The Kogod School of Business is one of a limited number of graduate business schools in the country to offer a course where companies pay for consulting services from students, according to The New York Times.
Robert Sicina, an executive-in-residence and a Kogod international business professor, is the director of Kogod's MBA programs and has been integral in creating the consulting course for Kogod graduate students. Sicina ran a trial version of the course this summer and received positive feedback from companies, students and AU's administration.
The course, "Consulting Practicum," is part of the master's degree program in business administration and is a three-credit elective course, Sicina said.
"The entire course is built around live consulting projects," he said.
Sicina said he goes out to companies to find the projects and finds faculty supervisors for the course's projects. Then, students register for the course. They apply and are selected for individual projects based on their "quality of enthusiasm for the particular project," said Sicina.The projects include, but are not limited to, strategy development and financial administration advice.
Although other U.S. graduate schools, such as the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University, offer student consultation services to companies free of charge, Sicina said the companies that pay Kogod for the consulting work are getting a good value.
"Companies don't hesitate to pay the price," Sicina said. "They know they are really getting a tremendous value for their money."
While consulting firms are more professional, they charge between $50,000 to $100,000, Sicina said.
"We're using students, and it's a different kind of work," Sicina said. "For many projects, the level of work we do is more than adequate for the company."
Companies are enthusiastic about using students, he said.
"I've been doing this for six months and haven't had anyone say no," he said.
Sicina said Kogod will work with both for-profit and non-profit companies. Kogod charges small companies $5,000 and non-profits $2,500 for consultations with the graduate students. Sicina said the money goes toward Kogod's internal revenue.
For the spring semester, Sicina said those in the course are planning to work with a company in knowledge management space from D.C. The students will create a strategic transition plan to move the company to professional management. Students will also work on a non-profit project for a major local hospital, he said.
Kogod is expecting to run three to six projects this spring as of now, Sicina said. Graduate students can still register for the course.
Sara Couch, a junior in Kogod, said she had Sicina teach her "Business 1.0" class during her freshman year.
Many of the professional executives-in-residence, like Sicina, have experience in the field they are teaching and bring speakers to class who have experience in the business world, she said.
"It's been nice to hear what an actual career would be like," Couch said. "What we learn is a lot of theory in class. These people come in and describe how these things specifically apply to what they do"
