NX9626 - Undergraduate Consultancy Project

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.

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.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

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)

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.

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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.