Academics
The Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center was created to teach, coach and inspire students to be entrepreneurial in their lives. The Center provides students the tools and experience necessary to creatively pursue new opportunities and innovations in the startup, social and corporate venture arenas. At the undergraduate level, the Center offers a popular entrepreneurship minor as well as a combination degree option that pairs with any major. At the graduate level, students can choose from a specialized entrepreneurship master’s degree or a graduate minor in entrepreneurship.
Our Unique Competency-based Learning Model
What should a student get better at because they studied entrepreneurship at UF? What difference should our program make in the student’s life? To address these questions, we have built our courses and curriculum around a distinct competency-based educational approach. Students are expected to not just learn core content, but to develop their entrepreneurial mindset—learning how to think and act in entrepreneurial ways. Toward this end, we emphasize mastery of key entrepreneurial skills and competencies, such as opportunity recognition, resource leveraging, creative problem-solving, risk mitigation, and the ability to adapt.
A Focus on Learning by Doing
At UF we recognize that students learn in different ways. One of the most powerful ways to master content, tolls, frameworks and principles is through experiential learning, where students apply what they are learning in the classroom. We have adopted the term ‘deliberate practice’ to capture an emphasis on experiential learning both in the classroom and outside the classroom. A wide range of experiential approaches are employed (student hatcheries, competitions, mentorships, internships, consulting projects, entrepreneurial audits, and much more), and students are encouraged to build experience portfolios while they are enrolled in our program.
Master of Science in Entrepreneurship
The Thomas S. Johnson Master of Science in Entrepreneurship Program (MSE) equips entrepreneurs with the skills and savvy to plan, launch and sustain innovative ventures on their terms. Three-piece suits and old-school methods are not the norm here. Big ideas and bold confidence are our prerequisites.
Undergraduate Minor in Entrepreneurship
The entrepreneurship minor provides all UF undergraduates with the opportunity to learn the basic principles of business operations and new venture development. Start with the popular Principles of Entrepreneurship course, build up your skills in Creativity and Business Planning, choose entrepreneurship electives such as Social Entrepreneurship and Small and Family Business management to round out your minor, and complete an experiential learning practicum.
Graduate Minor in Entrepreneurship
Non-business graduate students can earn a Graduate Minor in Entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship Electives
Enhance your degree with rich courses in entrepreneurship and innovation. Over 25 entrepreneurship courses are available at the undergraduate and graduate levels. All UF students are eligible to enroll in the 2-credit Business Plan Lab, which is part of the Entrepreneurship Center’s Big Idea Gator Business Plan Competition.
Doctor of Business Administration
The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program aims to integrate the theory and practice of business with the context of current issues that the business world faces. The DBA is a professional doctorate that emphasizes the application of theory to actual business issues. The DBA program will help candidates develop proficiency in applied research by improving their methodological and analytical skills. Participants who successfully complete the program will be equipped for high-level positions in numerous sectors including higher education, consulting and a return to profession.
