UK STUDENTS FEATURE IN GLOBAL FIELD CONTESTING STUDENT CHALLENGE FINAL

[THREE UK UNIVERSITIES are among the 10 finalists in this year’s CIOB Global Student Challenge. In this, the 10th year of the annual competition which sees teams running their own virtual construction company, the CIOB has announced a genuinely global line up of finalists. The teams from Nottingham Trent, Sheffield Hallam and University of Wales Trinity Saint David are up against opposition from China, Malaysia, Indonesia and the USA in the final stage of the competition.

The winning team will be invited to attend part of the CIOB’s Members’ Forum meeting to present their project in front of some of the world’s finest construction professionals and leaders from the CIOB community. There is also a cash prize for the winning team of £2,000.

The Global Student Challenge is a true test of construction industry know-how for teams made up of students studying on built environment HNC, HND or degree courses, taking place in stages over a number of months. This year also saw the move to a new virtual platform for the competition: SimVenture Validate.

The online platform is already currently used by a wide range of universities to build employability and enterprise skills. It is also well suited to helping develop an individual’s creative thinking, business planning and communication skills and aligns more closely with CIOB’s corporate plan themes, as it encourages focus on sustainability, quality and the users of the built environment.

The finalists will now develop the work they have done so far and present detailed project proposals to an international panel of judges online. The final stage requires teams to provide, among other things, a completed design and build programme, together with costs for each aspect of the build. They will also need to share a payment statement, listing what payments will be required – and when – together with details of the key environmental and sustainability benefits, which demonstrate a long-term community legacy for the project.

The winner of the 2023 Global Student Challenge will be announced by CIOB in April. q