University of Bradford set to launch new start-up hub as it becomes Britain's AI capital for students

It is also strengthening its ties with local business groups and lenders to support its Accelerated Student Entrepreneurship Programme.

The University of Bradford is home to the largest AI student population in the country following the success of its MSc programme in Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics.

Professor Zahir Irani, deputy vice-chancellor, said: “Bradford became a textiles capital in the first Industrial Revolution and now it is emerging as the destination of choice for AI graduates.

“We want people to bring their great ideas to Bradford and use our ecosystem to study AI and build scalable deep tech businesses.”

The university launched its applied AI and Data Analytics course in 2020 in response to widespread industry skills shortages.

It has won £1.4 million in government funding in total to design and progress the course and offer up to 80 scholarships to the most disadvantaged students.

The programme has attracted backing from 21 industry partners providing in-kind contributions totalling £2.8 million. Scholarship recipients will all gain paid placement opportunities to help them gain work experience whilst offering placement providers an opportunity to recruit new talent.

Delivered by the triple crown-accredited School of Management, the course encourages students to focus on defining and solving problems instead of mathematical optimisation to improve the functioning of complex algorithms.

Programme lead Dr Kamran Mahroof said: “In today’s fast-paced, data-driven, AI-powered world it’s imperative for graduates to understand the potential and limitations of emerging and potentially disruptive technologies.

“Our Applied AI and Data Analytics course does exactly that. We ensure the focus is not just on the tools and techniques, but also on when they should be applied, in a responsible and results-oriented manner.”

Prof Irani is the institutional lead for AI and was instrumental in securing the external funding for course development and student bursaries, which are aimed at people who are underrepresented across the AI sector.

According to latest figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, Bradford had 285 postgraduate enrolments for the course in 2021-22. Applications for the September 2023-24 course closed in January 2023 due to high demand.

Prof Irani added: “Our MSc programme has landed very well with students because we found lots of people who were interested in AI but didn’t have backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and maths.

“We take a very different approach at Bradford, as the software for AI is already here and widely available. Our programme sits within our School of Management and is designed to support students to define and scope problems and to use technology to provide solutions to problems. It has landed very well with employers with many of our AI students being offered jobs before they finish the course.”