NEWARK, NJ — New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Martin Tuchman School of Management is the top school in New Jersey for undergraduate entrepreneurship and No. 34 in the nation, according to a new ranking by The Princeton Review.
The school, founded in 1988, also ranked No. 7 in the Northeast region. The rankings are based on academic offerings, career outcomes and experiential-learning opportunities.
“We heartily recommend the fine schools that made our entrepreneurship studies ranking lists this year,” said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review’s editor in chief. “Their faculties are outstanding. Their programs have robust experiential components, and their students receive awesome mentoring and networking support that will serve them for years to come.”
“I’m really happy to see this news because it’s feedback on improvements we have been making to the entrepreneurship program at MTSM, and for which you have to wait years to see the full effect,” said Cesar Bandera, associate professor of entrepreneurship.
Through efforts including major and minor degrees, specialized courses in technology commercialization, and competitions and funding for student and alumni startups, “The school of management has been working hard to make the entrepreneurship program accessible and relevant to students at all of the (NJIT) colleges,” Bandera said, adding that two years ago MTSM was ranked No. 41 in the nation for entrepreneurship.
Another recent development is that the school’s “introduction to entrepreneurship” course, which used to be a senior capstone, is now a higher-level general elective. The change has been so successful that the school had to add more sections last year to fill student demand. Bandera pointed to his own career training in electrical and computer engineering, with a specialty in computer vision, as evidence that business leaders can come from anywhere. His latest startup, Cell Podium, recently raised $750,000.
The Princeton Review focuses on curricular measures, which at NJIT also include courses that teach students about how to raise capital and how to solve problems for existing startups. MTSM is rolling out new courses in fundraising and in entrepreneurship for specific industries, such as the biomedical field.
NJIT students also get unique hands-on opportunities. These include the Innovations Corps, in which undergrads validate business models; the Tech Venture Support Program, in which they help local startups; and programs with the VentureLink arm of NJIT’s New Jersey Innovation Institute, which may not reflect in rankings. Other extracurricular opportunities, including MTSM’s student-led investment fund and the universitywide Makerspace, can entice those who wish to create technology-minded startup companies.
The university’s successful startups include OculoMotor Technologies, which raised more than $1 million in National Science Foundation grants, and Wickr, from a computer science professor who recently sold his company to Amazon.
“We can now focus on the outgoing side, the graduation side of this program, and that is where we have to ensure that students’ ideas live past graduation. A common problem among entrepreneurship programs across the country is graduation is a bit of a cliff” where students get full-time jobs and leave their entrepreneurial aspirations behind, Bandera said.
Conversely, he said it’s important to teach students the risks of starting a business and the value of industry experience and finishing their degrees, as very few companies are the next Apple or Facebook.
“Students know well the problems that society is facing,” Bandera said. “We encourage our students to make a significant positive impact on society through sustainable technological innovation, and teach them the tools by which they can achieve this as entrepreneurs with their own ventures, or as intrapreneurs in established corporations.”
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