Collaborative Partnership in Event Management Education: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Sustainable events education requires a collaborative approach between higher education institutions (HEIs), the industry and students. This paper assesses graduating students’ experiences with the BA (Hons) Event Management at a post 1992 university in the United Kingdom. The students design and deliver a major event on behalf of a ‘client’ as part of a collaborative partnership between the university and an external organisation from the events industry. The methodology was underpinned by an interpretivist philosophy with 3 graduating cohorts of 2012/13/14. The findings highlighted issues related to several operational challenges that affected the student experience. The majority of students were satisfied with the overall degree outcomes however anxiety and fear about the assessment objectives and client idiosyncrasies and demands; and, the fact that event management is hard work was perceived negatively by some students and as flaws with the university and client organisations. The findings precipitated changes to how students are supported on live event projects and to how the collaborative relationships between clients and the university are framed.

Keywords: Experiential learning, event management, live event assessments, vocational degrees