The deadline to apply for the Startup Semester Spring 2018 cohort is October 15, 2017
The Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology welcomes the first-ever class of students participating in the fall 2017 Startup Semester, an exclusive program providing international students with the opportunity to take entrepreneurship courses at UC Berkeley and work on startup projects.
In addition to gaining access to SCET courses like the highly-regarded A. Richard Newton Lecture Series and Challenge Labs, students and professors will also be able to meet esteemed faculty and industry leaders in Berkeley and the Bay Area. Transferrable credit can be offered through the hosting university. If you are interested in expanding your knowledge on technology and entrepreneurship, advancing a startup idea, or experiencing the startup culture of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, apply for the Spring 2018 Global Startup Semester! Applications are due October 15th, 2017.
For this fall, the Sutardja Center is hosting students from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (Korea), The Hague University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), Pontifical Catholic University (Chile), Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Germany), and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong). Likewise, the Center will also be hosting professors from PhilDev (Philippines).
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC), which is a proud global partner of the Sutardja Center, has sent five students to participate in the program. One of the students is Nicholas Chacoff, who said that his time here in Berkeley has given him the opportunity to meet different people from different parts of the world.
“I wanted to learn more about entrepreneurship; I don’t want to follow a conventional path at home, but rather, come to Berkeley to learn the Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship so that I can create my own path and search for more opportunities to work with people,” Nicholas added.
The Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev), another global partner of the SCET, brought three professors to audit UC Berkeley entrepreneurship courses. Kevin Yaptenco, one of the professors from PhilDev, remarks, “Although the course load is tough, we are gaining an incredible amount of knowledge on the Berkeley Method and we will surely bring this knowledge back to the Philippines.”
Andre Reggiani, a student from the global partner school Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG Brazil), came to Berkeley to help learn from the area’s hardware-based startups to develop his own startup, BrainYT.
Andre discusses how much he loves the Startup Semester curriculum, adding that “I love the mindset of Berkeley students. Everyone is concerned about changing the status quo and what legacy they want to leave. I think that is what’s going to lead to great entrepreneurs and great solutions.”
Lastly, Jordan Langenberg from The Hague University of Applied Sciences is also a visiting student. Jordan is a fourth-year student at The Hague studying Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. Throughout the semester, Jordan has been immersing himself in SCET course as well as working on his startup.
“Come to Berkeley without a plan,” Langenberg said. “Berkeley can surprise you in so many different ways and you should just see what happens and let things go naturally because plans can really limit you.”