MBA students gave strategic advice to clients in Lisbon via video conferencing as the programme’s annual International Consulting Week assignment went online.
Published (Updated )
The Cass Business School Full-time MBA programme (FTMBA) recently ran its annual flagship International Consulting Week event, with 86 students providing consulting services via video link to real clients in Lisbon.
Each year, teams of students work with a faculty mentor on a series of consulting challenges for overseas clients, as a core module of the programme curriculum. Previous International Consulting Weeks have seen excursions to Warsaw, Reykjavik, and Dublin.
This year’s event successfully took place via video conference for 17 Portuguese clients, with activities including advising on different business strategies for company directors.
Dr Hans Frankort, Reader in Strategy at Cass and leader of the International Consulting Week, was impressed by the quality of students’ work in testing circumstances and paid tribute to the skills, commitment and professionalism shown throughout the task.
“The International Consulting Week is a crucial transition point where students showcase their accumulated skills in a consulting setting with real clients in a foreign environment,” he said.
“Students are not only tested on their ability to find solutions to a problem, but on their teamworking, presentation and interpersonal skills as well – in a different country with the various cultural and legal barriers this can present.
“On this occasion it was sadly not possible for us to travel or physically be in the room together, but huge credit must go to the energy and positivity of our students – many of whom had returned to their home countries – who all participated in full. The feedback that we received from clients on their work was very positive and goes to show why this is such an important component of the FTMBA calendar.”
Dr Paolo Aversa, Director of the Full-time MBA at Cass, said the International Consulting Week gave FTMBA students the perfect platform to demonstrate the theoretical and practical skills that the Cass MBA equips them with.
“Our Full-time MBA follows an intensive programme of learning and practice in key areas such as strategy, entrepreneurship, accounting and financial reporting, organisational behaviour, the global economy, human resources and professional development,” he said.
“The International Consulting Week places students into a fast-paced overseas market and tests their ability to tie together all of the above and create real business solutions for real organisations.
“This year’s cohort overcame obvious difficulties and were once again a credit to themselves and Cass. Students will now move into the final stage of the programme which allows them to choose electives for their preferred career paths and undertake a project for the specific industry that they are looking to join once they have graduated.”
The Cass Full-time MBA was ranked number one in London by the Financial Times in its latest global rankings.
Find out more about MBA programmes at Cass.