Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship
Tampa, USA
BSc
DURATION
4 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
USD 50,688 / per year
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
Key Summary
The entrepreneurship major prepares students for the intricacies of planning, launching, and leading a new business with a focus on creativity and innovation, new venture planning, entrepreneurial finance, and managing and growing a new business. The curriculum is designed around two themes: screening and recognizing opportunities to create value, and personal innovation despite scarce organizational resources.
Students of the program, in their first major required course, develop a feasibility study for a new venture, which is then used in subsequent courses. The study is worked into a business plan in the program's capstone course, ENT 487 Business Plan Development. Tampa Bay entrepreneurs critique these business plans in a local competition and the best ones are forwarded to national competitions.
UTampa's entrepreneurship program fosters the kind of outside-the-box thinking that prepares majors for success in a variety of endeavors. Self-employment is only one career option for graduates of the entrepreneurship concentration. Graduates have started new businesses, bought existing ventures, and gone on to entrepreneurial positions in profit and not-for-profit ventures around the world. Other career options are intrapreneurship (innovation in large organizations), venture capital, and social entrepreneurship.
Many entrepreneurship graduates have also continued their education through UTampa's MBA program, which offers a concentration in entrepreneurship, and at universities across the country.
What Will You Learn?
UT’s entrepreneurship major prepares students for launching and leading new business ventures, with a focus on innovation, planning, entrepreneurial finance, management, and growth. The curriculum is designed around two themes: screening and recognizing opportunities to create value, and promoting personal innovation despite scarce resources. This major can be applied to either starting a business or working in an existing firm where creativity is a strategic advantage.
Topics of study include:
- Developing an entrepreneurial mindset
- Identifying business opportunities
- Conducting marketing research
- Identifying financial needs and acquiring funding
- Maintaining liquidity and managing cash flow
- Understanding the role of entrepreneurship in international business
Students may also major in international business and entrepreneurship. This option couples the B.S. in Entrepreneurship with the international business curriculum, providing students with the skills and multicultural awareness to thrive in a global business environment. The minor in entrepreneurship also teaches entrepreneurial competencies useful for careers across a variety of fields.
All UT entrepreneurship students apply what they learn in the classroom to real-world experiences, conducting feasibility studies, consulting with professionals, and developing their own business plans. Internships provide another important experience that may lead to full-time employment and allow students to begin building a network of contacts. UT’s location in the heart of Tampa means internships are often located within walking distance of campus.
Top Accreditation
The Sykes College of Business is accredited at the undergraduate and graduate levels by AACSB International (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), an honor held by only six percent of business schools worldwide. It is rated a top-85 graduate business school in the U.S. by Bloomberg Businessweek, and since 2007 has been named among the best business schools in the world by The Princeton Review.
Funding Student Businesses
Do you have a scalable business idea? UT’s unique Spartan Accelerator program pairs students with a launch team of professionals to formulate successful business and investment plan presentations. Students receive legal advice and access to boot camps based on the Lean Startup Business Model method. The competition portion of the program offers seed funding and grants to help students grow their companies.
Highlights of this unique space include an Inspiration Center featuring work stations, a pop-up pitch area, and two think pods; a tiered pitch room for presenting business ideas; four large rooms for student entrepreneurs to work on their startups; a live learning lab for up to nine early-stage community businesses; an executive seminar room with seating for 84; a “collaboration kitchen” for relaxing and brainstorming; and a video conference room.
The focus of the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center is to engage students and the Florida business community in mutually beneficial experiences, with a focus on training entrepreneurs for success. Through a combination of classroom study and applied learning, the center cultivates innovative, qualified business leaders with the skills to make their visions a reality. From their first day on campus through graduation and beyond, students have access to a wide variety of programming. These opportunities include:
- UT CREATE business idea pitch competition and boot camp are open to students across all disciplines.
- CEO Council Competition gives professional feedback to students in the capstone entrepreneurship course; the best business plans receive $1,000.
- Southeastern Entrepreneurship Conference (SEEC) annual conference for students features two days of speakers and workshops.
- Spartan Accelerator provides student startups with intensive mentoring.
- Community Incubator lets students learn from and work with early-stage businesses.
- Today’s Entrepreneurial Women forum brings together female entrepreneurs for presentations and panel discussions.
What Can You Do With This Major?
There has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. During the next few years, the biggest economic growth is expected to come from small businesses. Today’s economy is hospitable to startups, and capital is available for qualified entrepreneurs and imaginative enterprises. The practical experience students gain is also valuable training for careers in the corporate world.
Many graduates continue their business education at universities across the country, including Boston College, Indiana University, and the University of Maryland, and through UT’s M.S. in Entrepreneurship or MBA program, which offers a concentration in entrepreneurship. While developing advanced skills in analysis, leadership, and management, UT graduate students gain a breadth of knowledge and connections.
Through a unique partnership between the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center and Moffitt Cancer Center, UT graduate students work with physicians to evaluate the feasibility of developing businesses around innovative cancer research and treatment products and services. Students have been instrumental in several new biotech ventures launched by Moffitt scientists and physicians.
Students also have the option to participate in UT’s MBA Leadership Coaching Program, which pairs students with business executives to learn new strategies for negotiations, networking, and more.