Jaqquline Lawrie, 4 November, 2022
Every day at QUT, our business students work on real-world projects with leading industry professionals.
Our courses are built around practical experience and hands-on learning to ensure our students are equipped with the skills they need to thrive and adapt in their future professions.
From day one, undergraduate business students engage in hands-on learning opportunities where they apply their learnings to real-world practical situations.
The Centre for Future Enterprise delivers one of our many programs providing practical learning opportunities to students at QUT, offering a gateway into the action of it all.
Associate Professor at the QUT Business School, Dr Paula Dootson, facilitates this offering in our introductory business core unit, The Future Enterprise.
"We designed this unit to allow students to apply their learnings to real-world practical situations that a client is currently facing," said Paula.
"In our student's first year, first semester, first day of university, they are briefed by a CEO and Senior Executives with a wicked real-world problem.”
"They then spend the rest of the semester working out what the future could look like for that industry and what the client should do to remain successful in any possible future that may emerge."
One of our real-world clients we partnered with to deliver this course was Opera Queensland. Opera Queensland is the state opera company for Queensland and is the state’s major creator of opera and music theatre.
Patrick Nolan, Opera Queensland’s CEO and Artistic Director, met with students on their first day and briefed them on their real-world problem.
"We came to QUT with a very specific question. We were interested in how digital could help us unlock younger audiences across Queensland," he said.
From there, students formed small groups and designed and tested a variety of innovative business solutions over the course of the semester with the expertise and guidance of Associate Professor Dr Paula Dootson.
At the end of the semester students who demonstrated the best academic and business cases were given the opportunity to present their ideas and solutions directly to Opera Queensland’s CEO.
For QUT Bachelor of Business / Bachelor of Laws (Honours) student Zac Ravena, having the guidance and support of QUT teaching staff was incredibly beneficial before walking into make his presentation to the industry client.
"Every week, throughout the unit, my lecturer Paula gave us little pieces to the puzzle to build our recommendations up to what they needed to be to present them to the industry partner," said Zac.
“Dr Dootson also supported us along the journey and having her reassurance and encouragement helped prepare us to go into the presentation confidently with Opera Queensland’s CEO and Executive Staff.
“I know you’re not as supported in the real world, so I’m thankful for this hands-on learning experience and head start to my career.”
Patrick Nolan said Opera Queensland’s partnership with QUT was mutually beneficial, and the ideas pitched by QUT students helped inform their Senior Executive team’s thinking around their relationship with the organisation.
“QUT students were really impressive because they thoroughly researched the problem we had set for them, and they approached it in a very respectful way,” said Patrick.
"We went into the project with a certain amount of trepidation as opera is not considered an art form that young people engage in, but the students at QUT quickly changed our minds in that regard.
"They brought such energy and freshness to the case study that we could see there was a genuine possibility in what they were offering, and their ideas and way of thinking was very inspiring."
Zac Ravena said engaging with industry and helping them solve real-world problems gave depth to the assignment and made it much more significant.
"Don't get me wrong, grades are great, but knowing that a business is here wanting help and that you're doing this for them, for the industry, is much more meaningful than getting a high grade on an assessment,” he said.
Industry engagements like this are incredibly valuable for our students as they offer practical experience and help them develop the mindset and skill set required to approach the future world of work.
“Working on a real-world problem with industry clients from the get-go is so important for students like me,” said Zac.
“It not only builds up your confidence so early on, but it connects you with industry who as a student I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to interact with otherwise”.
Patrick Nolan echoed this sentiment saying: “Industry projects like this enable our organisation to meet and engage with students at the beginning of their careers.
“In some instances, we have even employed the students we have worked with."
Find out more about the hands-on learning opportunities made available to QUT's Bachelor of Business students.
