I’ve been hearing of more and more university activities that are helping to give students experience and understanding of what being an entrepreneur is and also helping to make it a valid career choice – something we desperately need more of here in Australia.

Of course we also desperately need more activity from our Computer Science and Engineering faculties, but creating the business minds that will hopefully one day partner with the technical minds is a good step in dragging our top students away from the corporates and towards the types of organisations that will really help Australia thrive.

OK… I should probably stop the rant there before it overtakes the article…so onto the news of University-led entrepreneurship activities that I’ve heard of recently…

1. Melbourne University Entrepreneurial Challenge 2009
   On May 21st the MBS Entrepreneurship Club hosted the 10th annual Melbourne University Entrepreneurs’ Challenge Awards Night at Ormond College.
   While not limited to students, there’s a strong focus on them and alumni. Was also great to see Rentoidgrab 2nd place and$10,000 in prizes. Well done to Steve Sammartino and the team.
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2. Sydney University courses in Entrepreneurship
   Sydney University recently hired Massimo Garbuio as a new lecturer in Entrepreneurship for their Faculty of Economics and Business, Discipline of International Business.The course he ran last semester pulled in Entrepreneurs from various fields, including tech startups, and got the students to work closely with those entrepreneurs to understand what the whole process is really like
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3. RMIT Entrepreneurship and Prizes
   Jacqui Teo has was approached by RMIT 4 years ago to be a mentor/business coach to their Entrepreneurship students. These are 3rd/4th year business students that are looking for practical guidance to prepare them from the real world. They submit business plans for their businesses and she judges between 12-20 a year and helps RMIT select the ones which could be real businesses. RMIT awards them prize monies which help them start their business and she continues coaching / helping these young entrepreneurs in aspects such as board management, raising capital, set up etc.
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I’m sure there’s more going on at our universities and other educational institutions (please feel free to add any other activities you know of in the comments), but if these 3 are anything to go by we might soon have a new generation of entrepreneurs ready to hit the streets. The secret now will be guiding them towards tech instead of more traditional Australian endeavours.

Speaking of which, don’t forget BootupCamp is starting this weekend. Last time I heard there were a couple of places left, but check out the details HERE for more info.