remote consulting projects: DELIVERING A BETTER EXPERIENCE?
NAOMI LOVE, Careers and External Engagement Adviser at the University of Bath School of Management, outlines the impact of Covid-19 on the delivery of MSc summer consulting projects. Here, she reflects on the changes and adaptations made to the programme, stakeholder engagement with the new offer, and the lessons learned to inform future delivery.
One of the reasons students choose Bath School of Management
RISK MANAGEMENT
for their master’s programme is the opportunity to undertake practical experience as part of their MSc. An alternative to the dissertation, students complete two group projects (one corporate, one charity) and a reflective essay (collectively known as Practice Track), putting their academic knowledge into practice on real business challenges and gaining valuable experience. Over 200 students opt to take part annually. We source around 15 multinational and medium-sized companies as corporate project providers, and 20 local charities.
Students traditionally view Practice Track as a riskier option than the dissertation due to the proportion of group work and weighting when calculating the final grade. With eight courses involved, groups can include students from across the School. Combining this with remote working was a concern; students, who may not know each other, navigating the challenges of remote group work. We reviewed the groups, allowing for a maximum eight-hour time difference between
When lockdown hit in March, we were on the cusp of launching our 2020 projects; group allocations were ready to be announced and the first client event was just a week away. As an assessed part of the programme, cancelling was not an option; we had to quickly adapt to deliver the projects remotely.
participants, with a minimum of two students from a similar time zone. We worked hard to ensure there was some overlap of the working day amongst participants and that there were no individual outliers; this was a crucial element of reducing team friction.
We offered live online information sessions about how remote
FLEXIBLE DELIVERY
delivery would run, using students’ questions to develop comprehensive FAQs on areas of concern. Despite giving students the option of switching back to the dissertation at the
With 80% of the cohort international students, representing 32 different nationalities, circumstances dictated that they could now
end of March (at the height of pandemic uncertainty), we were heartened that 70% remained.
complete their course from anywhere in the world; project providers would also be mostly working from home. We needed to deliver a programme that enabled everyone to participate fully and flexibly. Bound by the learning outcomes of the module, we had some flexibility to adjust the delivery methods and student outputs, but we also needed to maintain the quality. With students working remotely from each other and the general disruption
The experience has given us a valuable insight into how we can prepare our wider cohort
surrounding Covid-19, how could we best prepare them to meet the high expectations of participating companies?
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for starting work remotely