DV453      Half Unit
Health and International Development Consultancy Project

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

Students will gain practical experience of dealing with current policy issues and best practice in the fields of health and international development by working on a consultancy team project for an external client. The consultancies are based around an experiential learning format. Students receive guidance through a structured supervision process and work on the consultancy report in Autumn and Winter Terms with support from a staff coach.

Students are allocated to consultancy teams usually comprising between three and six people. Students can express preferences for clients but may not be allocated to one of these. The roster of clients and projects changes every year.

The consultancy project begins in Autumn Term with client reports due at the end of Winter Term. The client report and final presentation form part of the assessment.

There are 4 AT lectures plus 1 AT workshop [to include the inception report presentations] and 1 WT workshop each lasting up to two hours.

8 hours of lectures and 3 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
2 hours of workshops in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.

Presentation

Report

Students will contribute to the Group inception report and presentation (in the AT) and will be given group feedback for each of these.

There is no specific reading for this course as this will reflect the specific project Terms of Reference that students work to.

Presentation (10%)

Report (80%, 8000 words)

Learning Log / reflective learning report (10%)

The reflective learning report comprises two individual diaries plus individual performance assessed through 360-degree student reporting and the coach’s own assessment of individual contributions. 

Final client presentations are at the end of the Winter Term and are scheduled by the students in consultation with academic staff and the client. Students should be aware that presentations to clients may have to take place in the week after the end of WT, and students should plan accordingly and be available to participate if required.

An alternative assessment pathway is available in situations where groups are dissolved or individual students are removed from groups usually, but not exclusively, for disciplinary, client related or personal reasons. The suitability of this pathway is determined by the respective Programme Director and Head of Department. The department may also require or request individual students who have performed extremely well or whose contributions are unclear to demonstrate contributions through a portfolio of assessed work.