The University’s strategy is clear. We aim to be a leading university in creativity, culture and enterprise.

At 12%, we have twice the national average of graduates in self-employment and for some of our courses it can be as high as 66%! But how do we go about supporting our students to develop the skills and attributes to become entrepreneurial?

Bath Sparks is our support programme designed to help our students, staff and graduates create, share, develop and unleash their entrepreneurial ideas and ventures. The programme offers start-up grant funds, one-to-one advice, workshops, links to professional networks, and valuable exposure.

We are keen to enlist supporters who are willing to support in-kind and through cash sponsorship. All the money raised goes direct to students in the form of grants and packages to support their ideas. In-kind sponsorship might be expert advice, mentoring, office space, professional development programmes, resources, or even services that would support a start-up business.

Sponsorship support

Cash prizes

All cash sponsorship is delivered direct to successful challenge applicants and can be structured in different ways:

  • <£500 would be attributed to a specific challenge pot and you’d be credited as one of the sponsors of that challenge
  • >£500 would not only be attributed and credited but we’d invite you to help us judge that challenge and we could badge the award exclusively for you
In-kind support

In-kind support is also welcomed and in the past we have received packages of:

  • professional support (such as legal or financial expertise)
  • training and development support (such as masterclasses and coaching)
  • resources (such as workspace, books or software)
  • or memberships (such as professional network memberships for a limited time period)
Discounts

We would discourage offering discounts as prizes and prefer fully-paid-for offers of support. 

Further suggestions

We’re open to further suggestions, but the offers must be appropriate to very early-stage entrepreneurs and have a clear and unambiguous value to the recipient. Whilst all sponsorship is acknowledged and credited, we highlight specific prize packages over the value of £500 within the competition PR.

Please contact careers@bathspa.ac.uk with bathsparks in the subject line if you would like to help us unleash the next generation of creative professionals in Bath and beyond.