Tongji wins student challenge

CIOB Community Tongji University team wins CIOB Global Student Challenge

Four students from Tongji University in Shanghai, China, have taken the top place in this year’s hard-fought annual competition

A team of four construction

students from Tongji University, China have won this year’s CIOB Global Student Challenge.

Team Tongjiem fought off competition from five other teams in the final, which was held virtually between June 20 and July 1, to win by just three points.

Rosalind Thorpe, director of education and standards at CIOB, said: “A huge congratulations to Team Tongjiem, who have demonstrated a high level of skill and professionalism to win this year’s competition. All our finalists represent the construction industry’s future leaders, who we’re sure will go on to have very successful careers.”

Teams from around the world compete over several months in realistic simulations, acting as boards of their own companies. They are assessed on key performance indicators including profit, turnover, share price and client satisfaction. Team Tongjiem said: “It’s the first time for our university to compete in the CIOB Global Student Challenge and we have experienced a breathtaking adventure. We put in a lot of effort to make every small difference and the small eventually turned into something huge.”

Other finalists:

2nd place: Team Nawasena from Universitas Indonesia 3rd place: Team CQUNB from Chongqing University, China 4th place: Team Chan Tsz Kwan from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China 5th place: Team TechnoEdge from Western Sydney University, Australia 6th place: Team GopherBuilt from University of Minnesota, USA ●

In total 41 teams from 18 universities and colleges entered the 2022 competition, which is now in its ninth year. This is the first year a team from Tongji has taken part.

Sharing the £2,000 cash prize are Bo Peng, Jingyan Li, Yuhang Wang and Xinyu Ju, who are studying engineering management.

First-time competitors Team Tongjiem won £2,000 after fighting off five rivals in a close final

CIOB teams up for EDI action plan

Institute to work with other bodies in the sector on three-year strategy

The CIOB is one of six leading membership bodies from across the built environment sector to launch a 45-point action plan to jointly improve equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).

The other bodies are: the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE); the Landscape Institute (LI); the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA); the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS); and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).

The plan sets out how they will collaborate to deliver the three objectives of data collection, improving understanding of transition from education into employment, and EDI standards.

The plan emphasises the role of governance and leadership. It stresses the significance of aligning strategies with EDI principles, values, beliefs and the experience of those in the sector.

The bodies will work together to deliver the plan over the next three years, with annual progress reviews every February.