The Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CfIE) at the University of Bristol (UoB) has pioneered a set of world-unique degree programmes since 2016. Referred to as ‘the Innovation programmes’ it comprises 14 UG pathways which combine innovation and entrepreneurship teaching with traditional degrees (e.g. MSc Physics with Innovation, MArts History with Innovation).
These programmes are generating outstanding entrepreneurship and employability outcomes for our graduates. Based on our contact with our graduating students they are starting up at almost ten-times the national UK rate of youth entrepreneurship. Student ventures supported by CfIE have raised in excess of £20M since 2020 and created over 120 jobs.
Using the 21/22 UK Graduate Outcomes data for Graduate Level Jobs and Further Study our CfIE graduates are outperforming the wider institution employability by 14% and outperforming every ‘non-innovation’ version of those traditional programmes, including Computer Science and Business Management.
We believe this is because of the exceptional entrepreneurship, venture-creation, employability, and freelance support we offer both within and beyond our curriculum.
Established in 2016 in response to both student demand for innovative and interdisciplinary programmes and employer interest in skills-focused programmes developing resourceful and entrepreneurial graduates, the CfIE initially offered eleven with innovation degree pathways. Traditional disciplines such as Anthropology, Business Management, Computer Science, History, Psychology, and Theatre each offered a variant programme transforming their 3-year Bachelors programme into a 4-year integrated Masters programme in which ‘Innovation’ content was taught in each of the 4 years as a single cohort; mixing students from those different disciplines into a single classroom and set them collaborative design and entrepreneurship challenges. To the best of our knowledge, this remains a world-unique offering. The programmes have since expanded to 14 combinations and now include Accounting with-, Economics with- and Finance with Innovation.
About the Centre: www.bristol.ac.uk/innovation
