Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/58915
Consultancy Project A global student consultancy can open students' eyes to challenges businesses face in other parts of the world—and sometimes change everything they thought they knew about business. by Tricia Bisoux The Global At a time when business educators are looking for ways to integrate both global perspective and hands-on learning into their pro- grams, some schools have found a way to accomplish both objec- tives in one fell swoop: the global student consultancy. Schools with global consultancy projects often count them among their most well-received and worthwhile programs. Even so, the global consultancy is still a relative rarity on b-school campuses. This may well have to do with the level of time, effort, and resources necessary to run these programs. Project coordinators must search the globe—literally—for clients with suitable projects and resources. Then, they must establish funding through client fees, school grants, private donations, or student contributions; select par- ticipants from a large number of applicants; and integrate on-campus coursework with travel to the destination country. Three schools on the U.S. East Coast and one in the United Kingdom are among those that have established track records with their global consultancy programs. These include the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management in Cambridge; Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Management in Hanover, New Hampshire; Yale University's School of Management in New Haven, Connecticut; and the Manchester Business School in the United Kingdom. The most effective global consultancy projects strike just the right balance, say the directors of these programs. They must be large enough to present a challenge to their students and small enough to be tackled within a few weeks. More important, clients must deliver worthwhile educational experiences to students, and students must deliver solutions that will make their clients' businesses better. 34 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2006