Unleash the Students!
While perusing various government web sites, searching for sources of funding available to entrepreneurial ventures, a thought came to me: I discovered a nearly bottomless source of free, or almost-free, labour that remains largely untapped by entrepreneurs and small businesses in general. I’m thinking about the legions of students.
Sure, businesses tap high school students as part of the CAPP Program, a program that requires a minimum level of work experience for BC students in grade 11 and 12. And yes, university students get drafted into work experience through various university co-op programs. But what about the rest of the time? You know, when they’re in class? Think of all the person-hours going to waste on projects that have no impact outside the classroom!
For example: in the MBA this year, we had to prepare two business plans. One group managed to find a husband and wife company that needed a business plan prepared for their Latin music and dance club. If you think the quality of a student-prepared business plan isn’t going to satisfy the needs of a small business, think again: the husband insisted on thanking the group in front of the class and even came close to tears while describing the impact the students’ efforts would have on his ability to start his business.
Most students have access to tools, expertise, and information not available to the general public. What’s required to unleash these capabilities for the benefit of business is a system that advertises upcoming class projects to the public and matches companies with projects to students. There would be some administration required to pre-qualify companies’ projects to satisfy educational objectives and manage the companies’ expectations, but imagine the potential benefits! First: students get meaningful projects, exposure to real-world experience, materials required to complete the project. Second: businesses get access to resources and labour at a low cost. Third: schools generate revenue from charging a fee to companies for the work performed by their students. It’s win-win-win.
There has been some movement in this direction, with BCIT‘s program for computer students. Companies get access to a group of computer students to complete a computer-based project, all for the low price of $300 (plus materials). Do you think someone could charge five to ten times that amount to facilitate such a service for university student projects and split the revenue with the universities?
Not to be too cynical, however doesn’t this open up students to an education even more controlled by private corporations? Who’s to say Coca-cola couldn’t “persuade” UBC’s business school administration to hire a bunch of students to basically work on their projects at cut costs? How could we be certain the curriculum wouldn’t be altered to fit into a paying customer’s request? I think it makes a lot of sense for University students to gain first-hand, real-world experience like that (something which most schools still lack), however I’d hate to think a student’s degree could simply add up to be a portfolio of Coke projects. Students have a lifetime ahead of them to work for “The Man”… why not allow them some respite from the “real” corporate world just a little while longer?
I agree that such a program could be twisted by corporations for nefarious purposes or, at best, an extension of their recruitment process. Given the success of Coke/Pepsi at nailing down universities with exclusivity contracts, there’s no doubt that private corporations have enormous power to corrupt even the best intentions of cash-strapped universities.
On the other hand, one of the biggest complaints of employers about new graduates is that they lack practical experience and soft skills. Arguably, any exposure to real world experience will provide the experience that businesses require most, and enable attendees of post-secondary institutes to realize their ultimate goal: getting a job.
Though this program wouldn’t be appropriate for all classes, it would be appropriate for those courses in marketing, business, computing, or engineering that require students to produce a significant end product. Why have all that labour go to waste? As a student, wouldn’t you get more out of working on something that will actually get used instead of some busy work project that serves no purpose?
I’d like to point out that the UBC Engineering Physics program has been doing this for decades with its project lab.
Check this out: http://www.physics.ubc.ca/~engphys/projectlab/
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Oh yeah, there are lots of little programs at all the various universities that do this kind of thing. Even individual professors negotiate project work for students in classes they teach.
However, I think the universities, their students, and the businesses would all be better suited by an organized system that provides the link between the businesses and the students in one place. Otherwise, there’s a lot of duplication of administration, and the programs never achieve the critical mass that would be required to have a significant positive impact on the BC economy.
I’d imagine something like this: a small business person goes to a web site, and enters project details. The site searches through the list of courses that are starting in the near future at local education institutions, trying to find a match. The business person is presented with a list of matches, contact information, and possibly even a list of candidate students or student project groups. Business finds expertise with ease, students find project with ease, and university looks clever for setting it all up.
I think the concept is great. The problem is that students have to pay tuition as well, on top of all the studying, textbook purchases, in class work, exams, assignments, and work experience/cheap labour. These costs and time constraints add up!
I’m planning on doing a “directed study” (do work, get credit towards my degree) in my fourth year of university. I’m a film major, hoping to work with a documentary editor and get credit for it. The problem is, I’d devote all my spare time towards the directed study, but I’ve gotta pay the rent too – which means I’ve gotta work at the local video store or Boston Pizza to pay the bills. Perhaps I should’ve gone into sciences…just kidding.
I think the point of the whole exercise was to replace hypothetical exercises with a real-world problem, which means it should not add to class work and assignments, just replace it.
However, the main problem with this is consistency – many professors do preparatory work for their course (syllabus, lecture notes, etc) the first year they teach it, and never change it again, other than to fix typos.
The problem is two-fold. From the small business side, can you afford to wait? Let’s say it’s October, and you need a marketing plan (for example). What do you do if the relevant courses are offered in term 2, or if the material will not be covered until November? The other problem is quality – not everyone produces good work, otherwise everyone would get A’s. What do you do if you get unlucky and have your project assigned to someone that doesn’t do a good job of it? I think that these limitations dramatically cut down on the number of eligible projects.
The other problem is from the professor’s point of view – what do you do if you don’t get enough projects for your students?
The Engineering Physics Project Lab relies heavily on faculty support, with many of the projects coming from UBC professors. Companies are warned up front that the projects have to be non-critical.