Purdue University is a coeducational, state-assisted system in Indiana. Founded in 1869 and named after benefactor John Purdue, the University is one of the nation's leading research institutions, with a reputation for excellent and affordable education. Building upon historical strengths in engineering and agriculture, the West Lafayette Campus now offers 7,400 courses in more than 500 undergraduate majors and specializations in the colleges of Agriculture; Consumer and Family Sciences, Education; Engineering, Health Sciences; Liberal Arts; , Nursing, Pharmacy and Pharmacal Sciences; Science; and Technology, and the schools of Management and Veterinary Medicine. Programs of graduate study and research leading to advanced degrees come under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School.

In 2001, Purdue announced plans for Discovery Park, a complex for advanced interdisciplinary research and education. Discovery Park houses the Birck Nanotechnology Center, the Bindley Bioscience Center, the e-Enterprise Center, the Discovery Learning Center, and the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurship center, which is directed by Krannert Dean and Leeds Professor of Management Rick Cosier, exists to nurture the entrepreneurial nature of Purdue faculty and students. The Center is home to:

• The New Ventures Laboratory (NVL), which allows students to work on a variety of real-life business start-up cases. The NVL will arrange and sponsor visits to campus from practicing entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and other relevant experts. Students will be formed into project teams that will serve as a consulting mechanism for an actual start-up company or a venture funding organization.
• Engineering Projects in Community Service Program (EPICS), a socially relevant, hands-on project that creates partnerships between teams of Purdue students and not-for-profit organizations in the Lafayette area. The multidisciplinary student teams work closely with their partner organizations to identify and solve the technical problems faced by these organizations. Among EPICS projects are electro-mechanical toys that encourage very young, physically disabled children to develop their motor skills; RF and Infrared controlled locks and/or lockers for disabled students in local middle- and high-schools; and client-server software that enables a number of agencies that serve the homeless to better coordinate their services.
• Technology Transfer Initiative (TTi), a multidisciplinary program that serves as a catalyst in promoting educational activities and programs on innovation and technology transfer. A key program within TTi is the Innovation Realization Lab (IRL), which matches MBA students from the Krannert School of Management with doctoral students from Purdue's colleges of Agriculture, Science, and Engineering in teams to analyze the commercial potential of the doctoral students' research. This NSF-funded program spans two years and includes required courses taken by the teams.
• The Burton D. Morgan Entrepreneurial Competition, which allows Purdue students, often under the supervision of faculty, to demonstrate their ideas for new products and services that could be developed into profitable businesses. Students compete for prize money of $100,000, and the top teams receive space in the Purdue Research Park. Several past competition winners have begun successful companies, adding high-paying jobs to the Lafayette community. The Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, in conjunction with Roche Diagnostics, also conducts the Purdue Life Sciences Business Plan Competition. Teams from around the country submit commercially viable business plan entries for innovative products and services in the life sciences industry, such as medical equipment and devices, pharmaceuticals and drugs, research services, and software. A total of $147,000 in prize money is awarded, including $20,000 to the top-finishing Indiana team. With support from the Lilly Endowment, the Center also helped conduct three regional business plan contests, in West Lafayette, Fort Wayne, and Hammond. A total of $150,000 was awarded in the three Opportunity for Indiana competitions.

  Through the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, students also have the opportunity to participate in independent study entrepreneurship projects, many of which involve Indiana companies.