Entrepreneurship [Graduate Certificate]

Location(s): Online, In-person/hybrid

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This program enables individuals without undergraduate business degrees to gain sufficient knowledge of entrepreneurial processes. Students will learn how to write a business plan, manage growing ventures, implement innovation within corporations, and start and manage social entrepreneurship. Students will also be able to participate in numerous co-curricular entrepreneurship-related activities.

Online Education Eligibility

The U.S. Federal Government limits the number of online courses international students may enroll in while living in the United States. For this reason, we cannot admit students on F1 or J1 VISAs to fully online programs. Please check with International Admissions to confirm eligibility before applying.
All applicants, please review Online Education for Out-of-State Students to confirm your eligibility to enroll in an online program based in Michigan.

Program Admission

Admit Terms and Deadlines

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis; students may start the program in the Fall or Winter. See Application Deadlines.

Minimum Graduate School Requirements

For full admission, applicants must have 1) Earned a four-year baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or an equivalent degree from a non-U.S. institution, 2) a minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 2.7 on a 4.0 scale, or 3.0 in the last half of the undergraduate program. Conditional admission may be available to applicants not meeting minimum admission requirements.

Program Requirements

This program does not require additional criteria or documents beyond the minimum Graduate School requirements.

Application

Your application will be submitted using BusinessCAS, a Centralized Application Service (CAS) hosted by Liaison. After reviewing the admission requirements, please review the application instructions and select the appropriate application below.

- Go to 2023-2024 BusinessCAS to apply to a program beginning in Summer 2024, Fall 2024, or Winter 2025.

- Go to 2024-2025 BusinessCAS to apply to a program beginning in Summer 2025, Fall 2025, or Winter 2026.

Domestic Applicants Domestic applicants are required to submit only the transcript from the institution granting their bachelor’s degree if either of the following criteria is met: 1) Lists 30 or more credit hours with an overall GPA of 3.0 or over OR 2) Lists 60 or more credit hours with an overall GPA between 2.7 and 2.99. Within the application, follow the instructions to submit an official transcript. The University may ask applicants to submit additional transcripts after applying.

International Applicants Before applying, applicants must review the international application/process deadlines at emich.edu/international as they may differ from general program requirements.

For additional information regarding the application process, please see Graduate Admissions or International Admissions.

Department Information

Management 304 Hill Hall, 734.487.3240

Joy Beatty, PhD, Department Head

Advisor Information

Graduate Programs Office, 102 Hill Hall, 734.487.4444

Degree Requirements: 15 hours

A maximum of three graduate credit hours may be transferred to a College of Business graduate certificate in an area of specialization. Please view the course description for the prerequisite.

Required Courses: 6 hours

Restricted Electives: 9 hours

Choose two courses from Group A and one course from Group B.

Group A
MGMT 503 Corporate Entrepreneurship: Innovation and Technology Commercialization 3 hrs
MGMT 560 Field Studies in Entrepreneurship 3 hrs
MGMT 617 Social Entrepreneurship 3 hrs
MGMT 636 Current Topics in Entrepreneurship 3 hrs
Group B
ACC 501 Accounting Principles 3 hrs
LAW 503 Law, Enterprise and Ethics 3 hrs
LAW 540 Employment Law 3 hrs
MGMT 505 Organizational Theory and Behavior 3 hrs
MGMT 509 Strategic Human Resource Management 3 hrs
MGMT 600 Leading Innovation and Change 3 hrs
MGMT 604 Strategic Communication and Ethical Decision-Making 3 hrs
MKTG 530 E-Commerce Essentials 3 hrs

Critical Graduation Information

Each graduate student is responsible for fulfilling the requirements or their equivalents of the Eastern Michigan University catalog in force at the time of their initial registration or a subsequent catalog, including the one in effect at the time of their graduation.

Graduate Certificate requirements must be completed within three (3) years of first enrollment in a course applicable to the certificate. Dually enrolled students (certificate and master’s program) must complete both degrees within six years of first enrollment in the master’s degree.

In the event a student does not complete the graduate certificate degree requirements within three years of the date of their original registration, the student may be required to have their credits re-evaluated by the academic department(s) of their degree in keeping with catalog requirements in force during the year of their graduation.

The following are the minimum requirements for all graduate certificate degrees awarded by Eastern Michigan University. Some programs require more than the minimum in one or more areas below.

A graduate certificate must require a minimum of 12 credit hours.
No more than six credits of independent study courses and 12 credit hours of special topics and independent study courses combined may be applied to a graduate degree.
Residency Requirement - For students admitted to a graduate certificate program, at least nine graduate hours beginning the semester of acceptance and enrollment into the program must be earned at EMU. Students completing multiple certificate programs must have a minimum of 9 unique credit hours per certificate.
Application of completed certificates toward prior degree credit - Only credits from one completed graduate certificate may be applied to a master’s or specialist degree in a relevant field of study, as determined by the Graduate School and with the approval of the degree-granting academic department, and be included in the residency hours of the master’s program.
The Graduate School does not permit the use of undergraduate courses (499 and below) to meet degree requirements on graduate programs of study.
Students must maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA in all graduate-level courses taken at EMU and in their program of study to remain in good academic standing and be eligible for graduation. Students do not need to be registered for classes during the semester of graduation.