What's involved?

When beginning this journey though, there are a few things to keep in mind that we will need you to do. Here’s a clear outline of what is involved from your end to help with your planning:

Time commitment

We estimate that the time commitment from Industry Partners for the IIP comes to a total of between 20 and 25 hours (across the semester).

Industry Partners are requested to host students at their workplace (or on-site locations appropriate to the project context) once per week. Students teams work collaboratively and are very self-driven so will not take up much of you time during these days. They will come to you mostly for direction on navigating certain business areas, introductions to key stakeholders, context surrounding key issues etc. Expect a lot of questions early on!

Four IIP events are also held throughout the semester, some mandatory, some optional. Please see “events” section for further detail on these.

Project leading responsibilities

Understand your problem space

• Know the problem space – have a clear sense of the pain-points, trends and challenges you face in your industry and organisation.
• Provide detailed contextual knowledge to your student team relevant to the project. Share insights and practices from your organisation whenever and wherever you can.
• Connect students with key stakeholders to your problem space – both the obvious and less-obvious contacts!

Guide, rather than instruct

• Provide direction and assistance to students, but refrain from steering the project. We ask that partners tell students what you want, not how to do it.
• Give feedback (but not instructions) throughout the duration of the project. Working closely with your student team will lead to the best project outcomes.

Have an open mind

• Remain open-minded to the solutions and responses students may come up with as a team. You won’t see this formulated until phase 3.
• Receive different knowledges and perspectives with curiosity.
• Be willing to re-evaluate assumptions and norms.

Professionalism

Students are wholly responsible for establishing the relationship between the team and their Industry Partner. It is up to the students and partner to collectively decide on:

• Communication – How you will communicate with each other throughout the project? which channels are best? How often do you expect each other to check in?
• Expectations – What would students like you to provide? And you of them? What level of oversight would you expect to receive throughout the project?
• Workplace culture and norms – including dress code etc.
• We encourage you to give the students constructive feedback if their professionalism is below expectations. This is an important part of their learning in this subject so be kind but clear. Let the Industry Partnerships Team know if you’re having any ongoing issues you’d like help to resolve.

 

“As a collective it was such a unique an interesting experience to really immerse ourselves not only in the project but the company”

Julia McNamara, BCII and Communications Student