Green Consultants

Description - summary of the module content

Module description

With a greater requirement than ever before to manage resources more efficiently and be green, the ability for industry to remain profitable and still competitively deliver products and services is fast becoming a real challenge. Acting as trainee consultants you will learn how to interact and consult with professionals, and how to influence the management of key resources by conducting waste, water, energy and carbon accounting. You will help to introduce strategies to manage these resources more effectively, increase profitability and positively affect the environment. The module reflects the interdisciplinary nature of research on the campus and is complimentary to a variety of other modules that focus on the environment more widely.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aim of the Green Consultants module is to enable students who have an interest in working in the environment and sustainability sector to develop the technical and transferable skill sets required through a formal learning process before embarking on work experience with a relevant organisation.  You will gain an invaluable experience of the sector and develop a range of transferable career skills.

Recognised by industry, Green Consultants involves facilitated experiential learning with a multi-disciplinary student body drawn from range of degrees and year groups. Here it offers you the opportunity to apply learnt consulting skills in a business setting by working alongside real clients in small consulting teams to deliver live business outputs on campus. Following on from this you will capitalise on these skills and experiences by undertaking a suitable industry-based placement.

The environmental and sustainability sectors can be highly competitive so if you take the module you will also go through a realistic application and selection process prior to the training to enable this learning experience.

As a trainee consultant you will learn how to carry out energy, water, waste and carbon audits as well as develop skill sets as a change agent. Moreover, as this programme is business-orientated, professional, business and commercial awareness skills will also be further developed. Understanding and learning how to effect sustainable change in a business is another key part. The Green Consultants programme provides you with an amazing opportunity to develop your CV and build a greater understanding of this field of work making this a very competitive programme.

The Green Consultants programme is designed to give you:

• An awareness of application and selection methods for roles in the sector
• Basic level knowledge on carbon accounting, water, energy and waste auditing
• Techniques for instigating organisational and behavioural change
• Skills and knowledge to be effective change agents within organisations
• An opportunity to apply learned materials in a business setting delivering real tangible outcomes
• The chance to develop consultancy level skill sets and experiences
• Increased confidence and effective approaches to operating in a professional context
• Valuable experience and opportunities within the environment sector
• Access to a support network of like-minded individuals passionate about creating environmental change

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Consult effectively with a client and develop a project brief
• 2. Conduct basic level waste, water, energy and travel auditing as well as carbon accounting
• 3. Complete an on-campus project delivering live business out-puts
• 4. Write a professional business report, and deliver a formal presentation of your project findings to senior stakeholders

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Identify and influence organisational and staff drivers
• 6. Describe the interaction of resources and products and the associated ecological rucksack
• 7. Apply the waste hierarchy
• 8. Use behavioural profiling and successfully engage different personality types
• 9. Explain how cause and effect of business processes impact on the use of resources

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 10. Work confidently with professionals via face-to-face meetings, Skype and e-mail etc. to set up the project, and provide feedback and updates on project progress to the programmes clients and staff via formal meetings
• 11. Manage time and communicate effectively through having to deal with multiple stakeholders, managers, and the challenges associated with booking meetings and project creep, as well as managing client expectations
• 12. Work effectively in a team and deal with challenges such as motivation, time management, awareness, communication, responsibility and achievement of project deadlines
• 13. Act professionally in a business setting via the delivery of formal presentations to senior campus staff and clients and interaction with Green Consultants programme managers
• 14. Create your own professional network and gain commercial awareness via Linked In and interaction with external professionals as part of the syllabus, on campus projects and internships
• 15. Apply valuable insight on the recruitment and selection processes of industry gained from direct experience of the Green Consultant application and assessment centre, and support in finding internships from the programmes dedicated careers consultants

Syllabus plan

Syllabus plan

Autumn Term

Application and selection processes

• Submission of a CV tailored for the environment / sustainability sector
• Completion of an online application form comprising questions to demonstrate interest, aspirations, suitable skill sets and problem solving
• Assessment centre

Three-day training programme in December, including:

• Meeting your client
• Working up the project brief
• Conducting audits: water, waste, energy, travel and carbon
• Organisational analysis
• Change management "How to make friends and influence people"
• Presenting your results and recommendations

Spring Term

35 hour on-campus project

A five day on-campus project undertaken with FXPlus (Falmouth and Exeter estates management service) to put into practice what you have learnt during the training. Working in small consultancy project teams you consult directly with a number of clients to develop a project brief, set up and attend management meetings and feedback progress to your clients and the Green Consultants management team. You will also produce a business report and give a formal presentation to the client and senior FXPlus staff and University of Exeter Penryn campus staff. Please note these are live projects with time critical and service dependant delivery.

Summer Term

Placement

The final part pf the programme is a placement. This must be for a minimum of three weeks, completed by the end of July (any final year students undertaking this module will need to undertake their placement alongside the on-campus project or over the Easter vacation period) and must have an environmental or sustainability focus. It can include working for a company that has a direct sustainability focus (e.g. The Met Office), or working with a company that has no direct sustainability focus, where the students can set up or support a sustainability-related project, (e.g. Working in Aldi and improving their packaging recycling programmes or setting up a food waste recycling programme in their canteen).

The placements won’t be provided directly by the programme. This requires you to start to use Linked In and other platforms to look for opportunities, explore the sector and establish professional networks. However, you will have support from a dedicated Green Consultants member of staff throughout this process.

Once the placement has been completed you then produce a reflective report on the organisation and their direct or indirect sustainability contribution, detailing your role and the skills / experience you gained from the position.

Learning and teaching

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Assessment

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Re-assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to resubmit work as stipulated above. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will count for 100% of the final mark and will be capped at 40%.

The group final business report and presentation assessments are neither referable nor deferrable because of the group nature of the work. If you fail or miss through mitigation either of these assessments, you will be required to submit an analysis of the group final business report and an individual presentation to the Green Consultants management team as necessary.

Resources

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• My Career Zone Resources– filter by CV, Applications, Assessment Centre etc
• My Career Zone Digital– online videos and training to support skills development
• Carbon Trust
• Supply Chain Sustainability School
• NAO Short Guide for Environmental Protection and Sustainability

The programme has a supporting ELE page offering additional learning as both pre-course reading and materials that support the three day training programme, students’ interactions with their clients, internship opportunities and recruitment and selection processes of the environmental sector. In addition the Green Consultants have a closed Linked In page which all trainees are added to promoting jobs opportunities with in the sector, access to Green Consultants alumni and up to date sector specific  information to increase commercial awareness and opportunity.

Module has an active ELE page

Key words search

Green Consultants, work experience, project brief, organisational analysis, change management, work experience, internship, assessment centre, presenting your results and recommendations, consulting