DePaul University is one of the country’s 10 best academic institutions for entrepreneurship education, according to the annual rankings issued by Entrepreneur magazine and the Princeton Review. DePaul’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, which manages education and outreach programs designed to stimulate the start-up and growth of entrepreneurial firms, also was praised by the magazine for fostering entrepreneurship in Chicago, thus helping the local economy. The rankings appear in the October issue of Entrepreneur, which hits newsstands Sept. 22.

Among the more than 2,300 schools surveyed, DePaul ranked eighth in undergraduate entrepreneurship and ninth in the graduate program category. The programs were evaluated on how well they teach business fundamentals, whether the faculty includes successful entrepreneurs, and the availability of experiential or entrepreneurial opportunities outside the classroom, among other criteria.

Ranked universities are "in an elite category of institutions offering a superlative level of education and preparedness that will play a key role in ensuring the success of tomorrow’s entrepreneurs," the magazine noted in a news release.

DePaul’s high-quality academics and practical focus position students to succeed as entrepreneurs, particularly as the economy improves, said Harold Welsch, Coleman Entrepreneurship Chair at DePaul. "It is an exciting time because we are coming out of a recession and there are many entrepreneurial opportunities on the horizon, after a shake-out period. Interest in entrepreneurial initiatives has never been stronger among students. It’s time for the small gazelles to leap forth."

In the story accompanying the rankings, Entrepreneur profiled 10 universities that excel in fostering entrepreneurship in their communities. DePaul was recognized for the consulting, educational programs and resources offered by its Coleman Entrepreneurship Center.

"In addition to revealing the rankings, we wanted to take it a step further and identify schools fueling their local economies through innovation and job creation," said Amy Cosper, vice president and editor-in-chief at Entrepreneur magazine. "The resulting piece demonstrates that now, more than ever, small businesses are needed to help drive the U.S. economy, magnifying the importance of these programs’ roles in helping entrepreneurs succeed."

Among the most successful of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center’s programs is Blueprint DePaul. This initiative links DePaul students with community entrepreneur networks and mentors students with business ideas through the planning, launch and growth of their own ventures. Raman Chadha, executive director of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, said participation in this program has grown from 18 student entrepreneurs three years ago to more than 120 expected this year. In addition, the center sponsors Launch DePaul, a popular annual new venture competition that awards cash prizes and business start-up services for the most promising venture plans submitted by students and recent alumni.

The center provides peer roundtables and continuing education programs for Chicago-area business owners as well as students at DePaul. It also refers small business owners and community organizations seeking assistance to faculty members who use these organizations’ business challenges as real-life assignments in class. Teams of students work with the organizations to tackle issues that include how to increase sales, improve profitability and analyze the competition.

"We’ve learned from the students that they want as much real-life experience as possible while in college or graduate school," Chadha said. "We give them that through classroom-based consulting projects and extracurricular advising and mentoring for student-entrepreneurs. As they graduate and become alumni, they continue to have access to a wide and deep array of continuing education programs that integrates peer-based and experiential learning."

Founded in 1982, DePaul’s entrepreneurship program offers 14 undergraduate and graduate courses taught by 17 faculty members. The faculty represents a mix of distinguished scholars of entrepreneurship and successful entrepreneurs.

More than 700 students take undergraduate and graduate courses in the program annually. Courses cover business plan development, entrepreneurial strategy and management, new venture financing, business growth, creativity, innovation and technological change, among other topics.

The seventh annual "Best Schools for Entrepreneurs" rankings of the nation’s top 25 undergraduate and top 25 graduate programs for entrepreneurship are available online at www.entrepreneur.com/topcolleges.