Professional skill-building seminar: project design, management and diffusion

lspol2901  2019-2020  Louvain-la-Neuve

Professional skill-building seminar: project design, management and diffusion
Note from June 29, 2020
Although we do not yet know how long the social distancing related to the Covid-19 pandemic will last, and regardless of the changes that had to be made in the evaluation of the June 2020 session in relation to what is provided for in this learning unit description, new learnig unit evaluation methods may still be adopted by the teachers; details of these methods have been - or will be - communicated to the students by the teachers, as soon as possible.
5 credits
15.0 h + 10.0 h
Q2
Teacher(s)
Koutroubas Theodoros; Rihoux Benoît;
Language
English
Content
This teaching unit goes through the practical steps of two 'real-life' professional situations for an expert in fields related to political science. The seminar is organized in two sequences of 4 teaching sessions (each sequence: one 'real-life' professional situation) animated respectively by B. Rihoux and Th. Koutroubas, with the support of a teaching assistant. Each student is asked to choose one 'real-life' professional situation he/she will follow from A to Z.
1. Managing a project as an external consultant: (a) submitting a bid (answering an call for external consultancy) including budgetary projections; (b) negotiating a contract; (c) designing/planning the project; (d) managing the project on a daily basis; following milestones; (e) reporting.
2. Managing a project as a hired staff member: (a) getting a grip on the project (understanding/framing the request); (b) designing/planning the project; (c) managing the project on a daily basis; following milestones; (d) reporting.
 
Each one of the two sequences is introduced during 1 session (presenting some transversal 'good practices' and going through the respective steps) by the respective instructors; this is then followed by 3 applied sessions during which the students who have chosen one given situation discuss/present how they would manage the successive steps of the project ' this being de-briefed by the instructor.
Teaching methods
Interactive seminar, with active involvement of the students during 6 of the 8 sessions. The instructors also invite guest experts to the extent possible, and a teaching assistant is involved in the follow-up of the practical steps
Evaluation methods
This is a seminar-type course, with an individual project work and written report, presented in front of the group. Both the written report and presentation are graded
Bibliography
Quelques manuels de référence sur la gestion de projets et sur les 'bonnes pratiques' sont utilisés, ainsi que (surtout) du matériau primaire issu de projets réellement menés par le passé.
Faculty or entity
PSAD


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [120] in Political Sciences: General