Can Universities become the Next Gen Startup Garages?

Interesting Argument ain’t it? I often hear people telling “Entrepreneurship can’t be taught inside the closed doors of a classroom”. On the other side I strongly believe that Entrepreneurship can be learnt inside the gates of a university!

Here comes the tricky part. How? You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make one drink. How can I refrain from thinking “leaders are not born but made”?. Colleges like BITS and IITs have started incubation centers, courses, e-cells and started encouraging students to startup but I genuinely doubt how flexible their academic rules can be to encourage entrepreneurship. At the same time one couldn’t stop appreciating such initiatives. Other colleges – I would say Jobs, Placements, Exams, GRE, GATE blah blah are not the only ones students should be encouraged at. How about job creation? “Wake up to the times”.

Entrepreneurs are often termed as self-taught, self-made humans who just need a suitable environment to quickly adapt and evolve. Let’s just look at traditional family business in India, do you believe the business acumen flows in their genes or is it being nurtured? If you believe in the latter perception, I believe you should also believe in entrepreneurship can be nurtured with tons of inspiration (Trust me its infectious) from Success stories and support from the university. Success stories when I say don’t just tell them about Facebook, Google etc. Why not a Redbus, a Flipkart or why not stories from their alumni?

Now the answer to my argument lies in how far a university can go to support entrepreneurship? Can it include few aspects like case studies , business plans etc to drive entrepreneurship? Can it provide suitable networking for aspiring entrepreneurs? Is there a another better way of driving entrepreneurship at university? (Share your perceptions by commenting below)

Entrepreneurship cannot be successfully developed only by the setting up of venture capital funds, incubators or accelerators. I believe people should be nurtured to step up the plate and show me a better place than a university to start with ? Think !!

“The last generation belonged to college drop outs, and who wouldn’t want to hear the next generation belongs to student entrepreneurs “Universities – support , support , support !!!

About the Author – Santosh Yellajosula