Employer collaboration and partnerships
From concept to delivery, the MSc ITMOC is grounded firmly in practice – and a key part of that is the programme's close involvement with a number of major employers.
Accenture
Since 2005, ITMOC has been working closely with Accenture, one of the world's largest and most successful professional services and consulting firms.
The collaboration takes two main forms:
- Teaching
Consultants from Accenture work with ITMOC faculty in teaching one of the core modules, Systemic Interventions and Consulting. Using real case studies, the Accenture staff introduce their various approaches to consulting interventions, demonstrating how they elicit client requirements, analyse and structure problems, and, ultimately, bring about change in their clients’ organisations. The Accenture team run workshops where students are required to present their analysis of case study problems. - Client projects
Each summer Accenture sponsors several ITMOC projects that involve students researching an issue of concern that the company faces in its consulting engagements. Examples include the future of UK border control, identity management in the UK, and utility computing.
The project work forms the basis of the students’ dissertations, and each project involves two ITMOC students (currently EU only) working closely with a consultant over the dissertation period. The reports arising from the ITMOC projects have been published within Accenture’s Knowledge Archive Series.
SAP
Our collaboration with SAP takes place under the SAP University Alliance Programme. As part of the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning module, students are introduced to SAP software, and taught how to use and configure it.
SAP is the third largest software vendor in the world, and SAP knowledge and experience is highly sought after by both users of SAP and by large professional services and consulting firms. Since SAP experience is usually extremely difficult to obtain prior to graduation, being able to acquire this within the programme gives ITMOC students a significant advantage in the job market.
Deloitte
The programme now works closely with the global consultancy firm Deloitte, who contribute to the ITMOC guest lecture series. The company also has also sponsored several ITMOC summer projects, and a number of ITMOC graduates have been recruited on to its graduate scheme.
Barclays
The programme has recently developed a partnership with Barclays, one of world's leading banks. Barclays representatives take part in the ITMOC guest lecture series, and the company is also keen to attract graduates to its IT leadership scheme at the end of the ITMOC programme.
