Work with students on business projects

A Live Brief gives students insight into how their learning is directly linked to relevant professional practice and tasks and opportunities faced by organisations. 

Students develop their skills, confidence, employability and future career prospects by getting invaluable exposure to real-world situations and experience of working with relevant industry professionals.

Read this blog by ARU student Mathuza Senthivel about her Live Brief experience and the positive difference she feels it has made for her.

As students progress through their studies, they can deliver more complex and specific Live Briefs. Our academics will work with you to ensure that the scope of your Live Brief matches our students’ level of study and benefits your organisation.

Undergraduate courses at ARU encompass science, engineering, business, law, health, education, social care, arts, humanities and social sciences. The majority of these subject areas include a Live Brief module, so a wide range of students are available to collaborate on a variety of projects.

We welcome partner organisations from a wide range of sectors and industries. We encourage external partners to be as creative as possible, as long as the brief itself represents real-life professional practice.

We currently have Live Brief partners of all sizes from sectors including non-profit and charity, local government, construction, engineering, law, aerospace, education, arts and culture, fashion, retail, sports, agri-tech, software, recruitment, life sciences, healthcare, finance, and pharmaceuticals.

A Live Brief will need between three and six hours of your time, depending on what year the students are in.

You will be involved in three key stages of designing and delivering a Live Brief:

1. Live Brief co-design: Before the teaching term begins, our academics work with you to co-design a Live Brief that’s relevant for both your organisation and our students.
2. Live Brief introduction: You introduce your organisation and the Live Brief to students in a live session (face-to-face or online), usually in the beginning of a teaching term.
3. Live Brief professional feedback: You review and provide developmental, professionally-focused feedback on the work students produced for your Live Brief, usually at the end of a teaching term.

Live Briefs usually run in either the autumn or spring terms. These are guide timelines for each term:

Autumn term

Co-design: May-August

Introduction: September-October

Professional feedback: November-December

Spring term

Co-design: May-December

Introduction: January-March

Professional feedback: February-April