Institute x Startup Lab 24 Location
A Tech School Founded by Educators, Innovators, and Visionaries
About Blackstone Institute of Technology (BIT)
Blackstone Institute of Technology is a tech school in Ann Arbor delivering the University of London BSc in Computer Science with the support, mentorship, and community that help students thrive. Your degree is awarded by the University of London; we provide the teaching support and the environment that turns knowledge into real capability.
What makes BIT different is our Product Studio. Students don’t just study—they design, build, and ship real apps, AI tools, IoT prototypes, and games, producing a portfolio employers can actually use and test. Weekly build rhythms, hackathons, and public Demo Days bring recruiters onto campus and keep the work grounded in real audiences and real feedback. We also mentor founders and can introduce investors, with the possibility of seed support for standout ventures.
The degree itself is rigorous and globally respected. Academically directed by Goldsmiths, University of London, the BSc covers core CS foundations and offers specializations in Machine Learning & AI, Physical Computing & IoT, and Games Development—completed in three years rather than four.
Beyond the degree, BIT runs Lab 24—our “vibe coding” accelerator—where coders and non‑coders alike build AI‑powered products with an AI co‑pilot, launch fast in weekly minis, and pitch at a high‑energy Demo Day. It’s a builder’s pathway that fits the entrepreneurial energy of Ann Arbor.
BIT was founded by educator‑innovators Ujala Akram and Irfan Mahmood. Ujala brings deep experience in governance, accreditation, and institution‑building across the U.S. and Pakistan; Irfan brings a technologist’s lens, product instincts, and recognized achievements in digitizing learning. Together, they pair academic credibility with a maker culture.
“This is not the old world of education… This is BIT.”
Irfan Mahmood
Founder, Blackstone School - An Acton Academy
Founder of BIT, is a technologist, innovator, and outspoken proponent of the AI revolution. With a Computer Science background, he has built and led higher-education institutions, served as Senior Business Analyst at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, and received the Coin of Excellence from the U.S. Department of Defense for digitizing curriculum. A serial entrepreneur, he has founded startups and built products like SaveMeTutor to help students excel.
But Irfan’s vision goes further: he is a leading voice for vibe coding and the indie hacker movement. He believes that in today’s AI-driven world, you don’t need coding expertise to build your own thing. With AI as your co-pilot, anyone can become a creator, a founder, a builder of their dream. It’s not just a new way of coding; it’s a new world.
Ujala Akram
Co-founder of BIT
Ujala brings the leadership and credibility of an academic builder. She has founded and run higher education institutions in both the U.S. and Pakistan, including law and business schools that earned international recognition. Her expertise in governance, accreditation, and program-building ensures BIT is not only visionary but academically rigorous and globally credible.
Together, Irfan and Ujala created Blackstone Institute of Technology to deliver the prestigious University of London BSc in Computer Science—a globally recognized British degree—through small classes, immersive labs, and hands-on product studios in AI, IoT, and gaming.
At BIT, students don’t just graduate with a degree. They graduate with a dream built into reality.
This is not the old world of education.
This is the new world of creation.
This is BIT.
