How to keep the next Zuckerberg from dropping out

Should entrepreneurs even bother attending a university, or do the Zuckerbergs of the world prove that college is obsolete when it comes to starting the next big thing in business or technology? While it might be tempting to follow in the footsteps of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates by skipping formal education in favor of jumpstarting a new venture, most entrepreneurs don't enjoy the same success as these exceptional outliers. And you don't have to choose one or the other, says Mitzi M. Montoya, dean of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Arizona State University.

But if universities want to attract and keep entrepreneurs, they must create an environment conducive to the entrepreneurial spirit.

"By investing in the development of their students' entrepreneurial skills, colleges and universities can focus on the value of entrepreneurial thinking as a mindset and skill set that can be applied across disciplines and contexts, from start-ups to multinational corporations to non-profits, education and the government sector," Montoya says.

One way for universities to develop their entrepreneurship education program is to form strategic local partnerships. For example, ASU has partnered with the membership-based DIY facility TechShop, an organization at the forefront of the "maker movement."

"The intent of the partnership is to provide our students with a facility for easy access to prototyping and fabrication equipment. We think of this kind of facility as a 21st-century extension to the library where sophisticated tools and software are added to the collection as new instruments of learning. Of course, students are working on class projects. But they're also exploring and making things for themselves and friends, as well as starting their own businesses," Montoya says.

Mitzi M. Montoya is vice president of Entrepreneurship & Innovation within Knowledge Enterprise Development and university dean for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Arizona State University. She is also a professor in the management department at the W.P. Carey School of Business.