Students who take the Industry Project Studies (IPS) class as part of their Hospitality and Tourism undergraduate degree in the Department of Management have won themselves an impressive range of internships with business.
The IPS class has been designed to give work experience to students in a particular area of work they are interested in, thus giving students the chance to apply knowledge learned in class direct to workplace scenarios and boosting their CVs in the process.
While there are some placements already set up with business organisations – for which students can be interviewed - the majority of students are expected to seek out and obtain an internship or placement with an organisation themselves.
"The objective is for students to source the internship for themselves in order to give them the chance to foster links with industry, to market themselves and win a placement, just as they will have to do when applying for jobs. We want to create an experience as close to that of job-seeking as possible," explained Andrew McLaren of the Department of Management.
Each student has an academic supervisor to guide them as to what will be suitable both for the company and in terms of the internship academically. Throughout the internship, students must keep a reflective diary and at the end they must complete a piece of work, again negotiated with the company and agreed with their supervisor, which might result in a presentation or written report on their observations or research.
The second and third year students have sourced a diverse range of internships, suited to their own particular interests. Eilidh McDonald was successful in winning a placement shadowing the chief marketing officer of Celtic Connections throughout the festival process; Jamie Taylor is evaluating the e-marketing system of a privately-owned chain of bars and hotels, while Laura McAvoy is working with Tesco to look at integrating seasonal change-over throughout the store with minimal impact on customer satisfaction.
Other projects involve working with a new-start promotions company in Germany to develop retail partnerships; analysing how a Glasgow nightclub can increase business on a quiet night by market analysis; and evaluating the marketing strategy of a community project.
The Department of Management has also agreed a working partnership with Hotel Du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens to host students and expose them to aspects of business concerning operations, marketing and business development of the company.
This is in addition to the previously reported established link with Glasgow-based marketing agency DADA, which has formalised links with Strathclyde by offering a variety of placements to students in the IPS class.