The Myth of the Entrepreneurial University

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | February 5, 2020 | Zak Slayback

[karpov]

Politicos and pundits praise American universities for their entrepreneurialism. Founders of tech companies get honorary degrees and give commencement speeches. Student orientations include sessions bragging about the startup resources students have on campus. Schools even create “entrepreneurship” majors and entrepreneurship centers within their business schools.

But how much of that startup acumen is rhetoric and how much is grounded in fact? University marketers and grant-writers rely on people not being able to question their claims here. So long as they can draw some connection between the university and student go-getting, the school will claim some kind of credit. Then, administrators justify new centers, apply for more federal grants, lobby for more public funding, and pour more resources into building their “prestige.”

But compare the entrepreneurial output of universities with the closest alternatives for brilliant young people, and the narrative crumbles.

The Thiel Foundation launched a fellowship program in 2010, backed by PayPal cofounder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. The idea behind the program was simple: Thiel had bet big on brilliant young people like Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook) and Patrick Collison (founder of Stripe, an online payments service). How could he find more people like that?

If one buys into the university administrator narrative, one would expect to trip over Zuckerbergs, Collisons, and smaller-scale successes at elite college. Those campuses, however, focus on attracting major corporations like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Apple, and Google to recruit on campus. Students who would start innovative companies instead get caught up in competing for corporate jobs with their peers. Entrepreneurship takes a backseat to a job with prestige.

Student founders can be seen on those campuses, but they’re the exception, not the rule. The Thiel Fellowship acted as a honeypot for them—about 20 finalists join the program annually.

[corkoman]

Real entrepreneurs never use that word.

Most have to fight against an establishment to get their ideas into the sunlight.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

[glorgau]

Well, MIT. But they are kind of unique.

MIT Startup Exchange for some world changing stuff that is coming out of there. Just one of the numerous programs inside the university.