Experiences of taking students on business trips: with recommendations for organising successful business trips

Visits to businesses provide an opportunity for students to see first-hand how different operations are managed, particularly in areas not often seen, such as manufacturing. They can be linked with classroom learning and teaching and can also provide opportunities for work- related assessment. This paper presents the outcome of a teaching and learning project that aimed to take a number of undergraduate and postgraduate business students from the University of Hertfordshire on a variety of operations-related business trips during the academic year 2009/2010. The organisation of these trips is described and they are evaluated by students. It is demonstrated that such trips take some time to get organised but can be run on virtually no budget and are very well received by students. A model for the development and implementation of business trips is presented.