About the programme

The Student Consultancy is a programme of learning and development activities that links University of Oxford students to local Oxfordshire businesses and community organisations. Since the programme launched, nearly 2,000 students have now taken on projects, helping over 250 local organisations. Each academic year will see close to 500 undergraduates and postgraduate students take part.

An innovative and unique programme, The Student Consultancy provides employability skills training and work-based experiences to students and an opportunity for clients to access free consultancy services. We welcome clients from all sectors, including local SMEs, charities, community projects/organisations, retail, arts & heritage, local government and more.

Students from all disciplines and year levels participate in the programme and work in teams to address a strategic issue or business problem affecting the organisation.

As Clients, your business will:

• gain an innovative, outside perspective to a business challenge
• benefit from students’ enthusiasm, creativity, fresh ideas and up-to-date knowledge/skills
• receive insightful recommendations produced by the students, with the guidance and support of project mentors
• share your expertise and knowledge about your industry with eager students
• have no obligation to take action on advice and recommendations
• provide feedback to students and programme management about the project

Ideally, you will be an Oxfordshire based charity, community organisation, social enterprise, small business, City or County council department, arts or cultural institution and have a particular issue or area you would like a team of consultants to work on. It is a chance to explore areas of marketing, revenue generation, branding, customer awareness or strategy that you may not usually have the time or resources to look at.

Our students are trained by Careers Service staff with extensive consulting experience, and have a project mentor to help shape their work and provide you with useful recommendations. While teams have a business mentor, clients do have to consider that The Student Consultancy is primarily a learning experience for students, and their skill levels will vary.

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