The stakes are higher for business students at Wayne State University who will have a chance to get real-world experience managing a $2 million investment portfolio.

The Kresge Foundation is providing funds for the portfolio management class under its $3.8 billion endowment as part of efforts to create a pipeline for students to investing careers, the Detroit university announced Thursday. The money was earmarked to give undergraduates in the Mike Ilitch School of Business investment experience and prepare them for careers in that field.

"This helps raise the profile of the finance program," said Steven Townsend, director of marketing and communications at the business school. "We can recruit more high-quality students and more high-quality companies can come recruit the students."

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp contributed the initial $100,000 in investments that helped launch the class in 2015. The investment pool gets passed down to the next class each semester.

The class will select and monitor performance of a portfolio of stocks and are asked to make buy, sell and hold recommendations to Kresge, according to a news release. An advisory board that includes two foundation representatives will oversee the program. The Kresge advisers will also serve as guest lecturers to offer insight into asset management.

All stock transactions will be handled by a member of the foundation's investment team, the release said.

"By exposing students to a broader range of investment roles, we are optimistic that we will be able to retain our locally-trained talent — who typically head to New York City for their first professional experience — to explore and fill the many rewarding job opportunities that exist within metro Detroit's public, private business and philanthropic sectors," Kresge Vice President and Chief Investment officer Rob Manilla said in the release.

Brandon Tasco will lead the portfolio management class, which was created in 2015, out of the new business school facility that is nearing the end of construction near Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit. Tasco is a part-time faculty member in finance and is a part of the investment team at Detroit-based DTE Energy Co. The class will make use of the new finance and data analytics lab in the new building, which also received support from Kresge.

"The challenging curriculum will combine the very best blend of investment and portfolio management theory with the experience of working as a member of an investment team," Robert Forsythe, dean of the Mike Ilitch School of Business, said in the release.

Dearborn-based Ford Motor Co. and Southfield-based Lear Corp. also provided support to purchase Bloomberg terminals for students to do stock pitch research in the course, Townsend said.

In addition to Kresge, the advisory board includes representatives from Fifth Third Bank, Comerica Bank and Wayne State, among others, according to Townsend.