Project Studies (5 cr)

Objectives (course unit)

International Business students can carry out a part of their studies as project studies. The projects are defined in advance for the credit count, costs and duration. The projects are commissioned e.g. by local companies or by Tampere University of Applied Sciences. The team projects come from actual companies and the students themselves. See further instructions and required forms at www.wiki.tamk.fi (use "Business Related Project Studies" as a search key there).

After completing the course, the students will be able to:

Work more professionally in real projects, and participate in carrying out systematically managed projects, from project approval and planning to control and implementation.
Apply and further develop existing disciplinary knowledge in real life cases and projects.
Use their individual communication, negotiation and group work skills more effectively and efficiently.
Enhance their use of different sources of information, learning environments, project management software tools, and IT in general.

Content (course unit)

How can universities and local companies work together?
What different projects are relevant for university of applied sciences (UAS) students?
What kind of co-operation will benefit both the student(s) and the client?
What can a UAS student learn and benefit from participation in a real project?
How is project management interrelated to the strategic and general management of an organization?
What are the benefits of applying systematic project management methods and related IT tools for different projects?
How are projects planned, implemented, controlled and reported successfully?
What kind of proposed generalizations can be made based on successful project outcomes?

Prerequisites (course unit)

-

Location and time

No classes.
From the TAMK point-of-view, a project starts by students' first contact to the supervising instructor (see below, for contact information).
As there is a large variety of different projects, there's no predetermined length or physical location for them.

Exam schedules

-

Assessment methods and criteria

pass, or fail (= to be improved)

Assessment scale

Pass/Fail

Teaching methods

Learning by doing in a very self-driven way - individually, or as a part of team.
To start with, students themselves need to take their own initiative to find an external commissioner for their project.
Students write a project description/plan, and report on their ready-made project by presenting a final report to their supervising instructor.

Learning materials

Utilizing any relevant business and project management literature/material in the projects is highly recommended.

Student workload

One ECTS credit corresponds to 26-27 hours of student's work in the project.
The aimed size of the project is agreed on in the project description/plan phase. After all and considering the students' actual working hours in the project, the supervising instructor decides on the acceptable number of ECTS credits performed.

Content scheduling

-

Practical training and working life cooperation

Students' project proposals need to be truly business-related, to be acceptable ones.

International connections

not required - but highly desired

Further information

Pasi Kuusijärvi, M.Sc.(Econ. and Bus. Adm.)
Senior Lecturer, Accounting and Financial Management
Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu
Tampere University of Applied Sciences
Kuntokatu 3
FI-33520 Tampere
Finland
pasi.kuusijarvi@tamk.fi
Tel. +358 40 846 3052

Assessment criteria - pass/fail (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Pass:
Students' participation and performance in their accepted project has been active and produced, at least, some contribution and/or value to the commissioner.
The project final report has been relevant, extensive, case-specific and detailed enough, and it has been presented acceptably to the supervising instructor, including a record of all the students' individual working hours in the project.
Projects in which the product/outcome of the project speaks for itself (acting as a prove of students' performance), the students need to be able to prove and report to the supervising instructor their individual contribution and working hours in the project, as a minimum.
Fail (= to be improved):
The students have not been able to perform the project or some parts of it, or have not answered to the supervising instructor's requests for clarifications. Or, there's too serious lacks in the product/outcome of the project, or in its final report.