CLEMSON -- Clemson University has been named one of the Top 100 U.S. Colleges and Universities for Entrepreneurs in the April 2003 issue of Entrepreneur magazine.

More than 700 entrepreneurship programs were researched for the study. Fifty regional institutions and 50 national institutions make up the list. Clemson appears in the list of top 50 regionally recognized academic programs in the country. The magazine's survey also found that Clemson placed third in a ranking of best regional schools according to alumni.

The center of Clemson's entrepreneurial education is the Spiro Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Caron St. John, director of the center, said, "We are very glad our program has received recognition by Entrepreneur magazine. Our program is very new -- so recognition of this type is a surprise. We are particularly pleased that our alumni supported our programs so strongly."

This is the first year the magazine has compiled and published a list of top schools for entrepreneurs. The study was conducted from September to December 2002 by TechKnowledge Point Corp. of Santa Barbara, Calif. Founded in 2001 by David Newton, TechKnowledge Point is the world's first entrepreneurship/business development research and referral exchange.

More than 30 criteria were used in the study, including course offerings, teaching and research faculty, business-community outreaches, research centers and institutes, degrees and certificates offered, and faculty and alumni evaluations. In addition, almost 300 colleges and universities responded to surveys designed to allow program directors, faculty and alumni to rank their own entrepreneurship programs against the competition. The results appear along with the top 100 list in Entrepreneur's April issue.