Office of Programs and Academic Assessment (MC 103) 2630 University Hall 601 South Morgan Street Chicago, IL 60607

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1 Office of Programs and Academic Assessment (MC 103) 2630 University Hall 601 South Morgan Street Chicago, IL March 26, 2014 TO: FROM: Ilene Harris, Chair Senate Committee on Educational Policy Dana Wright, Director for Academic Program Development I am submitting for the review and action of the Senate Committee on Educational Policy the attached Proposal to Revise the Concentration in Entrepreneurship within the Master of Business Administration (MBA). The proposal was approved by the Department of Managerial Studies on February 27, 2014 and by the College of Business Administration faculty on March 7, ATTACHMENT

2 Title: Proposal to Revise the Concentration in Entrepreneurship, Master of Business Administration Sponsor: Department of Managerial Studies College of Business Administration Executive Summary: The College of Business Administration awards a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with ten concentrations, including one in Entrepreneurship. The degree requires 54 credit hours, of which twelve hours of elective course work are taken to fulfill concentration requirements. The Concentration in Entrepreneurship can be completed via two tracks: the General Entrepreneurship Track and the Technology Ventures Tracks. The College proposes to revise the Technology Ventures Track as follows. Currently students take three required 4-hour courses. These courses will be split into six 2-hour courses to accommodate their use in the newly proposed Post- Baccalaureate Campus Certificate in Technology Entrepreneurship. The General Entrepreneurship Track is not being revised. The change will not impact the total hours required for the concentration. Description: The College of Business Administration awards a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with ten concentrations, including one in Entrepreneurship. The degree requires 54 credit hours, composed of 24 hours of core coursework and 30 hours of electives. Twelve hours of elective course work are taken to fulfill concentration requirements. The Concentration in Entrepreneurship can be completed via two tracks: the General Entrepreneurship Track and the Technology Ventures Tracks. The College proposes to revise the Technology Ventures Track as follows. Currently students take three required 4-hour courses. ENTR 554 Fundaments of Technology Ventures (4 hours), ENTR 555 Technology Venture Formation I (4 hours), ENTR 556 Technology Venture Formation II (4 hours) These courses will be split into six 2-hour courses: ENTR 560 Fundamentals of Technology Entrepreneurship (2 hours), ENTR 561 Assessing Technologies for Venture Potential (2 hours), ENTR 565 Business Models for Technology Ventures (2 hours), ENTR 566 Business Plans for Technology Ventures (2 hours), ENTR 567 Resource Acquisition for Technology Ventures (2 hours), ENTR 569 Technology Venture Integration (2 hours) Students will receive the same course content, just redistributed over six classes instead of three classes. 1

3 The last course in the six course sequence is ENTR 569: Technology Venture Integration. It requires immersion in a real world project such as applying for an SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) grant, entering a business incubator or accelerator, entering external business plan competitions, etc. To gain permission to enroll in the course students must: (1) identify a major grant, such as SBIR, for which their startup qualifies and submit a timeline and plan for submitting the grant application; (2) submit a timeline and plan for how they will engage with and leverage the Chicago startup ecosystem to support their startup efforts, which can include plans to apply for admission to incubators or accelerators, or plans to participate meaningfully in entrepreneurship groups and events such as Technori, Lean Startup Circle, 1871, Critical Pitch, etc.; or (3) have a business plan that a panel of judges from the business community perceived as viable and express interest in representing UIC in various local, regional, national and international business plan competitions. Students will be notified of their approval to enroll in ENTR 569 prior to the semester in which it is offered. Notes: An incubator is typically a physical facility that rents space to startups, often at below-market rates, and provides shared resources such as conference rooms, copy machines, and clerical staff. Some incubators provide a limited amount of educational programming. Accelerators are organizations that provide immersive mentoring, coaching, education and networking for startup entrepreneurs. Many invest cash in the startups they are attempting to accelerate. Entrance to accelerators is gained via a competitive application process. Entrance into incubators requires finances to pay monthly rent, although some space is available at extremely affordable rates. Chicago has a vast array of groups and events for networking, education and mentoring of entrepreneurs. Other than time commitment there are few barriers to joining these groups. For students seeking to represent UIC at external business plan competitions, we will continue the tradition of using a panel of investors and successful entrepreneurs from the business community to assess the viability of students business plans. Not all students will have an interest in taking ENTR 569. Some will have made nogo decisions on their project before reaching the class. Others will not be able to commit the hours needed to pursue this real world project. Some will have a technology that is in the early stages of development and not yet ready for the real world. Students who choose not to or are not eligible to enroll in ENTR 569, can utilize credit earned from completing the other five courses in the TechVenture sequence to earn the Certificate in Technology Entrepreneurship. As indicated in the catalog description below, MBA students may earn a Concentration in Entrepreneurship by taking all six TechVentures courses (12 credits), by taking three 4-credit courses from the general entrepreneurship track (12 credits), or a combination of both. It has always been expected that in the TechVentures sequence of courses there will be attrition along the way. After each course, only projects that remain viable progress. Recent revisions to the TechVentures program have greatly expanded the options for students to complete the entire sequence. Students cannot apply TechVentures course credits to both the MBA Concentration in Entrepreneurship and Certificate in Technology Entrepreneurship. Most MBA students take two concentrations and TechVentures students are strongly encouraged to do so. For those who do, the other concentration (e.g., finance or 2

4 marketing) would satisfy their MBA concentration requirement and the TechVentures courses could satisfy the certificate requirements. The General Entrepreneurship Track is not being revised. Further the change will not impact the total hours required for the concentration, which remains at 12 hours. Justification: The rationale for the change is that the coursework in the TechVentures Track will also be used to fulfill the requirements for a newly proposed Post-Baccalaureate Campus Certificate in Technology Entrepreneurship. MBA students will not be able to earn both the Concentration in Entrepreneurship and the Post-Baccalaureate Campus Certificate in Technology Entrepreneurship. In order to make the proposed certificate open to graduate students across campus who may not have room in their course schedules to register for additional 4-hour TechVentures courses on top of their degree requirements the College opted to replace the original three-course sequence with a six courses. Although the courses have changed from 4-credit hours to 2-credit hours, the intent of the program and courses remains the same. Catalog Statement: Current Entrepreneurship Concentration Technology Ventures Track Required courses (12 hours): ENTR 554: Fundamentals of Technology Ventures (4) ENTR 555: Technology Venture Formation I (4) ENTR 556: Technology Venture Formation II (4) New Entrepreneurship Concentration TechVentures Track Required courses (12 hours): ENTR 560: Fundamentals of Technology Entrepreneurship (2), ENTR 561: Assessing Technologies for Venture Potential (2), ENTR 565: Business Models for Technology Ventures (2), ENTR 566: Business Plans for Technology Ventures (2), ENTR 567: Resource Acquisition for Technology Ventures (2). ENTR 569 Technology Venture Integration (2) MBA students may apply credits for TechVentures courses toward either an MBA Concentration in Entrepreneurship OR a Graduate Certificate in Technology Entrepreneurship--not both. General Entrepreneurship Track Required courses (12 hours): 3

5 ENTR 502: Entrepreneurship (4) Two additional 500-level electives focusing on entrepreneurship. Approved 500-level electives for the entrepreneurship concentration include: ENTR 559: Entrepreneurial Consulting ENTR 594: Special Topics in Entrepreneurship (varies by semester) MGMT 590: Strategic Management Students who complete one or two courses from the Technology Ventures Track but do not finish the series may use the courses from the Technology Ventures Track towards a general Entrepreneurship concentration as long as they also complete ENTR 502. If you are interested in taking an elective not listed above, please consult with an academic adviser to determine whether or not the course would count towards an entrepreneurship concentration. For a complete listing of ENTR courses, please see the Liautaud course list Students who complete part of the TechVentures Track but do not finish the series may use the credits from courses in the TechVentures Track towards a general Entrepreneurship concentration as long as they also complete ENTR 502. Minority Impact Statement: Budgetary and Staff Implications: Library Resource Implications: Space Implications: Unit (e.g. department) approval date: February 27,

6 College (educational policy committee, faculty) approval dates: March 7, 2014 Contact Person: Rod Shrader Proposed Effective Date/Term: Spring