Pixel International Conferences

The paper will report about a recent initiative by the authors (Haaga-Helia’s staff on Porvoo Campus) to use thesis seminar groups as a form of project work commissioned by one of the world’ leading IT solution providers in the travel and tourism industry.

The paper will outline how such cooperation can be initiated, conceptualised, planned and implemented, based on the competences in sales and services that have been extensively integrated by Haaga-Helia across its curricula with successful impacts on the work of the staff and on the students’ learning.

The paper will show how a thesis seminar group became the optimal form for the students and the staff to create and deliver value for the commissioner, which resulted in new insights into the commissioner’s operational environment, new ideas on how to advance digital distribution of the commissioner’s products, and new employment opportunities for the students.

The paper will also reflect on how complex and challenging the process of securing and implementing such a commission can be and what university staff could do in adjusting their work practices so that the industry would see the students as partners and enablers of innovation.