The Student Consultancy

The Student Consultancy is an experiential learning programme providing hands-on consultancy and strategy experience with client organisations.

Over a period of 4-8 weeks you will participate in a team on a project that's important to the client - it might be understanding what customers value, a fundraising strategy for a charity, or ideas on how to promote their products and services to more people.

Please complete the application form in CareerConnect to be considered for this programme. Early application is advised.

Applications for the Hilary term programme have now closed.

Who Can Take Part

The Student Consultancy (TSC) is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Oxford.

It is also an ideal progression for those who have completed The Oxford Strategy Challenge (TOSCA)

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Students participate in teams over 4 - 6 weeks to address a strategic issue or business challenge for a client organisation.

Whatever your career plans, you can benefit from the programme. TSC will provide you with an opportunity to:

  • Contribute to the community and gain solid work experience
  • Tackle strategic business issues and opportunities
  • Develop key employability skills such as self-management, leadership, team working, business and customer awareness, problem solving and communication
  • Provide demonstrable examples of key skills and experience for your CV and job interviews
  • Gain an awareness of the commercial, social and behavioural contexts in professional life.

On The Student Consultancy programme, you will participate in a team of 5 or 6 Oxford students. Your team will use a mix of in-person and online meetings and the programme format will help with employability skills like communication, leadership, team working and business awareness.

You should put aside around 2-4 hours per week for the project. However, this will depend on nature of the project and how you decide to distribute tasks in your team.

There will be two mandatory training sessions at the start of the programme to introduce  the consultancy sector, consulting techniques, how to manage a project and work with your client. You will liaise directly with the client and there will be mentoring support available through the project. In addition, we will check in with teams formally at a mid-term review session. At the end of the programme there will be a graduation event to celebrate your achievement and reflect on the experience.

Please complete the application form to be considered for this programme in CareerConnect. Early application is advised.

Applications for the Hilary term programme have now closed.

 

 

Using TSC in job applications

‘I interviewed for BCG, McKinsey, Bain and Oliver Wyman, and used examples from The Student Consultancy at all of them. (I received offers from all four)’

‘I often write about it in job applications, using the programme to highlight examples of working in a mixed discipline team, consultancy, management, knowledge of business, entrepreneurial spirit and so on.’

‘Valuable CV and application material – it’s a really worthwhile project and is a commendable achievement. It really taught me how to think in a different way and communicate effectively with all sorts of people.’

 ‘The Student Consultancy was an excellent example/experience to cite when describing community involvement and group work experience.’

‘Valuable experience in communication management (effective communication) and team organisation / teamwork! Very helpful experience to talk about in consecutive job interviews!’

‘It’s a very good example to talk about in relation to taking ownership of a project that provides real added value to a business. I brought it up when asked about teamwork and problem solving.’

Gaining skills and experience

'It was a fantastic learning upgrade. More contact with the client and more engagement with real world resources.' Sharon Mensah, TSC participant Hilary term 2023

‘The Student Consultancy programme gave me not only an interesting insight into the consultancy sector, but also a comprehensive idea of the intricacies and difficulties of the working world more generally.’

‘I learnt key skills on how to lead meetings, and also ways in which to work as a group.’

‘The Student Consultancy helped me realise how much I did not know about consulting, teamwork, and project management, particularly about the challenges and difficulties involved. This is valuable insight that will help me in other projects’

‘An appreciation for how a bright spark by a few students can be amplified and transformed to create significant social change in the community.’

‘The programme gave me insight into previously unknown skills: including managing the balance of a diverse group of characters, and that good communication, clear goals and deadlines are key. It also taught me some valuable business vocabulary, and how to present myself in a way that is more understandable within the industry.’

‘The Student Consultancy gave me an idea of what it would be like to work in strategic consulting, and I came to the conclusion that it would be interesting, dynamic and more satisfying than I ever expected.’

‘Real business experience which was completely unique. A chance to step out of the academic world.’

‘Commercial awareness, and an experience of the kind of job I could be doing in the future.’ 

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