Class Feature: What Students Do In Projects
The leadership core experience at the African Leadership University comprises of a mix of relevant courses that are geared towards equipping students with skills necessary to thrive in the working world. One of the core courses of the foundation year at ALU is Projects, a course that allows students to be engaged in real life work on specific projects for some of our partnering organizations.
“From Projects, I learnt practical skills that taught me how to approach solving problems presented to me in a very structured manner.” – Elsen Njeri Wainaina, Year 2, Kenya.
The reason why the Projects course is so pivotal to the foundation year of any student at ALU is because it is aimed at helping students manage complex tasks in an organized manner, hone their project management skills and affords them the opportunity to develop their interpersonal skills by working in teams. This is done through unique real-time projects with clients in different industries, with a focus on Africa. Through the course of the project, students attend class to get real time advice from their faculty members on the specific deliverables required of them. In class, they are also able to learn about a specific content or framework needed in the course of the completion of the project. Thereafter, students engage in peer work where they work with their assigned peers to provide solution to the problem at hand that the company aims to solve. Later on, students spend personal time by themselves in completing a task they have been tasked to do by their peers. This can be anything from contacting crucial stakeholders that can positively impact the project or brainstorming several ideas to advance the project towards achieving its proposed goal. In the end, students come up with recommendations for specific companies’ projects based on their personal (and peer) research and preparation or advise from the faculty through class sessions and office hours respectively.
“Doing corporate projects allowed me to leverage the knowledge and skills of my peer mates as well as set me up for success in how to work in teams. They also gave me an opportunity to learn about how to manage complex tasks in fast-paced work environments; a skill that I use today as someone who is intrinsically interested in project management.” – Daniel Izu Lifuka Sichinga, Year 4, Zambia.
In the past, our students have worked with social enterprises and top companies across several industries ranging from finance, to IT solutions, to cosmetics products and even agriculture. From working on a market expansion strategy in Mainland Africa for a financial and mass-marketing retail company based in Mauritius to delivering a digital innovation marketing strategy for a global skin care products company, our students have the opportunity to work with companies on real projects to create potential solutions while at the same time develop their skills. The experience of the Projects class at ALU has afforded students the opportunity to put their critical thinking and research skills into use, work in teams, manage complex tasks, plan and organize effectively while at the same time having a real time experience on working on real life projects in the context of Africa.