Whose project is it anyway?

This paper aims to discuss the increasing pressure on the continued existence of the Honours Project in its present form. The author uses the recent changes implemented on the BA Business Studies Degree at Coventry University as a case study to illustrate the need for continuous sensitivity to environmental pressures and specifically for a proactive approach to anticipate future necessary change to the structure, supervision and assessment of the Project. Increasing student numbers emphasise the relatively high cost in resource terms of supervising projects; increasing levels of competitiveness and changing work patterns in industry highlight the demand for independent, self-disciplined graduates with good problem solving skills, the main attributes the Honours Project aims to promote; and advances in technology such as cheap, powerful and readily available word processing and publishing software, computerised easily accessible research and publication databases, and the ubiquitous ‘Internet’ give unprecedented access to information and the ability to easily present projects and assignments to a higher standard than was possible even five years ago. The paper incorporates the results of a survey carried out specifically with regard to BA Business Studies Degrees within Business Schools in the ‘New University’ sector (Polytechnics prior to 1992) in the UK.