Big Four Firm Ernst & Young has given Bentley University a $400,000 grant to revamp the school’s accountancy and finance curriculum.
The grant, from the Ernst & Young Foundation’s University Fund, will support the Continuous Curriculum Innovation Initiative beginning in the fall of 2009. Bentley created the new curriculum model to address a decline in the number of promising students choosing to pursue accounting/finance degrees.
The funds are earmarked for new course materials, accounting resource technology, and an accounting lab assistant program for exceptional students.
The award also includes a matching funds provision from Bentley alumni at Ernst & Young, which could bring the grant value to $515,000. Bentley faculty will collaborate closely with Ernst & Young executives to present many elements of the curriculum.
Bentley received the grant as a part of a national competitive process.
Other schools receiving E&Y grants were: Indiana University; North Carolina State University; University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business; and Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma.