Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Top-Tier Tech Degree Is Not Business Silver Bullet
8/6/2007
A degree from a top-tier university does not confer a greater probability of success in high-tech entrepreneurship than a degree from a mid-range university, according to a recent study of immigrants who took degrees in the United States and went on to found high tech firms.The study by the Kauffman Foundation and reported by Investors Business Daily was based on interviews with 144 Indian, Chinese, and Taiwanese immigrant company founders and surveys of 1,572 companies in 11 tech centers across the country.
A high-tech entrepreneur's length of study and area of study is a much greater factor of success, according to the study. "It doesn't matter which university you get your degree at," Vivek Wadhwa, the study's lead author, told IBD. "What matters is the level and the field of education."
The survey found that more than half of the immigrant founders of high-tech firms (53 percent) earned their highest degrees from U.S. universities. But no top-tier university in the United States or abroad got particular credit for producing tech entrepreneurs.
"From the U.S. perspective, MIT and Stanford didn't have any advantage in developing successful entrepreneurs over some small university in the Midwest," Wadhwa told the IBD.
But the trend also holds true for other world high-tech hotbeds. In India, where it is assumed most-high tech entrepreneurs pass through Bangalore's famed India Institute of Technology, the survey found that the IIT graduated only 15 percent of Indian tech company founders.
Read More:
Paul McCloskey is a contributing editor for the Campus Technology group of publications.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- California Community Colleges Partner with Waterfall Mobile on Statewide Emergency Notification Coverage
The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) has awarded a statewide emergency alert notification contract to Waterfall Mobile. The contract establishes Waterfall's AlertU as an approved technology through the official non-profit foundation for the California Community College (CCC) system office. Through this partnership, individual colleges may directly implement emergency communication services, eliminating lengthy technology evaluation and RFP processes.
- King's College and ASU Add e2Campus for Improved Emergency Notifications
King's College and Arizona State University have switched to Omnilert's e2Campus for emergency notification. Omnilert also has introduced a new program called the ENS Conversion Service that allows schools to bulk upload data from their previous emergency notification system into e2Campus at no charge.
- Saint Joseph Builds Out Wireless Network in Multi-year Upgrade
Saint Joseph's University has begun deploying a Meru Networks wireless local area network across its Philadelphia campus as part of a multi-year effort to bring wireless coverage to every building on campus.
- Vista Ramp Up Is Happening Now, Study Says
Organizations may have been slow to adopt Microsoft Windows Vista, but expect that to change by late 2008 to 2009, according to a Forrester Research report by Benjamin Gray et al., published last week.
- Talisma Launches New Version of CRM with Built-in Application Management
Talisma Corp. announced version 8.0 of its constituent relationship management (CRM) application for higher education. The new release includes application management, a revamped user interface, two-way text messaging, personalized Web portals, and an ADA-compliant Web client, among other enhancements.
- Bringing Composers into Classrooms Through Skype
Two Pennsylvania teaching colleagues with an interest in music and technology are bringing remote experts into classrooms at almost no cost, using Skype's free videoconferencing technology.
