The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship @ Strathclyde
The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship @ Strathclyde, an integral part of Strathclyde Business School, was founded in 1996 as the Strathclyde Entrepreneurship Initiative to deliver practical, experiential electives to undergraduate students throughout the University. The aim was to teach students how commercial value can be derived from graduate-level knowledge and to give them and insight into the business venture creation and growth process.
In 1999, the Centre launched a Postgraduate Programme in Technology Entrepreneurship for Science and Engineering doctorate students and researchers at the University of Strathclyde and Glasgow University, who were considering starting a technology-based business.
In 2000 the Centre was renamed the 'Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship @ Strathclyde' following a £5million donation from Tom Hunter, one of the most successful and well known entrepreneurs in the UK, and an alumnus of the University. The Hunter Centre's vision is to be a world-class centre of entrepreneurship education, research and outreach. The Centre's mission is three-fold: to increase the entrepreneurial capacity of the University of Strathclyde's students, staff and alumni; to lead in entrepreneurship research in Scotland, and to promote entrepreneurship as a career and a profession.
Currently the Hunter Centre teaches over a thousand students a year. It is now recognised as one of the largest, most successful university centres of entrepreneurship in the UK and Europe, and attracts visiting fact-finding delegations from all over the world. In 2004, it hosted the world's premier entrepreneurship research conference, the Babson-Kauffman Entrepreneurship Research Conference. Hunter Centre staff currently engage in collaborative research with colleagues in leading schools worldwide, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Dr Sarah Cooper), London Business School and Imperial College London (Dr Jonathan Levie). The current head of department, Professor Colin Mason, is a world-recognised expert in Business Angel and Venture Capital. With over 150 published papers to his name, he is the founding editor of "Venture Capital: A Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance."
The Hunter Centre's range of courses has expanded to include 16 undergraduate electives, an MSc in Technology Entrepreneurship, and 12 Masters level electives offered throughout the University. The subjects range from 'venture creation' to 'entrepreneurial finance' and 'social entrepreneurship' to 'personal effectiveness for entrepreneurs'.
In September 2007, the Hunter Centre welcomed its first students to its newly approved undergraduate Batchelor of Arts degree in Business Enterprise.
Ranjit Gajendra
General Manager
University of Strathclyde Business School UAE.
PO Box 16062
Dubai
UAE
OFFICE: +9714 2089 282
TEL: +971 50 451 3455
EMAIL: ranjit@gsb.strath.ac.uk