The Bridge
Learning experience, Design Research, Communications Design
2018
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The Lebanese International University (LIU) is a leader in higher education with over nine campuses in Lebanon, offering undergrad and graduate studies across five faculties.
Role: Experience and visual designer
THE CHALLENGE
While working and pursuing my MBA studies at LIU, I realized, together with other students and professors, that we need to connect on-campus projects and learn to grow industries in our local communities.
We wondered: how can we bridge academia and industry to open doors for sharing, learning, and innovating?
THE OUTCOME
‘The Bridge,’ a day of business workshops, bringing students, local businesses, and practitioners of over 20 specialties to share knowledge and explore real industry challenges.
IMPACT
More than 300 students and 40 experts and business leaders participated in the pilot. Eighty percent of the students reported high engagement during the event, and 70% learned new methodologies. Tens of students started conversations that translated into internships, jobs, and funding opportunities. The Bridge prototype inspired more community-based projects in other faculties.
THE PROCESS
Coming together
The team and I interviewed junior, senior, and graduate business students, eager to understand their learning journey and curious to hear about what they wanted to do next. We also interviewed business leaders from primary industries to understand the challenges they face in growing and sustaining business models.
We elicited major insights from the stories we heard. For example, students told us that one of their most common pain points was boredom during lectures. They also worried about failing to find relevant job opportunities, and asked themselves questions like ‘do I have the skills to thrive in a real job?’
Our discussions with business leaders highlighted the need for creativity in business. We also mapped out stakeholders that might influence tackling the challenge.
Creating together
We came up with ideas and decided to experiment with one. A ‘workshop-full day that our professor named ‘the Bridge.’ We invited experts in different experts in human and technical business specialties, business leaders in major industries within our community (who sponsored our initiative), and students to talk, think and experiment. We planned the schedule, and I got my hands on designing the event communications.
We hung posters all around the university and shared an online registration link. On the first registration day, more than 50 students signed up! On the Bridge day, 300 students attended different workshops. Collecting instant feedback through conversations on that day and following up with post-event reflections, we learned that students enjoyed the interactive learning and networking most.
The Bridge first event poster.
Learning Together
We noticed that digital marketing and entrepreneurship topics were overbooked, while technical sessions received less engagement. In addition, we found that bringing up too many topics was a lot for a pilot. Interestingly, many non-business students attended different workshops, inspiring the introduction of interdisciplinary courses in various majors.
Connecting students, business owners, and experts.
