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The University of Southampton
Engineering

Student teams reach the semi-final of the Universities Business Challenge

Published: 27 March 2017
University of Southampton UBC
The University of Southampton team led by Annabel Solnik

Three teams of second-year undergraduate students from Engineering and the Environment were entered into the Universities Business Challenge (UBC) competition. Two teams made it to the semi-final stage held at the University of Bristol in March. Our semi-finalist teams did very well, but unfortunately did not move forwards to the final.

The UBC is the world’s longest established and leading undergraduate simulation-based competition, designed to develop employability and enterprise skills. It offers a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to improve their knowledge of business by putting the theory into practice and developing skills in team-working and leadership. This year, over 250 teams from universities across the UK took part in the challenge, competing to achieve maximum profit, acquire new business, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Pictured outside the Great Hall at the University of Bristol are the team, led by Annabel Solnik from Environmental Science, with team members Robert Ezigbo from Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Mridu Gupta, Thomas Holdaway and Kerry Aziz from Mechanical Engineering. Speaking about the competition, team leader Annabel commented: “The Universities Business Challenge was a great experience and a wonderful insight into the business world. We had the chance to run our own simulation company for five weeks and solve several business exercises under a time limit in the semi-final. I'm very proud of how our team did and we had a lot of fun. I'm sure that the UBC experience as a whole was very beneficial to everyone who took part.”

The team led by Nick Turner
The team led by Nick Turner

Also pictured is the team led by Nick Turner, Mechanical Engineering, with team members Krishna Venkatramani,  also from Mechanical Engineering, Horea Toniuc from Aeronautics and Astronautics, Ryan Cheung, Civil Engineering with a Year in Industry, and Jiaze Xu from Acoustical Engineering. Nick added: “The UBC was a fun and competitive window into the world of business. I learnt a lot, both about business skills, but also teamwork and management. I’d strongly suggest students take part, both those considering a career in business, but more importantly those that aren’t”. Professor Anna Barney, Associate Dean for Education commented "Well done everyone who took part. It's a tough competition and the teams did well to get so far."

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