Students take on real-world business problems via Consultancy Project

Postgraduate students on the University of Huddersfield’s Master’s courses in the Business School have been gaining valuable experience of the business world through a Student Consultancy Project.

More than 80 students took part in the module this time, which provides them the opportunity to consult with a real business on a real business problem.

A total of 17 clients from 16 organisations were involved, and the students presented their findings to their business client earlier this month.

They were able to showcase their research, insights and recommendations to support business growth and development, working with a range of businesses in the local area.

The Student Consultancy Project provides valuable experience for Postgraduate students as a dissertation module equivalent for students on one of the University’s Business MSc programmes, including such subject areas as Accounting and Finance, Management, as well as Marketing and Logistics.

They were able to apply theory learned in the classroom to a real-world challenge, while also developing their creativity and professional skills.

Find out more about studying Business at Huddersfield

Gemma Bend, Academic Module Lead on the Student Consultancy Project at the University of Huddersfield, thanked the Stakeholder Engagement Team within the Business School for helping with the recruitment and management of clients and running the two days of presentations.

She commented: “The benefits of the group consultancy programme are that it allows students to work with real businesses with real challenges and some of the core issues that a business might be faced with.

“They are able to put into practice what they're learning from their academic studies, and they can apply it to a real business. It means that they can add something new to their CV and create networks with those businesses as well, which is quite different from an individual research-based project.

“There are also some opportunities for students to really continue working with the clients, and it allows them to see the benefit and the importance of networking.”

Two businesses involved in the Project this year also spoke about how it positively impacted their respective companies.

Nicole Owen, the Head of Finance at Bradford-based garden building brand Powersheds, commented: “I set the students a brief of researching markets within the EU and potentially the US, although we did narrow down the brief as we went through the projects. What I wanted them to do was research our competitors within, for example, Germany and Ireland, and the different products that potential Irish customers or German customers want.

“The project initially was quite a wide scope, but the students did really well to keep on track and keep to the project brief. The students did bring a lot of different ideas to the project - they were essentially like external consultants that you would pay for in the real world.”

Businesses can get involved

Lisa Jagger, Founder and Director of Straight Forward Funding, a small business that supports charities, schools, and social enterprises with grant funding, commented: “I wanted to take part in the student consultancy project because I'm a sole trader and I’ve got so many ideas, but I don't have the time and capacity.

“So, working with this project gave me a team of people to go away and research for me. I had asked them to look at whether there was a problem within our third sector with the emotional resilience of people who are tasked with writing grant applications, and if there was a problem, what might we put in place to help those people?

“The students brought quite a few new ideas and perspectives to the project, and they also consolidated some of the ideas that I had. It was really valuable to get all that information and put it together with my own ideas.”

She added: “I think it's really important for businesses in the local region to work in partnership with student teams because they're the lifeblood of our future.”

The Student Consultancy Project helps businesses to access knowledge and expertise in a range of areas to offset current resource or time limitations. The University matches a small group of Master’s students to an organisation with a consultancy brief set by the company itself.

The students bring diverse skill sets and expertise to scope out the project for their client, undertake research, and report their findings through a report and presentation. Business participation in the project is free.