EEG Gullegem is located in the heart of the Gullegem-Moorsele industrial zone, alongside around 200 other companies. This means a great deal of activity, and a location that undoubtedly offers commercial added value. Amidst this bustling environment, and like many other companies in the industrial zone, EEG is looking for ways to enhance the well-being of its employees and improve their work-life balance.
How can we help our employees? Which services would bring them added value? Quickly grabbing a sandwich at lunchtime, dropping off a parcel at the post office, or picking up a few groceries after work?
To gain more insight into this, we called upon the help of Business Management & Entrepreneurship students from Vives University of Applied Sciences. Commissioned by EEG, 64 students are conducting market research among various stakeholders, investigating whether there is also a demand for a service center in the industrial area among other companies.
Through this close collaboration with Vives, we offer students the chance to get a taste of the real business world. Via the market research, they come into contact with various parties such as a local council, an intercommunal development agency, local traders… Real-life experiences that they cannot get behind a school desk.
Sara Callens, lecturer at Vives: “At school, students only see theory. Thanks to the collaboration with EEG, they can immediately put theory into practice. We work a lot with fictional cases, but a real business case is still on another level. The students experience how things work in a company and realize that the output they deliver needs to be good. As the case progresses, they become increasingly aware of the reality of the situation and the fact that the company actually needs these results. There is a growing realization that they really need to handle this well and ensure a high-quality outcome.”
“Such collaborations are obviously important, but it is not always easy to integrate them into a course. We try to offer a business case every year and are therefore grateful to EEG for this collaboration,” Sara Callens added.
Zoë Vercruysse, a student in Business Management & Entrepreneurship, enjoys being able to work on a project that is meaningful to a company that will actually use the results afterwards. “Our efforts are important to provide EEG with actionable insights. The company visit to EEG was definitely added value. It’s great to have direct contact with employees and to get a feel for the atmosphere within the company. Over the past few months, there was still a strong focus on theory, which we will be putting into practice in the coming months. I am certainly looking forward to it!”
The assignment runs until the end of the current school year. We are already looking forward to the feedback from the market research and the results the students will achieve here!