Academy · Mentoring

Leading student teams on real work

LangOptima takes part in the University of Warwick’s TeaMWork programme as a partner organization. We put a real challenge in front of a multidisciplinary team of students — from Warwick and partner universities around the world — and mentor them through it for four weeks, the way they would be led on a project in industry.

4 weeks
The length of each TeaMWork project cycle
6–8 students
A multidisciplinary team, drawn from several universities
Global & online
Warwick with partner universities, across time zones

The programme

What TeaMWork is

TeaMWork is the University of Warwick’s online international experience programme. It connects organizations with multidisciplinary teams of students from Warwick and partner universities around the world — Monash University among them, spanning Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia — who work together on a real project over four weeks. LangOptima takes part as one of those partner organizations.

01

A real brief

We bring a genuine project or business challenge from the work we do — enterprise AI, knowledge graphs, language technology, or growth — not a set exercise written for a classroom.

02

A global team

Six to eight students from Warwick and partner universities, across different disciplines and time zones, form a team for the project. Many are working with people they have never met, in another country.

03

Four focused weeks

The team works online over four weeks. Students start with an onboarding workshop to build their employability skills, and have access to an organization mentor throughout — that is the part we lead.

Our role

How we lead a team for four weeks

As the organization mentor, we set the brief, meet the team through the project, and give the kind of direction and feedback students would get on a real engagement. The aim is simple: a piece of work the team is proud of, and four weeks that feel like industry rather than coursework.

Week 1

Kick off & frame

We introduce the challenge, the context, and what a good outcome looks like — then help the team shape a plan and split the work across their disciplines.

Weeks 2–3

Build & steer

Regular check-ins to unblock the team, react to what they find, and keep the work pointed at the outcome. We answer questions the way a client or manager would.

Week 4

Deliver & reflect

The team presents what they built. We give honest, useful feedback — on the work and on how they worked together — that they can carry into internships and first jobs.

What we bring

  • A real problem worth a team’s time, drawn from live work.
  • Context and direction — the “why” behind the brief, not just the task.
  • Steady access to a mentor who does this work for a living.
  • Honest feedback, delivered the way it would be in industry.

What students take away

  • Experience of a real, cross-border, cross-discipline project.
  • Intercultural, communication, and project-management skills under a deadline.
  • A finished piece of work to talk about with employers.
  • A view of enterprise AI and growth from inside a working company.

For universities & institutions

Give your students a real project to work on

If you run a university, course, or student programme and would like your students to work on genuine enterprise AI, data, language-technology, or growth challenges — mentored by someone doing the work every day — we would like to hear from you. We already partner with Warwick through TeaMWork, and we are open to working with other institutions and programmes.

A good fit if

  • You want your students exposed to real industry problems, not case studies.
  • Your students span disciplines — technical and non-technical both work well.
  • You value international, remote collaboration as part of the experience.
  • You are open to a short, focused project rather than a long placement.

How to start

  • Send a short note about your institution and your students.
  • We reply directly — you speak with Edwin Trebels, not a sales team.
  • We agree a project and a timeframe that fits your calendar.

Or write to edwin.trebels@langoptima.com from your own mail client, or use the contact page.