For the fourth year in a row, and extending a long tradition of national rankings, DePaul University’s entrepreneurship program has been ranked as one of the nation’s best by a national survey.

TechKnowledge Point Corp. recently released the results of its fourth annual collegiate entrepreneurship program rankings evaluating more than 1,000 schools offering entrepreneurship courses around the country, and DePaul ranked among the nation’s top 26 programs. The rankings, available online at EntrePoint.com, used more than 75 specific program-profile variables, including course offerings, majors, internships, faculty productivity and innovative programs to determine the country’s top programs.

"Staying power is an important criterion in this rapidly growing and evolving field," said Harold P. Welsch, Coleman Foundation chair in entrepreneurship at DePaul and founder of the university’s entrepreneurship program. "So many colleges and universities are committing significant resources to developing their entrepreneurship programs that we have to swim faster to stay ahead."

DePaul was ranked in the second tier of the rankings for national programs. Each tier features 13 universities. Individual school rankings are not given within each tier.

Founded in 1982 at the College of Commerce, DePaul’s entrepreneurship program has grown to encompass 12 undergraduate and graduate courses taught by 16 faculty members. Courses cover business plan development, entrepreneurial strategy, new venture financing, business growth and management, creativity, innovation, and technological change, among other important topics. More than 400 students take courses in the program each year.

The entrepreneurship program at DePaul is buttressed by significant growth of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, which has organized a series of outreach programs designed to stimulate the start-up and growth of small businesses.

"We see a convergence of theory and practice currently in entrepreneurship, so while we have a strong academic program, we are continuing to build hands-on initiatives that complement our offerings," said Raman Chadha, executive director of the center.

The Coleman Entrepreneurship Center offers consulting services, start-your-own-business workshops, business plan competitions, high school outreach programs, an "Angel Investor Academy" and seminars designed for specific stages of a business life cycle. The center is also home to the DePaul Entrepreneurs Association.

"We are at a unique place in history where we are seeing significant changes: political changes, changes in health care, changes in economic development and changes in industries such as automobile manufacturing, computer technology, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and bio-engineering," said Chadha. "These changes all represent new opportunities for entrepreneurs to address."