Glasgow Life, Friends of TS Queen Mary (FTSQM) and Maxwell Bruce Ltd worked with the Department of Strategy and Organisation on a postgraduate class called ‘Consulting in Practice’ (CiP). This is a brand new module which provides a real life consultancy experience for the students.
This year Dr Aylin Ates (Class Coordinator and Lecturer), Dr Kathryn Thory (Lecturer) and Linda Buchan (Lecturer) have worked with clients Roddy Donaldson (Managing Director, Maxwell Bruce Ltd), Colin Morris (Commercial Director, Scottish Enterprise), Aidan O’Donnell (ex-SPT Director General), Iain Sim (Founder of FTSQM & Solicitor), Billy Garrett (Head of Sport, Glasgow Life) and Sara Copeland (People Strategy and Resources Manager, Glasgow Life). The student challenge was to pitch their business solutions to a real life client. Participants thoroughly enjoyed researching the client businesses and briefs and meeting the clients.
Roddy Donaldson said, “The final student presentations were of an excellent standard - demonstrating strategic insight, flair and innovative recommendations on how Maxwell Bruce can grow over the next period. It was a great experience for everyone involved."
FTSQM Charity social media account posted that “We are delighted to announce our heritage ship built in 1933 in Glasgow, TS Queen Mary's first educational project. The Charity is working in partnership with SBS on its Consulting in Practice course, for some of the brightest minds from across the globe. The project that the students are working on is to work on the Charity's business case. Last week the students enjoyed a tour of the ship and tomorrow they are going to present their research, in front of our convener and Colin Morris (from Scottish Enterprise). Education is one of the key planks of this project. We are delighted to be partnering with SBS, and we hope it's the start of many similar relationships in different sectors.”
Sara Copeland and Billy Garrett from Glasgow Life commented, “We were delighted to support Glasgow Life's involvement with the CiP programme. The students were fully engaged in the business issue we gave them and provided us with valuable and meaningful insight. The quality of the analysis and presentations was brilliant and we enjoyed seeing the different styles and personalities coming through. In fact, having experienced 'real' consultants pitching recently, all three groups compared very favourably and would certainly have had a call back! A really worthwhile and enjoyable experience so thanks all!”
Student feedback has been equally positive creating a real win-win situation for the local businesses and the university. One MSc student said, “Overall, this class was the best class I had all year – I sincerely think it made me think a lot about what I have learnt – both theoretical and practical - I feel that I grew a lot from this great experience. In the end, I feel that winning the consultancy project boosted my confidence and enhanced my interest in pursuing consulting as the next step in my career.”
The teams celebrated their hard work and success following the client presentations.