Authentic consultancy projects are widely recognised as high-impact practice in business education. They provide students with opportunities to engage with real organisational challenges, develop analytical confidence and apply theory in professional contexts.
In 2023/24, the Level 6 module Final Year Consultancy Project expanded significantly in scale, growing from a single-programme cohort to delivery across multiple programmes, reaching 224 students. This growth presented an opportunity to redesign the delivery model to ensure sustainability, clarity and consistency while preserving the authenticity of employer engagement. Rather than altering the core purpose of the module, the focus was on strengthening its infrastructure.
Centralising employer engagement for equity and sustainability
Previously, consultancy engagement operated through individual company sourcing arrangements. As the cohort expanded, a more structured and sustainable approach was introduced.
A curated network of 16 employer partners was established, with approximately 25 designated company mentors supporting student teams. Students were invited to express ranked preferences for consultancy partners, while maintaining the option to propose external organisations subject to supervisor approval. This preserved flexibility while ensuring equitable access to live projects.
Formal engagement forms and pre-term briefings clarified expectations for employers, students and staff. This ensured that workplace collaboration was clearly aligned with academic learning outcomes and assessment criteria.
The centralised model enhanced sustainability, reduced uncertainty for students and strengthened long-term employer relationships.
Structuring the consultancy journey
To support consistent supervision across a large cohort, a structured consultancy logbook was introduced. The logbook was used by students, academic supervisors and employer mentors to document meetings, milestones and reflective progress.
Weekly mentor drop-in sessions were also embedded into the delivery model, creating regular checkpoints for alignment between academic expectations and consultancy practice.
In addition, a formative pitch milestone was introduced mid-term, enabling students to present preliminary findings and receive structured feedback before final submission. This strengthened developmental feedback while maintaining assessment coherence.
Strengthening moderation and assessment alignment
Scaling authentic assessment requires careful governance. As the cohort increased from 108 to 224 students, moderation processes were reviewed to ensure consistency and manageability.
Clear marking rubrics were shared in advance, calibration discussions were held among supervisors, and representative sampling supported moderation alignment. All assessments were subject to internal moderation and external examiner oversight was maintained.
This structured approach ensured parity of standards across supervisors and delivery locations, while protecting staff workload sustainability.
Impact at scale
Following the redesign we observed four key impacts:
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Student satisfaction increased from 3.8 to 4.3 across 224 students.
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Employer engagement became more structured and sustainable.
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Supervisors reported improved clarity and consistency in assessment processes.
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Students demonstrated increased confidence in managing professional client relationships.
Importantly, these improvements occurred while significantly expanding the module’s scale and complexity.
Rethinking scale in authentic assessment
As business schools increasingly prioritise employability and industry engagement, there is growing pressure to expand authentic assessment models across larger and more diverse student cohorts. However, scale introduces structural questions that are often underexplored.
Authentic assessment at small scale can rely heavily on informal relationships, flexible supervision and implicit understanding between students and tutors. When cohorts expand significantly, these informal mechanisms become insufficient. Without structured processes, variability in supervision, assessment interpretation and employer expectations can emerge - not because of poor practice, but because infrastructure has not evolved alongside scale.
In the redesign of BUSI1319, it became clear that scalability is less about increasing employer numbers and more about designing systems that protect equity, clarity and academic standards. Employer enthusiasm alone does not guarantee consistent learning experiences. Similarly, increasing marking layers does not automatically produce reliable assessment alignment.
Instead, sustainable scale depends on three interconnected elements: transparent communication frameworks, shared assessment calibration among academic staff, and clearly defined employer engagement protocols. These structures reduce ambiguity for students while also supporting staff confidence in supervision and marking decisions.
Importantly, scaling authentic assessment should not dilute its transformative potential. Rather, when governance mechanisms are deliberately embedded, scale can enhance impact by extending high-quality employer-integrated learning to a wider and more diverse student population.
This shift from personality-led delivery to process-informed design represents a necessary evolution in contemporary employability-focused curriculum development.
Lessons for the sector
Three key principles emerged from this experience:
1. Infrastructure matters as much as innovation: authentic assessment requires structured governance to remain sustainable at scale.
2. Centralisation can enhance equity: curated employer networks provide consistent opportunities while maintaining flexibility.
3. Moderation alignment is essential in large cohorts: shared moderation practices are critical to maintaining fairness. Clear rubrics, calibration meetings and external oversight protect academic integrity without relying on blanket double marking for every script.
Scaling employer-integrated learning is not simply about increasing numbers. It requires deliberate design choices that align academic standards with professional engagement and sustainable delivery.
Dr Sadiye Eylul (Ellie) Sadanoglu is Programme Leader for the MA International Business at the University of Greenwich and a Senior Fellow of Advance HE. Her work focuses on employer-integrated learning, sustainable curriculum design and scaling authentic assessment in business education.