News

Friday 26 February 2010

UK's largest student enterprise competition to bring students and businesses together

Students work in teams to solve a business challenge

Business experts judge the teams' proposals

Up to 240 university students will be taking part in the UK's largest higher education enterprise competition to enhance their employability skills and meet companies actively looking to recruit skilled graduates.

The fifth annual Flux 500 competition will be hosted by Nottingham Trent University's enterprise development unit, The Hive, from 29-31 March 2010. It is sponsored by Experian, The Greater Nottingham Partnership and the Nottinghamshire City and County Employment and Skills Board, with support from Experience Nottinghamshire.

The event will see 40 teams of six students from universities across the UK compete in an intense, two-day business challenge, with guidance from 50 business executives from companies such as Experian, QBE insurance and Cooper Parry Accountants.

Developed by The Working Knowledge Group, which bridges the gap between education and the workplace, previous challenges have focused on issues such as managing geographic expansion, increasing market share, managing an ethical profile and changing customer attitudes.

During the fast-paced Flux event, teams will carry out strategic planning before meeting with ten of the executives from different areas of business to discuss their ideas. At the end of the second day, they will have just five minutes to pitch their strategy to the business experts before facing rigorous questioning and receiving feedback. The best teams will be selected to take part in a head-to-head challenge and the winners will receive £3000.

The final day will include the Expo - a recruitment fair where students can find out about employment opportunities and take part in workshops to improve their employability skills. Business representatives will also have the chance to speak to skilled participants they have noticed during the competition.

Taking part in Flux last year was Peter Bailey, who now works for managed IT services company, Backup Direct. The company snapped Peter up at the recruitment fair and he is returning this year with his colleagues to talk about their experiences and actively recruit for placement and graduate jobs.

Peter said: "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."

John Finch, chief information officer for Flux sponsors, Experian, said: "Flux 500 is a great event. It not only enables businesses to see the high calibre of talent that our universities are producing, but also for graduates to become familiar with the types of roles local businesses, like Experian, can offer."

A series of workshops for the university enterprise champions accompanying the teams will also run alongside the competition, giving them a chance to share best practice in enterprise education.

Chris Hall, business manager for The Hive at Nottingham Trent University, said: "We're very excited to be hosting the Flux competition this year. It's a fantastic opportunity for students from a range of courses to work on a business scenario with real business experts, and to greatly increase their enterprise skills in preparation for entering a tough jobs market when they graduate, and some may even come to The Hive to start their own business ventures."