Correspondence: Joerg Kistler, School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, 1st Floor, Lippincott Cottage, 3 Symonds Street, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. E-mail: j.kistler@auckland.ac.nz

¹is Director of the Master's of Bioscience Enterprise Programme at the University of Cambridge and holds a PhD in Parasitology.

²is Professor of Cellular and Molecular Biology and Director of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland.

³is Professor of Biotechnology and Director of the Institute for Biotechnology at the University of Cambridge.

⁴is Foundation Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland Business School.

⁵holds an MBA and PhD (Molecular Microbiology) and is Director of the Bioscience Enterprise Programme at the University of Auckland.

⁶is Commercial Director of University of Auckland Developments Limited.

Received 4 November 2008; Revised 4 November 2008; Published online 17 December 2008.

Abstract

Leading universities around the world are addressing the demand for science-business-skilled professionals with a variety of novel programmes. The University of Cambridge (the United Kingdom) and University of Auckland (New Zealand) have each developed a Master's in Bioscience Enterprise programme providing specialist business and legal skills relevant to employment in the bio-economy. The biotechnology contexts in which these programmes were developed are significantly different and are reflected in the internship choices, thesis topics and postgraduate employment opportunities. In each case, industry feedback has been excellent to date as evidenced by the increasing engagements of companies in these programmes.