It also helps develop essential skills such as interviewing, report-writing and presentations, working effectively in a group and, on occasion, producing results under time pressure. Some workshops are guided by senior Operational Research practitioners as guests of the Department. They then form into small groups to tackle the issue, and each group presents its findings and suggestions at a later class session - typically, the following week. There is then a discussion on how the approaches taken compare, both with each other and with the practitioners' experiences. Other exercises help develop an understanding of decision processes through role play, sometimes making use of closed circuit video.
Many major groups collaborate in accepting students, singly or in pairs.
The students work as members of the host group, while also being briefed to act as observers of how the group functions. While three weeks is a short time, the class gains collective experience of life in a wide range of organisations, reflected in discussion and comparison when the class reassembles. This has proved to be a particularly valuable aspect of the Apprenticeship scheme, which is unique to the Strathclyde course. The MSc project is usually carried out for an outside organisation. Students spend the three months from July to September working on a project of importance to the clients.