Syracuse University to launch Harry Potter based programme to motivate students

To get undergraduates to care about corporate finance, the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University is going full-on Harry Potter. The business school is launching a programme on Thursday that will place undergraduate business students into four teams, or “houses,” for the year, “each with a faculty advisor who serves as a house master, and each with its own name and shield, a la Harry Potter,” according to the school’s website.

Students who overachieve will be awarded points that will count for their teams. Attending optional lectures, or getting a certificate in Microsoft Office, for example, will add to students’ point tallies.

At the end of the year, the house with the most points will win a ceremonial cup and get a party with Whitman’s dean, says Kevin Bailey, a school spokesman. “That also was inspired by Harry Potter — the whole idea of the house cup.”

Bailey says that, like JK Rowling, Whitman took its cues from the long history of residential colleges at the UK’s University of Oxford. But when parents ask about the programme, he says, the standard response is: “Well, you know Harry Potter, right?”

This year’s freshman class, which contains about 400 students, will be the first to enter the programme, which the school plans to continue for future incoming classes. Whitman is using a website designed by Bunchball, which makes online games for corporations.

Students will consult the website for tips on how to amass points and will receive badges for certain achievements. They will also get access to a “leader board” that ranks students with the most points in each house.