"The British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong set a project for two syndicates from the course to examine how it should create a 'job search' capability to serve its SME members on its web site. The project lasted from October 2010 to April 2011. One syndicate was female and one all male. The project commenced with a briefing which set out the objectives of the project and set the timeline for completion. Support from the Chamber was through its Marketing and Communications Executive on an as required basis and with two timed meetings to monitor progress.  The entire project was conducted in English, both oral and written.  The final part was a presentation to the Executive Director of the Chamber and his Marketing and Communications Executive in two parts; one 40 minute presentation and question and answer. Both syndicates produced solutions of high quality and the male syndicate in addition to the master project solution gave a completely new approach to dealing with the problem by the use of social media.  Both syndicates in addition to the formal oral presentation produced excellent written submissions. The Chamber was delighted with the quality of the work and the positive attitude of the students who made up the two syndicates. It underlined the value of the associate Degree when combined with a high quality 'Top Up' such as that offered by Edinburgh Napier University."

"I was honoured to  work with students from Edinburgh Napier University's BA Hons Marketing Management course in Hong Kong on  a live project, which involves students working on a real life marketing issue  and coming up with solutions.   I'm originally from Edinburgh so I know Edinburgh Napier University well - the University's standards and  qualifications are  really good quality, which is  one of the reasons I agreed to get involved.   I am very glad that  I did.   I was so impressed with the  students ideas and professionalism during  the project that I  hired two of the University's students as interns with the aim to hire at least one of them  full time in the future." (She did later)

"SPCA worked with 4 teams of students on 2 projects: “Branding” and “Face-to-Face Fundraising”. During this interaction we are pleased that students showed a fair amount of interest and positive attitude towards the project. The projects are real business problems that our organization is facing. By exposing the students to these real-life problems we hope that they will have an appreciation of what is required in the business world, and possibly offer a “bolt of lightning” solution.

The result is mixed. While some students try hard and go the extra mile, others are still seeing it as simply another university project and thus preclude making effort to really understand the issues deeper and offer practical solutions. The onus is upon all three parties (university, business partner, and students) to ensure that students can get the most out of it. A variation of this scheme, by deeper immersion of the students into the organization, may prove to be more worthwhile in terms of kick-starting their thought process. In summary, it was an interesting and worthwhile exercise for SPCA as a host organization and we are happy to support the program."