Term Project, 7.5 credits

Main field of study

Course level

Advancement level

Entry requirements

• Bachelor’s degree equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen in Business Administration or Economics, or equivalent
  or
  Bachelor’s degree equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen including at least 60 ECTS of Business Administration-related courses (for example Accounting, Marketing, Organization Theory, Strategy, Finance, HRM)
• English corresponding to the level of English in Swedish upper secondary education (Engelska 6)
  Exemption from Swedish

Intended learning outcomes

After completion of the course, the student should be able to:

• Plan, deliver and evaluate a project, within predetermined timeframes, using accepted project management and/or new product development methodologies 
• In teams, coordinate multiple tasks and activities as well as prioritize between them 
• Write a project management report according to specifications 
• Collect, organize and evaluate the necessary information to diagnose and develop solutions for a problem/opportunity 
• Justify and argue for his or her project proposal/outcomes and reflect on the outcomes of actions taken

Course content

Teamwork and skills for leading, planning and controlling international projects are critical business competencies to deal with complex business challenges. First, team skills are essential to coordinate individuals and adapt the organization to the unpredictable demands of the new economy. Second, not only multinational corporations are restructuring into teams around projects, product lines, customers, new kinds of partnerships, etc. but also SMEs are portrayed as small teams of highly motivated people, often with little prior business experience. From practical experience, we know that teams are meaningful only if there is something riding on the team performance, such as a common challenge with real consequences. Throughout this course, students will experience and learn how to deal with key and often overlooked managerial challenges e.g. ability to manage without influence, gain the support of stakeholders and access to resources not directly under your control. 

In the Term Project course, everyone on the team matters, every relationship influences the team performance, and every conflict is a potential learning opportunity. The main objective of this course is to furnish students with competencies to plan, control and innovate that are necessary to successfully manage a challenge. The specific challenge may be of two kinds and here students make a choice depending on their future career plans. Option one is to take on a company challenge, which allows students to learn about project management with a practical, hands-on approach, in a real company challenge setting. The challenge will then be and students will to come up with a solution. For five weeks, students will work in teams with one business challenge (provided by a company) using different project management and/or new product development tools. Option two is to take on a research challenge and is aimed at students who want to pursue an academic career. Here the research challenge will be carried out within a research project and in cooperation with researchers at the department.

Teaching and working methods

The course is designed to encourage active participation and the students are involved in various forms of interactive learning situations. The basic learning pillars are:

• Plenary lectures that will help the student to understand the challenges of planning, coordinating and delivering large scale projects 
• Seminars with managers and industry experts to obtain market insights 
• Feedback sessions to craft the project management report

Examination

The course is examined through:

• A project report that includes all the aspects of project management and/or new product development methodologies 
• Group presentations of expected outcomes of the project proposal 

Detailed information about the examination can be found in the course’s study guide.

If special circumstances prevail, and if it is possible with consideration of the nature of the compulsory component, the examiner may decide to replace the compulsory component with another equivalent component.

If the LiU coordinator for students with disabilities has granted a student the right to an adapted examination for a written examination in an examination hall, the student has the right to it.

If the coordinator has recommended for the student an adapted examination or alternative form of examination, the examiner may grant this if the examiner assesses that it is possible, based on consideration of the course objectives.

An examiner may also decide that an adapted examination or alternative form of examination if the examiner assessed that special circumstances prevail, and the examiner assesses that it is possible while maintaining the objectives of the course.

Students failing an exam covering either the entire course or part of the course twice are entitled to have a new examiner appointed for the reexamination.

Students who have passed an examination may not retake it in order to improve their grades.

Grades

Other information

Planning and implementation of a course must take its starting point in the wording of the syllabus. The course evaluation included in each course must therefore take up the question how well the course agrees with the syllabus. 

The course is conducted in such a way that there are equal opportunities with regard to sex, transgender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation and age.

If special circumstances prevail, the vice-chancellor may in a special decision specify the preconditions for temporary deviations from this course syllabus, and delegate the right to take such decisions.

Department