For the first time ever, UConn has earned a Top 30 ranking for graduate entrepreneurship, and has maintained its Top 50 ranking for undergraduate entrepreneurship, from the Princeton Review.

The rankings, released today by Princeton Review and slated to be published in the December issue of Entrepreneur Magazine, included more than 300 applicants, putting UConn in the top 15 percent of all survey participants. For the second year in a row, UConn ranked at No. 46 for undergraduate entrepreneurship and, for the first time, the UConn School of Business ranked at No. 28 for graduate entrepreneurship amidst the competitive field of participants in this year’s survey.

“This is terrific recognition of the tireless efforts of the dedicated faculty and staff involved in this recent and important addition to the UConn academic program,” says UConn President Thomas Katsouleas. “It also validates the strategic priority that UConn, the state, and our generous donors have placed on supporting entrepreneurship and innovation, both for the opportunities it creates for our students and the engine it becomes for new industry in the state.”

Colleges and universities who receive entrepreneurship rankings from the Princeton Review are required to complete a detailed survey about entrepreneurial offerings to students, including academic courses, majors, and course requirements; the number of faculty, departments, and students taking part in entrepreneurial programs; alumni entrepreneurship ventures; mentorship programs; scholarships and financial aid support for student entrepreneurship; and entrepreneurship competitions – like hackathon, new venture, “Shark Tank”-inspired competitions – that are offered by the school.

“UConn is a large university,” says David Noble, director of UConn’s Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “The first objective of the Werth Institute was to start to bring all of these different stakeholders together to be able to accomplish more than they could on their own. If we look at recent startup fundraising success, student placement at the highest levels of tech companies globally, and our rankings relative to other peer institutions, it is clear that we are accomplishing this. The results of the Princeton Review rankings over the last few years validates that work.”

“I am incredibly proud of the work we have done at UConn to be ranked amongst the best higher education institutions for entrepreneurship education,” says Jennifer Murphy, director of UConn’s Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “While I could talk all about our programs and how much they have grown over the last few years to aid in the increased rankings, I would rather focus on our amazing students that have helped us to this point. We are finding more and more that students are coming into UConn with an entrepreneurial spirit and are seeking out these types of opportunities. Our students see entrepreneurship as a platform to solve global issues, to inspire change, and to make an impact on the world. Their passion, creativity, and ability to solve problems with innovative solutions is incredibly inspiring. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to work with these students every day and be a part of a University that values entrepreneurship and sees it as a way to help transform students’ educational experiences.”

As one of the nation’s top 25 public universities, UConn is actively engaged in promoting entrepreneurship and commercial ventures as part of its mission. UConn supports every aspect of innovation and business development, from the research that breeds new inventions to connecting entrepreneurs with funding, mentorship, resources, and training.

“Now, we are working towards making increasingly larger investments in our growing community,” Noble says. “Jen Murphy and I look to capitalize on this success and bring in new external partners to help build strengthen and extend these successes.”

To learn more about entrepreneurship programs and opportunities at UConn, visit entrepreneurship.uconn.edu and ccei.uconn.edu.