Business School MSc Consultancy Projects: Students Supporting Business or Business Support Students?

Agenda Business School MSc Consultancy Projects The backdrop to growth in consultancy projects The tensions in business education The skills gap The research Student perspective Business perspective A final word

The backdrop to growth in consultancy projects 29% of all final projects are in the form of a field or consultancy project (Rotterdam School of Management, 2013) UK Government challenging the ‘pay back’ to students in terms of future earnings and skills (5 November 2018, BBC) At Nottingham Business School we have been running the Consultancy Module for 15 years and have seen 3500 students engage in projects with local businesses Our employability record is high in the sector, MSc Marketing course scored 92% in 2017. Students at NBS are attracted by our pracitally

MSc Consultancy Projects at Nottingham Business School Consultancy project module Students in teams of 5 to 6 Provided with a pre set brief and problem to address An academic supervisor supports the process A 7 week consultancy process Assessment involves a group presentation, group report, reflective report and academic literature review Local businesses of any type A student Experiential manager finds the briefs and engages and briefs clients on their role Performance on the first two elements of the module tend to be higher than in the last.

Tensions in business education Student Business Skills and knowledge expectations Focus on theory Skills and knowledge expectations Focus on practice University has to connect and align student and business University also has to deliver a ‘liberal’ education

The research and module 12 students recently graduated who had taken the consultancy project module 8 client organisations from a cross section of corporate, small businesses and not for profit organisations A focus group with staff however the interest here is with students and clients

The student perspective

The business perspective Students brought new ideas especially with respect to social and community initiatives for a social housing organisation Confidence in marketing practice for those not skilled in marketing practice – showing knowledge in their subject area Provided an honest view and didn’t just repeat what the client wanted to hear – displaying critical skills A number of clients welcomed the use of theory, but they tended to have either degrees or MBA’s Clients tended to be softer on them recognising their age and experience

Insights from the university perspective Manage expectations with the client (one client disappointed that students hadn’t developed a full segmentation and customer profile – this was an impossible task given the timescales Brief the client on student ability and set expectations especially around the softer skills Establish a brief and sign off process to set expectations and prevent scope creep