Using Management Advisory Boards in the Classroom

Project-based courses have become common in universities. Using management advisory boards in projects courses can enhance their realism and spur students to greater levels of achievement. Advisory boards, consisting of volunteers with extensive business experience, advise students on how to complete their project, review progress, and evaluate students’ work, and they confront the students when it doesn’t measure up. Students report that advisory boards motivate them to perform well on their projects and help them learn what will be expected on the job after college. This article describes the effects that boards had in a course and provides suggestions for successfully utilizing such boards.