NX9626 - Undergraduate Consultancy Project

What will I learn on this module?

The module aims to provide you with an opportunity to integrate the knowledge acquired during the programme and apply this to a consultancy project for a real organisation. This consultancy project provides a vehicle for participants to develop and demonstrate key employability skills, to relate theory to practice, and to undertake a significant piece of assessed work commensurate with a capstone module.

You will work on behalf of an external organisation, which has identified a business problem or question, requiring a solution, working in small group of typically 4 individuals (you will select their own team members), participating in group and individual activities. The host organisation will provide a project briefing, and review; students will be supported by appropriate academic input and guidance from Newcastle Business School in the form of a mentor and via the Business Clinic.

How will I learn on this module?

The one-hour weekly lectures during the first semester will provide you with a theoretical underpinning of the module content, supported by one hour weekly workshops which will give you an opportunity to practice the various professional techniques, allowing you to build up a proficiency in:

• Problem solving in a real life situation
• Analysing data
• Understanding the needs and the wants of the client
• Professional report writing
• Professional presentation
• Team work
• Leadership skills
• The use of project management tools


There will be a number of additional training activities including a one day UG Consultancy Skills Development Day (created and delivered to you by a professional external supplier) designed to improve your ability to work in a professional way and develop the skills to understand and provide solutions to current business issues. The module has a supporting reading list that provides you with an opportunity to see how the various consultancy techniques are applied to further commercial research-based problems.

Your directed study will support the work you have undertaken in the contact sessions. You will be expected to keep up-to-date with your project tasks. To aid with self-assessment portal is made available to expand on the experiential learning through, journals, development of project meetings etc.
Independent learning time is set aside for learning activities, self-identified by your group to gain a deeper and broader knowledge of the problem set by your client.
The problem solving nature of the workshops means that tutor (formative) feedback will be received continuously. Solutions to both workshops and directed learning activity alongside a number of quizzes on the e-learning portal to test module knowledge provide formative assessment.

How will I be supported academically on this module?

Support will be provided to you by a number of academic staff leading the module and providing the lectures and workshop input. Workshop is delivered in groups, typically based on study programme cohorts, so you will learn alongside fellow members from your particular module. In your second semester the workshops will be devoted to providing appropriate supervision / mentoring / coaching to enable you to deliver a high quality consultancy report and client presentation. Some workshop sessions will focus on the Part B of assessment; providing individual advice and guidance,

Your module is supported by an e-learning portal, which houses lecture materials, alongside other electronic support facilities such as indicated above.

You will be provided with a wide-ranging reading list that comprises of various academic and journal articles that showcase the application of various consultancy techniques presented in the module.

The module assessment consists of two parts, Part A the report writing / client presentation and Part B the individual part focusing on a literature review and reflective learning statement. This will encourage your active participation in the learning process throughout semester one and two. The eLearning portal will be used to permanently host the assessment information as well as delivery and learning output, release to ensure that you can access the information required at all times. Your work on these tasks will be presented at the end of the module.

What will I be expected to read on this module?

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

What will I be expected to achieve?

Knowledge & Understanding:
• Critically apply contemporary knowledge of theory, research and professional practice, by undertaking a professional piece of work under real life conditions. (MLO1)
• Apply and critically evaluate appropriate concepts, theories and models to address the client brief, providing appropriate and practical problem solutions. (MLO2)

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
• Apply and critically assess key employability capabilities, including communication and team working. (MLO3)
• Critically reflect and asses your personal role and development within a team environment. (MLO4)
• Critique your personal development in the context of transferring your consultancy experiences into a future professional or academic setting. (MLO5)


Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

• Critically assess both group and individual contribution to project work set in a commercial or entrepreneurial environment. (MLO6)
• Develop and critically evaluate your ethical awareness, understanding and application in the context of working with an organisation and implementing appropriate research and consulting practices. (MLO7)
• Develop and critically assess your creativity and critical thinking skills from the context of meeting expectations set by the commercial world and the workplace. (MLO8)

How will I be assessed?

Formative assessment / feedback is an integral part of the learning and teaching strategy for this module. The formative assessment is provided on a continuous basis during the practical sessions; including the UG Skills Development Day (by the external management development professionals), the practical classes / workshops (Business Clinic tutors / coaches) and the studio workshops hours (feedback will be available on issues the students are working on). The formative assessment is embedded in the support provided to the students as they are work on their group Consultancy Project Brief to ensure a successful high quality report and presentation. Formative assessment / feedback is also provided on an individual basis to students for their literature review and reflective statement in their weekly sessions.

The identified categories of:
• The Knowledge & Understanding
• Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities
• Personal Value Attributes

Are embedded in the module assessment as detailed below.

The module will be assessed via:-
• A group consultancy report (5,000 words) client presentation worth 60% of the overall grade. This will involve application and critical evaluation of knowledge developed through your degree programme to a complex organisational problem to provide a client with a solution that is justifiable, sustainable and responsible. This addresses MLOs 3, 6 and 7.

• An individual assignment (worth 40%) comprising of a critical literature review (3,000 words) and a critical reflective learning statement (2,000 words); based on key graduate employability skills and ethical issues related to the client project. This addresses MLOs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8.
Full and detailed guidance will be given on each of these components. The eLP will be used to permanently host this detailed guidance, also a copy of the marking criteria, to ensure that students can access it throughout the process.

Pre-requisite(s)

None

Co-requisite(s)

None

Module abstract

The Undergraduate Consultancy Project is innovative; the aim of the module is to provide an understanding of consultancy from the perspective of both the client and the consultant. The students will be working very closely with an external organisation on a real “live” project in order to develop the skills needed to perform the consultancy task. The associated specific aim(s), objectives and learning outcomes will be unique to each firm.

The groups of participants will meet and discuss with external organisation regarding their business model and the needs of the project in order to successfully plan and implement the live consultancy project. The groups will then produce a project plan clearly stating aims and the objectives, whilst identifying the suitable methodologies and timescales. The final project will have to be agreed with the academic supervisor and external organisation. Working closely the firms will structure and shape the project using the appropriate tools and techniques to solve the challenges of the live project. The firms will then present their implementation plan with recommendations to the external organisation.

Course info

UCAS Code N805

Credits 40

Level of Study Undergraduate

Mode of Study 3 years full-time or 4 year sandwich

Department Newcastle Business School

Location City Campus, Northumbria University

City Newcastle

Start September 2024 or September 2025

Fee Information

Module Information

All information is accurate at the time of sharing.

Full time Courses starting in 2023 are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but may include elements of online learning. We continue to monitor government and local authority guidance in relation to Covid-19 and we are ready and able to flex accordingly to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff.

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with additional restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors, potentially to a full online offer, should further restrictions be deemed necessary in future. Our online activity will be delivered through Blackboard Ultra, enabling collaboration, connection and engagement with materials and people.

 

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