Studies have attempted to explain the linkage between achieving success in the field of entrepreneurship and the pedagogy instituted to teach the skills entrepreneurs need to achieve success in their chosen endeavors. It is widely known and well documented that people have experienced entrepreneurial success with limited, and sometimes no formal entrepreneurial training. The ever present question of “can entrepreneurship be taught” has been debated from many varying perspectives. The late Peter Drucker pragmatically once said “The entrepreneur mystique? It’s not magic, it’s not mysterious, and it has nothing to do with the genes. It’s a discipline. And, like any discipline, it can be learned” (Drucker, 1985). A study conducted by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity recently determined that almost half of Americans with college degrees are overqualified for their jobs. Many studies have also concluded that college graduates accumulate greater lifetime earnings than non-college graduates. Yet the escalating costs of attending college and the diminishing prospects of job security after attaining a college degree have brought the cost of education to the precipice of a potential “education bubble”. Student loan debt exceeds One Trillion Dollars and the typical student loan needs to be repaid over ten years at nearly seven percent interest. Similar to the recently experienced “housing bubble” there is a genuine concern, as it relates to education, that today’s populace is paying too much for something that yields limited value. Therefore, the question of “can entrepreneurship be taught” should be supplanted with “can entrepreneurship be learned?” “Are graduates capable of applying their academic training to produce tangible results?” If there are too many academic degrees being generated that are unable to be absorbed into a stagnant job market, it would stand to reason that a college degree, from a business school iv or any co-curricular discipline, without significant concentration in the study of entrepreneurship, serves only a limited purpose in a growing, capitalistic society that is predicated on job growth. Centers for entrepreneurship provide an excellent foundation for invigorating new college graduates from multiple academic disciplines with the motivation and desire to achieve success in business as entrepreneurs. This comparative analysis of two thriving and vibrant Centers for Entrepreneurship at major universities in the growing central Florida region examines their best practices and compares them to current national guidelines established by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers, a 200 + member organization domiciled in the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana that serves as the key junction for university-based entrepreneurship centers across the United States to collaborate, communicate and jointly advance excellence in entrepreneurship (www.globalentrepreneurshipconsortium.org). The evaluator and author of this dissertation implemented procedures similar to those used in accreditation reviews and applied professional judgment techniques to design a connoisseurship evaluation of entrepreneurship centers at two major universities --- The Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL and The Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL. We have all heard the Horatio Alger “rags to riches” stories of entrepreneurs who “bootstrapped” their business ideas without benefit of any formal business or entrepreneurial education. But it is just as great a likelihood in the coming years that we will admire those who give the credit for their success to the concepts they mastered in an entrepreneurial studies program and how their alma maters provided mentors through their centers for entrepreneurship who saved them from committing an abundance of mistakes by trial and error as they transported v their business ideas from conceptualization to realization. This research will assist centers of entrepreneurship as they strive to incorporate standards of excellence to benefit students who endeavor to become business and job creators in the future.

Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa e à Inovação Tecnológica do Estado de Sergipe - FAPITEC/SE / Entrepreneurship is the process of creating innovative and creative business or projects with high added value for the economy. The uses of entrepreneurial practices within universities are one way for the scientific community to transform the knowledge generated by these teaching and research institutions into technology that is effectively transferable to the market. Protection of Intellectual Property – IP by universities converges with the current focus of the academy to encourage entrepreneurship among students. The Entrepreneurship Centers – ECs offers multiservice (business plan competitions, internships, student clubs, distance education, seminars and workshops) for students, teachers and the community in general, functioning as promoters of Entrepreneurial Education – EE and supporting the creation companies. This study aimed to characterize the ECs and its relation with IP. The study was characterized as quantitative, exploratory and descriptive, the research strategy used was the mixed method with cross survey and documental research. Data were collected through online questionnaires with directors of centers and document research at the National Institute of Industrial Property - NIIP site. The results refer to the characteristics of ECs: the location of the centers is concentrated in the Southeast in the Brazil, the year of foundation varied between 2004 and 2016, the number of employees is 1-26 and the main sources of funds are the own Instituition Higher Education - IHE, course revenue, partnership-based networking and sponsorship. As for the activities of IHE directly related to ECs, the entrepreneurship subjects ranged from 1 to 42, research groups 1-3 and students clubs from 1-3. In relation to the transfer activities technology and incubation concentrated in the Midwest and Southeast in the Brazil. The research in the INPI on IP universities and faculties that have ECs, we obtained the following data: industrial design (34), trademarks (156), software registration (237) and patent (1.171). / Empreendedorismo é o processo de criação de negócios ou projetos inovadores e criativos com alto valor agregado para a economia. As utilizações de práticas empreendedoras dentro das universidades são uma das formas de a comunidade científica transformar o conhecimento gerado por essas instituições de ensino e pesquisa em tecnologia efetivamente transferível para o mercado. A proteção da Propriedade Intelectual – PI por universidades converge com o atual foco da academia em estimular o empreendedorismo nos alunos. Os Centros de Empreendedorismo – CEs oferecem multisserviços (competições de planos de negócios, estágios, clubes de estudantes, educação a distância, seminários e workshops) para alunos, professores e comunidade em geral, funcionando como promotores da Educação Empreendedora – EE e apoiando na criação de empresas. O presente estudo teve como objetivo geral caracterizar os CEs e sua relação com a PI. O estudo foi caracterizado como quantitativo, exploratório e descritivo, a estratégia de pesquisa utilizada foi o método misto com survey transversal e pesquisa documental. Os dados foram coletados por meio de questionário on-line com os diretores dos centros e pesquisa de documentos no site do Instituto Nacional de Propriedade Industrial - INPI. Os resultados referem-se as características dos CEs: a localização dos centros concentra-se na região Sudeste do Brasil, os anos de fundação variaram entre 2004 e 2016, a quantidade de funcionários é de 1 a 26 e as principais fontes de recursos financeiros são a própria Instituição de Ensino Superior – IES, receita de curso, parceria baseada em networking e patrocínio. Quanto às atividades das IES diretamente relacionadas aos CEs, tem-se disciplinas de empreendedorismo variaram de 1 a 42, os grupos de pesquisa de 1 a 3 e os clubes de estudantes de 1 a 3. Em relação às atividades de transferência de tecnologia e incubação concentraram-se nas regiões Centro-Oeste e Sudeste do Brasil. Quanto a pesquisa no INPI sobre PI das universidades e faculdades que possuem CEs, obteve-se os seguintes dados: desenho industrial (34), marca (156), registro de software (237) e patente (1.171).