In this case study, Sarah Sawyer, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sussex and former Head of Department, talks about the process, drivers and impacts of introducing a student led consultancy project into a year one, semester one module.

What I do: 

In 2025/26 we embedded a student consultancy group project into our semester 1 ‘Reason and Argument’, undergraduate module. The module, which typically has around 70 students, is core for all first year Philosophy students, including joint honours and PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) students.

The module is structured in two halves. In the first half, we teach students some core philosophical skills around critical thinking and analysing arguments, and how bad arguments are used in journalism, media, marketing and social media to persuade or manipulate. In the second half, students apply their learning through the student consultancy project, which was set by an industry expert, who in this case was from Microsoft.

They asked our students to develop a policy on ethical AI use for university students and staff. Working in groups of 5-6, students developed and presented their policy back to the industry expert, who was able to ask them questions and provide some on the spot informal feedback. The students also had to produce information leaflets for both staff and student audiences. We used Buddycheck, the University’s peer evaluation app, to encourage engagement and, importantly, to provide students with their own and others’ teamwork contributions. Finally, students were also required to construct a CV and encouraged and supported to articulate skills they had developed through the consultancy project.

Through this process, students were able to apply what they’d learned in the first half of the semester to a very current problem, develop group and team working skills and presentation skills, think about how different policies might be appropriate for different groups, and practice writing for different audiences. They received a range of different kinds of feedback on their contributions and outputs.

Why I did it: 

The main driver was to find a way to embed more employability within our curriculum. The student consultancy approach came out of a conversation with Emily Huns (Head of Careers, Employability and Entrepreneurship) whose team have a lot of experience in this area. They’ve now been working with a range of industry partners over a number of years to develop both tailored curriculum-based projects and extra-curricula, interdisciplinary, student-led consultancy projects, so they have a model we could follow and were able to help us engage our industry expert.

Another driver is the fact that philosophy is often misunderstood in terms of its relevance to work, including by our students. I want them to see, from their very first term, that the skills they are developing are valued by employers. Having someone from a major technology company explicitly say “we want you, not just coders” is an incredibly powerful message for them to hear at the start of their course.

Also, I think first year, and especially first term, is the ideal place to do this. Our students don’t yet have fixed expectations about assessment, so it is easier to be bold. It also gets them working in groups early, builds confidence, and establishes a sense of belonging. First year marks do not count towards the final degree, so the assessment is relatively low stakes while still being meaningful.

There were also some secondary benefits I had hoped for. The project helps students recognise and articulate the skills they are developing, addressing the ever-present question of “what am I going to do at the end of my degree?” right from the start. It also supports attendance, as students have an ongoing commitment to their group over several weeks and understand that not turning up affects others, not just themselves.

How it went: 

The student consultancy project was received very positively. The department was enthusiastic, and the industry partner was generous with their time, checking in with students at the start, midpoint and end of the project, which really helped our students stay on track and modelled professional ways of working.

Students engaged well with the brief and produced thoughtful, nuanced policies that recognised the appropriateness of different uses of AI in different contexts. Asking them to write information leaflets for staff and student audiences proved particularly valuable, as it forced them to translate abstract reasoning into accessible communication.

BuddyCheck worked well to support fairness and reflection in group work. Students were prompted to think actively about their own contributions and those of others and the tool gave us evidence in the rare cases where group work was uneven.

And, last but not least, having done this project in their first year, I suspect our students will be more likely to participate in the extra-curricular student consultancy projects for which they can get paid and benefit from opportunities to work with students from across a wider range of disciplines.

What I might change: 

The core structure will remain the same, but one area we are developing further is how we support students when groups aren’t functioning well. While rare, there are occasionally groups where one or two members contribute very little, leaving others carrying the work. Students fill in BuddyCheck after the deadlines so we’re going to provide clearer escalation routes and more proactive support when problems arise, encouraging students to let us know early rather than struggling on in silence.

Three top tips for others wanting to do the same: 

1. Be bold in first year. Students are far more adaptable than we sometimes assume, and early experiences set expectations for how they will learn and work throughout their degree.
2. Embed employability in a meaningful content. Do not bolt it on as an extra. Choose a rich, interesting brief that requires students to apply disciplinary thinking to real world problems.
3. Prepare students for group work. Even a small amount of explicit discussion about collaboration, presentations and professional skills can make a significant difference, without detracting from academic depth.

Additional information: 

If you’re interested in introducing a student consultancy project into your course or module, or introducing other forms of experiential learning, please contact the Careers and Entrepreneurship team at careers@sussex.ac.uk to discuss the support available.

For more information about opportunities for students, see the student facing information about Career Lab and Student Consultancy Projects.