Business Case
Title of Bid: University of Southampton Student Consultancy (USSC)
Author: Dr Eleanor Quince
Faculty/
Professional Service:
Email: e.m.quince@soton.ac.uk
Humanities,
Tel: X 22246
Approval of SUSU President / Dean / Head of Professional Service
Name:
Professor Anne Curry
Title:
Dean of the Faculty of Humanities
Signature:
Date:
04.06.2013
Version Control
Version Number Version Author
Details of Change
Date
6.0
Eleanor Quince
Revisions to distribution of budget:
31/07/2013
Caroline Konrad
Removal of admin and student travel costs,
introduction of student stipend, expansion to 24
month period and outline of Humanities/ Career
Destinations partnership working.
Instructions:
Please complete this coversheet and all 4 sections of this business case electronically. Incomplete will
not be considered by the Advisory Group.
Section 1: DETAILS OF THE BID
Section 2: SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Section 3: BUDGET
Section 4: EVALUATION
Submission
Please send the completed business case (and any appendices) to K.L.Murphy@soton.ac.uk by the deadline.
The Student Centredness Fund Advisory Group will review the business case and the author will be contacted
with the result.
Advisory Group Meetings
The Advisory Group will meet to review business cases on the following dates in 2012/13:
12th October 2012
Deadline for bids 3rd October,
Bids to Advisory Group 5th October
11 January 2013
Deadline for bids 3 January,
Bids to Advisory Group 4th January
th
rd
12th April 2013
Deadline for bids 4th April,
Bids to Advisory Group 5th April
14th June 2013
Deadline for bids 5th June,
Bids to Advisory Group 7th June
SECTION 1 : DETAILS OF THE BID
a) Type of bid: please select one option
New Project
b) Main theme of the bid: please select one option
Student Employability
c) Students benefited: please select one or more as appropriate
Undergraduates
Business & Law
Postgraduates Taught
Engineering & the Environment
Natural & Environmental Sciences
Postgraduate Research
Health Sciences
Physical & Applied Sciences
Humanities
Medicine
Social & Human Sciences
d) Main aim and outcomes of bid: please give a brief description
Main Aim.
The aim is to improve the employability of students from the Faculty of Humanities through the
creation and delivery of work/commercial experience opportunities from within the Southampton
region (15 miles radius). The project will be run as a pilot scheme to begin with and initially
opportunities will be created for 20 Humanities UG students (Year 2) in Semester Two of 2013-14.
Growing by September 2014 to over 100 students per semester, the aim is to roll out the scheme
more widely across the institution and to continue increasing participants each year.
A concurrent aim is for this simple, tailored, flexible and responsive programme to complement and
feed into both the more sophisticated Excel Southampton internship programme (for ±160
students) and the Postgraduate Researcher (PGR) Internship and Project programme (50 x
PGRs), fitting in with the University’s overall Employer Engagement Strategy and commitment to
double work experience opportunities by 2015/16 (OFFA Agreement).
Main Outcomes
The Student. A student will gain enhanced employability as a result of an enriched CV that
illustrates work experience at management level. In the learning process the student will develop
key transferrable skills as identified by the CBI (‘Future Fit’ Report, 2009) and promulgated by
Careers Destinations i.e. team working skills, enhanced analytical skills and problem solving in a
work environment, an entrepreneurial outlook, work related communication skills, the ability to
function in a work environment and an understanding of work organisational structures.
The University. The reputation of the University and in particular the Faculty of Humanities to
increase its students’ employability could be significantly enhanced. Nationally, the University
would be seen to contribute to the knowledge skills exchange agenda set by HEFCE. On a local
level, this programme further complements the existing footprint of the University amongst regional
employers achieved by other programmes (e.g. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, Excel
Southampton, PGR Internships and Projects programme).
At a relatively low cost (i.e. 15% of Excel costs) it fills a void in the total University package by
offering work experience that a UG student can do alongside their classes, leaving their holidays
free for other kinds of paid work, for participation in Excel or other placement programmes.
SCF funding would enable this programme to run to support a bid during 2013-14 for additional
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funds from HE Innovation Fund (HEIF), reducing reliance upon SCF in subsequent years. The
project is supported by Sue Martin in ODAR who sees an additional benefit for the University in its
continued development of relationships with alumni; Sue has agreed to help source local firms who
employ Southampton graduates.
Furthermore, working in close partnership with Career Destinations, the project has the potential to
assist the University in reaching its goal of increased work experience opportunities by 2015/16
(OFFA Agreement) and is in keeping with the ethos of the University’s upcoming ‘Southampton
Opportunity’ programme which aims to showcase all the opportunities for academic, personal,
career and research at our students’ disposal.
The Employer. The USSC programme will provide an employer with some of the most able of
Humanities students to explore and research problems of a business development nature that the
employer might neither have the time nor resource on which to concentrate. The employer
receives a consultancy report and a presentation that could have intrinsic, direct financial value (an
idea, an improvement to process/organisation), equally it may benefit either the community, social
commitment or it could contribute just to a wider understanding of a business sector. Although
there is absolutely no commitment to do so, as a follow-up an employer may consider the offer of
either, in the medium term, an internship, or in the longer term a position, post graduation. It is
stressed that this is not the key intent of the programme but an added potential benefit.
e) Deliverables/Milestones: add rows as required
Deliverable/Milestones
Date to be completed by By Whom
a. appoint Specialist
Practitioner to work on
project (0.5)
October 2013
b. Offering of 20 consultancy January 2014
roles via employers drawn
from large commercial, SME,
public sector and the Third
Sector.
Results/Outcomes
Career Destinations; Faculty Gain project coordinator for
Academic lead Employability 24 month period
Client/Specialist Practitioner Obtain commitment to
(SP)
scheme, launch programme.
c. Obtain expressions of
interests from up to 200
students, Year 2.
31st January 2014
Faculty Academic lead
Employability; SP
Selection of 20 students
d. Training – 1.5 days
Early February 2014
Client/SP assisted by
Faculty Academic lead
Employability
Students trained in: planning,
time-management,
negotiating skills,
presentation skills, etc.
e. Deploy 20 student
consultants
Late Feb – April 2014
Client/ SP
5 week report to Mentor.
Enable formative feedback,
wikis, blogs, self-help
groups.
f Present Report to
May 2014
company/organisation and to
fellow programme students
Students, employers.
Final programme
presentation attended by
employers, Mentors, Faculty
Staff, Pro V-C Education.
Evening hospitality UoS
sponsored event.
Conduct summative
feedback
g. Double employer
engagement (40 consultant
roles)
September 2014
h. Repeat c to f for up to 100 October 2014
students
Client/ SP
Broaden base of employers
to cover widest range of
business/organisations.
Client/SP assisted by
Faculty Academic lead
Employability
As for c to f
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i. Double employer
engagement (reaching
minimum 40)
December 2014
Client/ SP
Create database of
employers interested in
programme.
j. Repeat b to e for 100+
students
January 2015
Client/SP assisted by
Faculty Academic lead
Employability
As for c to f
k. Double employer
engagement to 80
September 2015
Client/ SP
Consolidate at 40 employers
per semester, ideally
reaching 80
l. Review success of pilot/roll October 2015
out and sustainability
SP
Viability for continued
running of USSC
m. Repeat programme of
2015-16 for 2016-17
A cycle of 8 week delivery
within each semester
Client/ SP; Faculty
Academic Lead
Employability
As above
n. Monitor DHLE results for
Humanities Faculty
Feb-Jun 2016
Faculty Academic Lead
Employability
All other factors considered
to identify an improvement in
statistics.
SECTION 2 : SUPPORTING INFORMATION
a) Background of the bid: please briefly outline any relevant background information
The need
The Faculty of Humanities is comprised of seven different departments covering a broad subject
range, from Archaeology to Music, encompassing English, History, Philosophy, Film and Modern
Languages. For the majority of these subject areas there is no natural vocational pathway. As a
Faculty we try to instil within our graduates the idea that they can go on to do anything, showcasing
a range of career pathways through activities such as our alumni panels. However, in feedback
from attendees at these and other events held during 2012/13, Humanities students have
repeatedly commented that they feel overwhelmed by the breadth of choice: very few have any
work experience and as a result they do not have a clear idea of what they want to do following
graduation. This often results in our students taking non-graduate jobs (bar tending, waiting tables,
working in a shop or hotel, etc) immediately after graduation, while they try and work out what they
really want to do. This results in poor DLHE figures for Graduate level jobs (2010/11 DLHE
figures: range from 38% in Archaeology to 52% in ML, it is telling that Modern Languages is the
area in which our students are most likely to have had work experience during their year abroad).
Further discussions held with our SSLC in November 2012 and March 2013 highlighted the need
for Humanities students to exposed to the wider world of work while they are studying in order that
they might gain perspective, conquer their fear of the workplace, and generally feel more able to
make an informed choice about their career options.
Current Provision.
Excel Southampton, set up in 2009, receives over 2000 student applications for 100-160
placements (2011 figures). The programme focuses on ±160 internships for 4-12 weeks both
outside and internal to the university, by applying a shared cost model at a value of £97-102,000
per annum. The demand, size and nature of Excel does not match the immediate challenges of
the Faculty of Humanities to improve the employability of its students. While the Excel scheme
offers a competitive opportunity to gain some work experience, places are few and our sheer
number of students (an undergraduate population of over 2000) means that only a very small
percentage ever get to have that experience. Whilst funding exists to provide third sector
employees with fully funded 4 week long placements, we foresee an ability to expand engagement
with this sector further through the use of a consultancy offering. The sector is a key career
possibility for many of our socially conscious graduates.
The University has recently entered into an agreement (OFFA) to double its number of work
experience opportunities by 2015/16. This proposal aims to assist the University in reaching that
goal by offering an alternative work experience opportunity to our students.
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Concept.
The concept of using intellectually able and as yet unqualified students to deliver to local/regional
organisations (commercial, public sector and third sector) basic consultancy service(s) and a report
to assist in business development was pioneered by University of Oxford Careers Service in 200910. The concept was briefed to UK Council for Graduate Education in July 2011. Unshackled by
perceived wisdom and business tenets, students offer refreshing insights and entrepreneurial
thoughts that are welcomed by employers. The students’ gain an insight into senior management
level business issues, they gain experience that enriches their CVs and enhances transferrable
skills for job applications and selections. The University of Oxford programme enters its fourth
year in 2013/14, now conducted by 0.3 FTE post supported by 0.3FTE administrative staff and 0.2
FTE careers adviser, with volunteer Mentors at an estimated annual cost of <£30k.
The typical client employers to be found in cities, such as both Oxford and Southampton, are either
small and medium enterprises (SMEs), not for profit organisations (NFP), charities and arts
organisations. All will have a key business issue they would like explored and to which they would
like the student(s) to find solutions. From experience, example projects could include marketing
and promotion, website design, audience analysis, identifying regeneration schemes for city
council, scoping community projects for police and evaluating fundraising initiatives of NFPs.
In exchange for providing student teams with experience of a business, the client may gain a
solution to a business issue. Equally the client may gain fresh insight to an old issue. As time will
limit the quality and content of a report no charge is made for the final report to client.
The Proposal.
The Faculty of Humanities, working in partnership with Career Destinations will pilot the model
used by the University of Oxford to engage client organisations; market and select students to be
then trained; and assign projects and clients for short (i.e. 8 week) durations.
A site visit to Oxford to observe their Career Service’s consultancy training programme is being
organised for the autumn and will be attended by Eleanor Quince and a Career Management
Agreement (CMA) Leads for Humanities.
Students will receive a small stipend of £250 for their work, as part of recognising the work
experience element and to recognise that not all students are able to undertake work experience
without financial support.
Should the consultancy model be successful, it is envisaged that on-going student stipend support
after the 24 month trial period be at least partially funded via alumni and / or employer support.
Dependent on the experience in Year 1 (2013/14), a shared cost model may already be
implemented from Year 2 (2014/15), similar to the Excel Southampton Placement Programme.
To reflect the needs of the Faculty of Humanities the following adjustments would be applied:
a. A stringent selection process to ensure the quality mark of students joining the USSC.
b. A stringent process to ensure the commitment and quality of the employers joining the
scheme
c. A comprehensive bespoke training package of 9 hours, staged during the project period to
deliver to the student teams the right basic skills at the right time.
d. A close mentoring of project management to ensure projects complete.
e. A close relationship between client manager and clients (employers) to manage the
relationship between the clients and students in order to regulate expectations to the best
advantage of both parties.
The Delivery Requirement.
1 x Specialist Practitioner (0.5 FTE over 24 months) to:
a. Source, engage at senior management/board level and sustain a database of clients.
b. Manage relationships during project period.
c. Conduct selection.
d. Deliver bespoke training for programme.
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e. Evaluate programme after each project cycle/term and longitudinally.
It is envisaged that the Specialist Practitioner post will be a new 24 month fixed-term post at level
4. 0.5 of this role will be given over to the project and will be funded through this bid; 0.5 will be a
regular Specialist Practitioner (SP) role providing much-needed careers provision across the
faculties. However, in the first instance, the post, particularly in year 1, will be focussed on getting
the Student Consultancy off the ground, bringing on board employers and developing appropriate
training sessions for students undertaking consultancy work. Any administrative tasks (and thus
costs) will be absorbed through the Placements/streamlined Employer Engagement Team. The
SP’s employer outreach will be linked directly in line with the outreach of the Employer
Engagement team in Career Destinations, working closely with the soon to be appointed Employer
Engagement Manager.
The SP role is sought at L4, in keeping in line with similar roles of this nature across the University.
The role will be based in Career Destinations but work closely with Humanities, in particular,
Eleanor Quince, with 0.5 FTE of the role devoted to the Student Consultancy.
In order to recruit the quality of staff required, a 24 month fixed term contract is required.
b) Relevance to the themes of the University Strategy: Transforming education and Improving the
student experience
Please briefly outline how the bid will support the objectives of the University Strategy
http://www.soton.ac.uk/strategy.
The University of Southampton Student Consultancy (USSC) would directly contribute to the
University Strategy 2010-15 under the following headings:
Strengthening our partnerships with regional leaders and national bodies
As a leading employer in the region and creator of a highly skilled workforce, the University
is a major engine of economic growth and a focal point for social and community
engagement. We will use our unique position to bring together key opinion leaders and to
influence the agenda for delivering growth and prosperity.
We will enrich the lives of individuals ……….. by continuing to support our staff and
students to participate in a wide range of community projects, outreach activities and
business partnerships.
‘to expand our regional,…..engagement with employers regulators and the community
to…. increase opportunities for students and graduates to gain work experience.’
Providing a more flexible, personalised educational experience
We aspire to improve our students’ preparation for employment, achieving improved
employment outcomes relative to our comparators in the Russell Group.
We will increase opportunities for students to gain work experience, including volunteering
and enterprise activities. We will provide prospective and current students with a new level
of clear, uniform and accessible information and comparative metrics that demonstrate the
quality and value of our student experience
Growing our applied research and consultancy
We will build on our excellent record of engagement with businesses, from small and
medium-sized enterprises to multinational enterprises. This will be achieved through
…………….other consulting activities, and we will seek to grow collaborative work of this
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nature.
c) Other benefits of the bid: please briefly outline any additional benefits for students
As a result of this programme students will be able to:
a. contribute to local community and gain solid work/commercial experience with either a large
commercial organisation, a SME, a public sector organisation (i.e. local council) or an
organisation from the Third Sector.
b. gain experience of how to tackle strategic business issues and concerns.
c. gain an awareness of the professional, social and behavioural contexts of the business
environment and develop networking skills.
d. develop key transferable skills that transfers into marketable skills for job applications:
problem solving, analytical skills, commercial and customer awareness, communication
(presentation), self-management, team working, entrepreneurship and enterprise.
e. open opportunities (for the most able students) to compete for employment with lead global
consultancies (e.g. McKinsey, Bains, Deloitte) alongside students from Oxbridge.
f.
experience and learn from completing a selection process to include an application
requiring a covering letter and Curriculum Vitae as well as an assessment centre wider
understanding of the work opportunities.
g. train and develop in consultancy and associate transferrable work skills.
h. improve opportunities for internship either through Excel Southampton programme and/or
employment prospect with a regional employer, or independently with national employer.
i.
create networking opportunities.
SECTION 3: BUDGET
Please note that all funds allocated to a project must be spent within the year they have been requested,
funds cannot be rolled over. For this purpose the financial year is 1st August to 31st July.
a)
Expenditure
2013/2014
2014/2015
(if required)
(if required)
£
£
£
Marketing for USSC scheme – posters and leaflets
300
325
350
TOTAL
300
325
350
ITEM / EXPEDITURE
2015/16
Description (add rows as required)
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b)
Staff and student costs
STUDENT COSTS - If you are requesting funds to pay for the cost of student internships/placements please
complete the ‘student costs’ section below.
STAFF COSTS - If you are requesting funds to pay for the cost of staff time please complete the ‘staff costs’
section below.
Detail
Student costs
Student stipend per consultancy £250 per
consultant role (2013/14: 20; 2014/15: 80;
2015/16: 100)
Faculty /
£
£
£
5000
20000
25000
5
0.1
4122
5202
914
4
(SP27)
1.0 (includes on costs)
28,750
34,500
8,625
37,872
59,702
34,539
SP travel to companies. 20 miles per day @ 40p
per mile; approx. 40 journeys in year one to
encourage interest and 20 in year 2
320
160
0
Student lunches on training days (£5 each day)
200
2,000
0
Catering for evening event with employers,
student participants and invited staff, 1 per year
620
930
0
1140
3090
0
2015/16
HUMS
Career
Destinations
Specialist
Practitioner
TOTAL
Detail
TOTAL
c)
2015/16
FTE (or number of hrs)
to be funded
Employability
Lead (EQ)
Training &
Travel Costs
2014/2015
(if required)
Grade
Prof Service
Staff Costs
2013/2014
(if required)
Totals
TOTALS
TOTAL EXPENDITURE (A)
INCOME or FUNDING FROM OTHER SOURCES (B)
Complete (d) below with details
Assistance sought from Student Centredness Fund
2013/2014
2014/2015
(if required)
(if required)
£
£
£
39,312
63,117
34,889
0
0
0
39,312
63,117
34,889
(A) minus (B)
d)
Income or funding from other sources
Please detail income or funding from other sources
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Administrative costs will be absorbed by the Placements/streamlined Employer Engagement Team.
It is envisaged that the Specialist Practitioner post will be a new 24 month fixed-term post at level 4. 0.5 of
this role will be given over to the project and will be funded through this bid; 0.5 will be a regular Specialist
Practitioner role providing much-needed careers provision across the faculties.
SECTION 4: EVALUATION
a) How will the project be evaluated?
The Student Centredness Fund Advisory Group is concerned to ensure that the project delivers the
improvements set out in the objectives of the bid. Please outline below how the success of the project will be
evaluated given your stated outcomes (section 1).
Evaluation Method
add rows as required
Date to be
undertaken
Who will
undertake
Presentation of project May 2014, December Students
reports
2014, May 2015
DLHE results
Jul 15, Jul16
Ongoing team blog,
wiki.
During term time
Students
External evaluation
Interview with Client
May 2014, December Client/SP
2014, May 2015
Internal evaluation by May 2014, December Client/SP
2014, May 2015
students with
questionnaires; ‘Wheel
of life’.
Sep14, Sep15
Client/SP
Reporting to
if applicable
Acceptable to
client
Career Destinations Year on year
10%
improvement
in department
employability
Student formative
May 2014, December Students
2014, May 2015
evaluation:
presentation at end of
term projects, case
studies developed and
shared with ODAR,
Comms, Faculty.
Student summative
evaluation; postgraduation
questionnaire.
Target
Date to be
reported
See
schedule
for options
Clients, peers, Faculty Sept 2014,
Sept 2015
academic lead for
Employability,
Client/SP, SCF
Faculty programmes
committee
Sept 15,
Sept 16
Identifiable
solution with
key phases
Client/SP
Sept. 14,
Sept. 15
Identify and
manage team
issues
Client/SP
Ongoing
Identify key
issues and
benefits;
reinforce
relationship
Academic lead for
Employability; Faculty
programmes
committee
Sept. 14,
Sept. 15
Qualitative
evidence
Academic lead for
Employability
Sept. 14,
Sept. 15
Qualitative
evidence
Faculty programmes
committee, SCF
Sept 14,
Sept 15
b) Student Centredness Fund Report
It is a condition of receiving funding that all projects provide an annual report of their work to the students of
the University. The report should enable the students and the wider university community to review the
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overall impact of your project and the investments by the Fund, in our strategic commitment to enhance the
student experience.
All reports will be reviewed by the Student Centredness Fund Advisory Group and a summary will be made
publicly available on the Student Centeredness Fund website. The report will also be used in communications
to thank alumni donors who contribute funds to the SCF, with the intention of demonstrating impact to
donors to encourage further support.
All project authors should commit to providing additional information if required for communication and
reporting purposes.
You will be provided with the SCF report template in the spring of each year, we would encourage you to
provide images, podcasts, surveys and a range of medium for use on the Student Centredness Fund
website to demonstrate the value of the investment.
Notes
SECTION 3:
Budget
Student Costs
e.g. student internships, student placements, student helpers

The bid author should consider liaising with Career Destinations in Student Services when
considering appointing a student intern or creating student placements.
Staff Costs

Consideration should be given to whether this post could be offered as a student internship prior to
bidding for any staff costs.

The relevant HR processes must be followed when bidding for staff costs. Examples include approval
and grading of any job descriptions through Human Resources and liaison with line management to
approval ‘buy-out’ of staff time.

Full costs to be stated including NI and Pension Scheme obligations provided on Finance area of
SUSSED.
Training

Most training can be provided internally through the Professional Development Unit (courses
available through the HR Website) and this should be considered prior to any external procurement.
Travel

Travel expenses should be claimed in accordance with the University’s expenses and procedures
policy. http://www.soton.ac.uk/finance/central/expenses.pdf
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