Law students on the pitch at Exeter City Football ground

Law students present their survey results to Exeter City Football Club

On Friday 18th May 2012, six law students gave a presentation to Exeter City Football Club.  It was the culmination of five months' work on a data analysis project looking into the consumer behaviour of the Club's fans and of the wider public perception of the Club's community engagement work.

As reported in March, Exeter City Football Club and the University of Exeter have been working together to create placement opportunities for students. Exeter law students worked on an innovative new project collecting and analysing data for the Club.  Earlier in the year, the students were invited to speak at the law alumni networking event about their experiences which provided a good platform to practice their presentation skills before their final presentation to the Club on Friday 18th May.

Each group presented their findings from the data and drew conclusions as to how the football club might take forward some of their ideas. Jay Milling, General Manager at Exeter City Football Club commented; "The football club were delighted to work with the students this term and we look forward to continuing to work with a new group of students during the next year. It has always been our intention to make this a long term project and the groundwork done this year has set a firm platform to expand upon. We as an organisation gained a useful insight into our fan base and will use some of this information in our marketing campaigns for next season as well as giving a clear idea of how we can structure future projects."

Presenting in front of the Chairman and Chief Executive as well as a range of other trustees was daunting for the students but they performed well, fielding lots of tough questions. The experience of working on a project like this will undoubtedly prepare the students well for their future careers. As student James McDevitt reflected; "This unique placement provided the opportunity to practically develop data research and analysis skills, whilst establishing strong client relations."

The students undertook this project as part of the Learning from Work Experience module. Julia Paci, Employability and Work Placement Officer, would be happy to hear from anyone interested in offering a short placement or project to students taking the work experience module.

Date: 28 May 2012