The London Interdisciplinary School

New universities aren't built every day, and for good reason: it's no easy feat. In 2018, LIS brought together a group of academics, entrepreneurs and investors to imagine a new kind of institution. Two years later it was born, becoming the first UK university in over 50 years to open with degree-awarding powers, with its first students arriving at its East London campus soon after.

LIS is built on a simple belief: the world's most complex, interconnected problems can't be solved by a single subject. So rather than teach disciplines in isolation, it takes a problems-first approach, drawing on the arts, sciences and humanities and grounding everything in rigorous methods and real-world application. This runs through everything LIS offers, from its undergraduate and master's degrees to its MBA and professional courses. In an interconnected world, those who thrive will be the ones with range, able to take multiple perspectives and spot the next big shift. LIS exists to develop those problem-solvers, ready to work across boundaries and make a real impact.

At LIS, employability isn't bolted on at the end of a degree, it's built into the experience from day one. Across undergraduate, master's, MBA and professional programmes, students work on real briefs set by external organisations, get 1:1 career coaching, and plug into the LIS Network: 200+ organisations, from start-ups to KPMG, John Lewis and the Mayor of London's office. The aim is bigger than a first job. LIS develops the adaptable, interdisciplinary thinkers almost every sector needs, ready for a career that may look different in ten years, even for jobs that don't yet exist. Its graduates go into consulting, tech, finance, government, research and the creative industries and found ventures of their own.