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A team of students from The University of Nottingham are hoping to clean up at a top national ‘Apprentice’ style competition this week.
The University’s Centre for Career Development (CCD) is taking six students to FLUX 2011 in Bristol. Flux is a national employability event, pitching the six finalists against 174 students from 30 UK universities.
The team will spend 36 hours solving real business problems with experts from some of the UK’s most dynamic companies, judging them in Apprentice meets Dragon’s Den-style pitches and challenges.
Tarana Fazel — Philosophy
Adelina Bratanova — Management Psychology
Stuart Mann — Law
Natalia Bolanos Salamanca — Industrial Engineering & Operations Management
Sophie Horsley — Industrial Economics
Peter Epathite — Mechanical Engineering
The team will take on competitors from universities across the UK, including; Canterbury Christ Church, Manchester, London Metropolitan, Queen Mary and Cardiff.
Now in its sixth year, FLUX has seen 30,000 students competing from more than a hundred universities.
“I’m sure our students will do their best and be very successful at Flux,” says Stephen McAuliffe, Director of the CCD. “We have a strong team, and they’ve already shown why our students are in such demand from employers around the world.”
The Centre for Career Development recently won the Graduate Development Preparation in Higher Education category at the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) awards. The AGR represents the UK’s top blue chip companies. This followed a Judges’ Commendation from the National Council for Work Experience in January for the CCD’s Talent Builder Internship scheme.
“It’s obviously fantastic to be recognised for our work developing students’ employability throughout their degrees, but more importantly it’s a credit to the students themselves. They are the ones who commit early in their degrees to taking advantage of the opportunities at the CCD to ensure that when they graduate they have the best possible chance in the global job market.”
The competition will also give the students the chance to network with representatives from top companies, including Deloitte, Fujitsu, Babcock International Group, Experian, Thomson Reuters and the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NGCE).
You might expect a competition like this to attract predominantly Business students, but the Flux finalists come from a wide range of study disciplines, including Philosophy, Management Psychology, Business, Law, Engineering and Economics.
The six students were chosen after two rounds, which saw hundreds apply. The first round was a CV and cover letter test. “The response was overwhelming,” says Lucy Grice, Employability Officer for the CCD. “From the CV and letters we put 30 through to the assessment centre round. While we can’t send everyone to the final, those that took part got some valuable experience and support on the process of applying for a job.”
The students will find out if they have won the national final on April 12. The winning team will take away £3,000 and valuable experience.
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings. It was named ‘Europe’s greenest university’ in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking, a league table of the world’s most environmentally-friendly higher education institutions, which ranked Nottingham second in the world overall.
The University is committed to providing a truly international education for its 40,000 students, producing world-leading research and benefiting the communities around its campuses in the UK and Asia.
More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, with almost 60 per cent of all research defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. Research Fortnight analysis of RAE 2008 ranked the University 7th in the UK by research power. The University’s vision is to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health.
May Fest 2011 is on Saturday 7 May, 11am to 5.30pm, at The University of Nottingham. The University is throwing open its doors to the community — with heaps of free activities for all ages. The Physics Buskers, thunder and lightning on demand and brain games. Get a glimpse of some of the amazing things that are happening on your doorstep. Visit:
www.nottingham.ac.uk/mayfest