Newswise — Babson College’s required first-year course, Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship (FME), has received the Excellence in Curriculum Innovation in Entrepreneurship Award from the Awards Committee for the Deshpande Foundation Symposium on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education.

Babson’s FME course requires all first-year undergraduate students to start and run a business and to donate profits to charity. For more than 20 years, FME has trained teams of student entrepreneurs in the art of conceiving, launching, and managing a company.

FME 2.0, introduced in 2013, requires students to work in smaller teams and receive far more training than ever before in management and teamwork issues. FME 2.0 also expands the learning from the classroom to students’ co-curricular life. When discussing conflict resolution in FME for example, students will work to apply what they have learned to their encounters in the residence halls.

“This award is truly an honor. At Babson, we are all very proud of our faculty and their dedication to innovative curriculum development and renewal,” said Babson President Kerry Healey.

According to Dean Scott Moore, the refined FME places greater emphasis on topics like “Who am I?” in the broader context of society. “Before they can deal with the myriad of issues involved in running a venture, our students must understand the qualities that make up a successful leader, know how to manage group dynamics and run effective meetings, and be confident in their abilities to handle stress,” Moore commented.

The Deshpande Symposium, now in its third year, brings together thought leaders in higher education to discuss and share their knowledge on emerging strategies and practices that encourage innovative and entrepreneurial education, campus culture, and community/business engagement. To further reinforce the three core areas of focus for the Symposium, this year's nominations come from organizations that excel in the following areas:

- Curriculum Innovation in Entrepreneurship- Student Engagement in Entrepreneurship- Technology Commercialization

“We believe the Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship course at Babson College is an outstanding example of a program that would help set the standard for future awardees in Excellence in Curriculum Innovation,” said the Committee. Babson received the award at the Deshpande Symposium on June 12th. For info, visit http://bit.ly/1qwrUQU.

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds™. The College is a dynamic living and learning laboratory, where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society—while at the same time evolving our methods and advancing our programs. We shape the leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to create economic and social value. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. www.babson.edu

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