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The University of Southampton
Southampton Business School

Southampton postgraduates seize victory in a challenging Association of Project Management contest

Published: 27 March 2017
Business School Students
Business School MSc Project Management students with mentor, HIVE members and WSA Artists

Five Southampton Business School Project Management postgraduate students have defeated four other talented teams to win a prestigious Association for Project Management (APM) contest by organising a successful charity art exhibition.

MSc Project Management (PM) students Dalia Bukhari, Marija Sindic, Mengqi Du, Qin Xia and Yan Pan impressed experienced project, programme and portfolio managers at the final of the APM Wessex branch Project Management Challenge at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. The judges awarded them first prize ahead of two teams from Bournemouth University and two teams of apprentices from BAE Systems.

Southampton’s team, from China, Saudi Arabia and Montenegro, worked with students from Winchester School of Art (WSA) for five months to stage the ChARTism art exhibition to support the HIV charity HIVE. APM mentor Joe McNeil met them every week to give advice and feedback on their planning. On the night, 12 artists displayed 16 artworks and £280 was raised for the good cause. Head of Southampton Business School, Professor Martin Broad said he was impressed by their efforts and a survey of attendees found 97 per cent of people ranked the event four or five out of five.

Project Manager Dalia Bukhari says: “Winning the APM Project Management Challenge will definitely give us a head start in our future careers. It was extremely valuable to put all the theory we learned in the course into practice by organising this exhibition.”

MSc Project Management Programme Leader and a committee member of APM Wessex branch, Dr Ramesh Vahidi adds: “Our students worked hard to engage and collaborate with WSA and other partners to stage this very successful event, combining the Challenge with their academic work. This is the second year that PM postgraduates have won the contest against increasingly tough opposition. We are very proud of them and wish them every success in their future challenges.”

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