In light of the bleak economy, more universities are encouraging entrepreneurship and innovative thinking on their campuses to give graduates an edge in a tight job market. Duke University, for example, recently launched an initiative to help student entrepreneurs market their products and ideas outside their university. Here in Charlottesville, the University hosted the first annual "U.Va. Entrepreneurship Cup" last November, and students from various schools across the University competed for substantial cash prizes.
During college when there is less at stake, students can take more risks, which fosters more creative independent thinking than may occur in the real world. Programs that encourage entrepreneurship also promote problem solving, communication and practical business skills that are difficult to learn in a traditional classroom setting. It is not only the students who benefit - funding entrepreneurial programs brings positive attention to universities and strengthens their local economies.
Student Council is one organization that can support these pursuits at the University. Starting this semester, student-run business ventures and nonprofit startups can apply to work with one of Council's 11 presidential committees to receive money through the cosponsorship fund. Unlike appropriations - which come from student activities fees - the cosponsorship fund does not come with stipulations that prohibit Council from funding for-profit or philanthropic groups. This freedom allows Council to finance some student entrepreneurs, although presumably only those with missions that closely align with the goals of one of the presidential committees.
Supporting student-run businesses and charities is a smart use of cosponsorship funds, but that opportunity must be marketed better. To date, most students have used the cosponsorship program to facilitate collaboration among contracted independent organizations and other student groups to sponsor programming. If these funds are to be used in a way that encourages more novelty, Council should inform students about the kinds of projects it would support.
The cosponsorship program is one way to promote entrepreneurship at the University, but other mediums may be better-suited to realizing this goal. For one, cosponsorship money is used for multiple purposes, so startup ideas must compete with other types of projects and programs to receive funding. More important, Council is interested in attracting ventures that will benefit the University and the local community specifically. Although this approach makes sense for a student government organization, the ideal entrepreneurship fund would allocate resources based upon financial promise and economic merit - or in the case of nonprofit ideas, based upon broader social goals. The aim is for students to look beyond Grounds and develop a product or service that is viable in the "real world." By doing so, students help the University achieve part of its public mission by contributing to the economic well-being of the commonwealth. Moreover, supporting these endeavors contributes to the University's role as a laboratory where students can apply academic principles to specific projects.
As the economy remains sluggish, colleges must be especially judicious when it comes to setting aside money for certain efforts. Fortunately, entrepreneurship is a cause that can largely finance itself. Not only can startups help revitalize the economy, but individual ventures also may obtain a return on investment sizable enough to make a student entrepreneurship fund self-sustaining. It is not always common for one project to strike a balance between academic goals and financial ones - when such an opportunity arises, universities would be remiss not to take advantage of it.
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