Ole Fjelberg was at Flux 2010 as a member of the Queen Mary, University of London team. Originally from Norway, Ole is making a big splash in the UK not only as the founder of the Queen Mary Investment Club but as the man behind the UK franchise of One Piece a new clothing phenomenon from Norway. Read more about Ole here - Ole’s profile
A broader scheme combining entrepreneurship and business skills, led by education providers and supported by several employers rather than one, would be good start, says Peter Jones.
Real-life experience of the world of work is not only desirable but essential if young people want to build a successful career in the modern economy.
But young people can’t be expected to become work-savvy without understanding how business works – and that is why we need more effective collaboration between the worlds of education and business.
The Guardian 20th April – Faced with a competitive job market, undergraduates are teaching themselves the skills they need for work. Tackling the UK’s awkward equation of more students but fewer jobs, students are helping each other to work on ways to boost their chances of finding employment.
5 new Chemistry-based business scenarios have been uploaded to the Working Knowledge scenario database (www.twkg.net/scenario-selection). These were developed in response to a request from the University of Plymouth which wanted to run a Xing session with a cohort of Chemistry students. The scenarios cover a range of business areas including fuel replacement, genomics and renewal chemical products.
Top student entrepreneurs from 33 UK universities attended an intensely competitive final of Flux 500 – a business challenge created and run by Working Knowledge. See some video highlights here.http://www.vimeo.com/10614021
Hosted by Nottingham Trent University, Flux 500 is now the largest inter-university enterprise competition in UK.
As part of the fast-paced, two-day competition, teams of six students were challenged to create a new business division for Remploy, the national provider of employment services and employment to people with barriers to work. Over 40 business experts, from companies such as event sponsors Experian, Backup Direct, KPMG, and a range of other large and small organisations were on hand to guide the students.
During the competition finals, the team had just five minutes to pitch their strategy to the business experts – who went from consultants in the day to ‘dragons’ in the evening – before facing rigorous questioning and receiving feedback.
After the preliminary heats, four teams from the University of Bedfordshire, University College Plymouth MarJon, Nottingham Trent University and the University of Bristol were chosen to compete in a final head-to-head challenge.
With only 15 minutes to prepare, the teams then faced a tense press conference-style grilling from four of the toughest business experts. After all the votes were counted the University of Bedfordshire came out as Flux 2010 champions.
Bedfordshire team member Greg Dorban said: “Winning was a fantastic feeling! To come top out of over 30 leading universities is just unbelievable. Obviously we went there to win, but never expected it, especially after seeing and hearing our competition.” Manjunath Basapoor another member of the team added: “I learnt some new skills and tools like XING, which are quite useful especially in preparing business plans. This win is a great credible addition to my CV, and this happened at the right time as I will be entering the job market after my MBA.”
The final day of Flux included the ‘Expo’ – a recruitment fair for students to find out about employment opportunities and take part in workshops to improve their employability skills. The event also gave employers the chance to speak to students who had impressed them during the competition and several approached students as a result of their success.
Flux 500 was developed and is run by The Working Knowledge Group, which bridges the gap between education and the workplace. This year’s event was sponsored by Experian, Backup Direct, NCGE, The Greater Nottingham Partnership and the Nottinghamshire City & CountyEmployment and Skills Board, with support from Experience Nottinghamshire.
Chris Hall, business manager at competition host, The Hive, said: “There were a lot of extremely dedicated people who made this a very exciting and engaging event, from the students, to the business experts and the Hive entrepreneurs who came along to help. It was very enjoyable and we had lots of positive comments about our newly refurbished Newton building where the event was held.”
Sophie Neville (FLUX 2007) and Lee Fordham (FLUX 2008 ), have got together to tell us exactly what they got out of their experience at FLUX. We thought you would like to share this with your students and colleagues, to inspire students to step forward and take up the challenge.
Sophie and Lee say in their own words the effect FLUX has had on them and what your students can expect to get out of attending FLUX 2010.
Lee Fordham, a Sociology 3rd Year Student, says: “I got all the experience employers are looking for. Team work, initiative, leadership, time management, working under pressure and presenting skills… It has made me much more confident in all areas of business.”
Companies recruit at FLUX. Where else to find the UK’s most enterprising and innovative students?
Peter Bailey, a FLUX 2009 team member from Surrey University, got in touch with us this week to let us know what a difference FLUX has made to him. He was really buzzing so we thought we would share his story with you…
“Taking part in FLUX 2009 was a fantastic experience for me, without it I wouldn’t be in the position I am today.
After attending a few assessment centres with large corporations I was unsure which direction to go in. However, by attending the recruitment sessions as part of FLUX I won my first work placement at Backup Direct. I think FLUX’s biggest strength is recruitment, in particular that it’s a two-way process. Recruiters are able to observe you in lots of different, challenging scenarios and as a potential employee, you are able to get to know the people you may be working for and talk to them one-to-one, in an informal setting.
I particularly liked the fact that it involved students from all over the country and that everyone taking part was so keen to get involved and learn more about the business world. The experts’ input was invaluable too, I found the ‘elevator pitch’ session especially inspiring. Also the Focus Group sessions, with a designated expert, were incredibly useful too.”
The Smith & Williamson Grassroutes Challenge 2009 is taking place on the 24th November 2009 at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester and will be building on the success of last years inaugural competition. With more University teams invited to take part in the challenge the competition will be a true challenge of the business acumen of the undergraduates taking part.
As well, as the original nine Universities who took part in last years challenge who were; Scottish Agricultural College, Hartpury College, Nottingham University, Harper Adams University, Duchy College, Reading University, Royal Agricultural College, Aberystwyth University and Exeter University, three more top University teams will be invited to join the competition.
