Berkshire-Hathaway company.
The Princeton Review determined the rankings of both graduate and undergraduate programs by evaluating key criteria in the areas of academics and requirements, students and faculty, and outside-the-classroom support and experiences from more than 2,000 programs that were surveyed.
For more information and a complete listing of the schools included on the list, go to www.entrepreneur.com/topcolleges. Full details will also appear in the October issue of Entrepreneur available on newsstands today.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research and teaching institution is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.
About the C. T. Bauer College of Business
The C. T. Bauer College of Business has been in operation for more than 60 years at the University of Houston main campus. Through its five academic departments, the college offers a full-range of undergraduate, masters and doctoral degrees in business. The Bauer College is fully accredited by the AACSB International – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. In August 2000, Houston business leader and philanthropist Charles T. (Ted) Bauer endowed the College of Business with a $40 million gift. In recognition of his generosity, the college was renamed the C. T. Bauer College of Business.