The University of Bath has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to become a member of the VIP Consortium, a non-profit alliance established to support and promote the success of Vertically Integrated Projects (VIPs) in colleges and universities worldwide.
The MoU allows the University to share best practices within the consortium and collaborate on the continued evaluation, improvement, and dissemination of the VIP model. It will also gain support and guidance from the consortium to allow for continued development of these programmes.
The University of Bath has been developing Vertically Integrated Projects (VIPs) since 2019/20, allowing students of all levels to take part in applied learning and innovative research on long-term, real-world projects. The University is the first in England to develop VIPs and will build on the success of the initial volunteer projects with the aim of working with academic colleagues to also offer credit bearing VIPs in the future.
Paul Chin, Head of Learning & Teaching, Centre for Learning and Teaching, said:
It has been really exciting for me to see how VIPs have grown from the initial pilot just a few years ago to becoming the first university in England to become a full member of the international VIP Consortium. Through the applied nature of VIPs, academics have partnered with students to make positive changes for local businesses as well as have real impact with local and international communities.