Rady School of Management recently announced its establishment of a new undergraduate minor in entrepreneurship and innovation, which will begin in Fall Quarter 2015.

According to an online press release from April 29, this minor in entrepreneurship and innovation will open up a new pathway to entrepreneurial opportunities that were previously not offered in the UC system.

“Undergraduate students [will be offered] the opportunity to obtain a breadth of understanding of business and entrepreneurship theory, practice and applications,” the press release said. “Students will develop a comprehensive view of innovation and operations of both established businesses and startups, gain hands-on experience through projects and case studies, collaborate with peers to foster leadership and conflict resolution skills and have the opportunity to cultivate and expand their existing business ideas.”

Rady currently offers minors in business and accounting and is now launching its third minor a year after proposing the plan to UCSD and organizing the courses necessary for the minor.

Assistant Dean of Rady School of Management Clark Jordan explained to the UCSD Guardian that he thinks the new minor has a significant value for students who want to pursue entrepreneurial careers.

“Many opportunities for our students may come about by working within a small startup company here in town,” Jordan said. “I think the best way to become an entrepreneur is to learn from an entrepreneur. It’s getting students familiar with the entrepreneurial mindset.” 

With approximately 500 and 1,200 undergraduates enrolled in the accounting and business minors, respectively, Rady offers the two most popular minors at UCSD.

 While Jordan anticipates a similar level of popularity with the new minor, with about 100 undergraduates expected to be enrolled, he explained that the popularity comes from the idea that entrepreneurial skills and knowledge are necessary for many professional jobs in contemporary society.

“We’ve always felt that students [need entrepreneurial skills], regardless of what major they were going to go into,” Jordan said. “In any organization or business, there are certain functional business activities that go on. There are marketing aspects to it, [and] there are financial aspects to it: operational, interpersonal and teaming skills. They are all important.”

Incoming A.S. President Dominick Suvonnasupa, a member of the Undergraduate Investment Society, expressed that the new minor will help students materialize their ideas. 

“I think it’s a huge step in a right direction. Especially with a school like UC San Diego, we [have] so many great ideas in terms of engineering and computer science,” Suvonnasupa said. “I think it’s about time we provided students with business aspects of creating new ventures and pushing their ideas to the next level.”

The minor in entrepreneurship and innovation consists of 28 units, composed of eight units of practicum courses, eight units of electives and 12 units of core courses.