A team of four students from Australia’s RMIT University beat finalists from five other leading international universities to win this year’s CIOB Global Student Challenge.
The competition, held in an online construction business simulation game, was launched in February to identify and mould the construction leaders of tomorrow. It took place over six rounds and was entered by a total of 20 countries, including Australia, Hong Kong, the UK and the US.
The team from RMIT University received a trophy and a £2,000 cash prize, and will now be entered into a mentoring programme through which industry leaders will offer guidance and support for their professional development.
The winners narrowly beat team McRanked from Glasgow Caledonian University and team Quad from the University of Hong Kong. Other teams in the final were 3CL Construction of the University of Greenwich, Corinth from Loughborough University and team Square, also from the University of Hong Kong.
The Challenge was run in Windows-based MERIT software, which stands for Management Enterprise Risk Innovation and Teamwork, first developed at Loughborough University in 1988 to train young professionals as part of modules in their degree programmes. MERIT has also been widely used as a staff training tool, with more than 200 employers in the industry using the system.
The software enables students to develop business management skills, requiring them to take decisions on staffing levels, estimating and bidding, managing cash flow and capital and seeking investment opportunities.
Alan Crane with the winning RMIT team
Each team of four students was assigned different managerial functions to help foster responsibility and team working, with the success or failure of the simulated company often dependent on effective interaction between the different roles.
The students became the virtual company’s board of directors and were allowed to appoint two local non-executives to mentor and advise them, but not actively participate in the team’s decision making.
During the qualifying rounds, teams played against the computer, with each game lasting eight weeks. Each week they were required to make a submission that covered three months of “game time”, which meant the game lasted two years in total.
During the second round, the game was rigged so that there were fewer jobs to bid for to encourage greater competition among the teams to win virtual projects.
The top six best-performing teams in the competition then went head-to-head at a final staged in Hong Kong last week, with the CIOB covering the cost of flights and accommodation.
Alan Crane, Past President of the CIOB, said: “Global Student Challenge offers a fantastic opportunity to engage with university students from across the world. The students have a unique opportunity to develop their management and leadership skills in a virtual environment, both of which are immensely desirable for employers today. RMIT University have shown that they have what is needed to thrive in construction and that their talents would be an enviable asset for any business in any sector. You are only as good as your competition and all the teams offered a serious challenge.”
The sponsors for Global Student Challenge 2014 were Hong Kong’s Chun Wo Development Holdings and Singapore’s Yau Lee Construction.
