Chapter 8: Teaching Consulting to Academics: Reflections on Professionals Supporting an Academic Teaching Program

The recruitment of new talent for consultancy firms confronts these firms with a gap between the academic traditions taught in university and the professional attitude or identity required for a consultant to work in a professional firm (Kerr, 2001). This chapter reflects on an initiative to bridge this traditional gap. In 2010, Delft University of Technology developed a minor in consultancy. In this minor a combination has been made between a traditional academic course and a course that involved practicing senior consultants supervising and evaluating small groups of students in real-world consultancy practices.

The senior consultants supervised the students on two assignments. First, ten weeks were spent on formulating advice on a real problem of a real client. Each senior consultant supervised two groups of four to six students.