Bachelor of Commerce with Bachelor of Arts student Grace Kim, recently experienced a unique opportunity to boost her skills and employability as a member of a Macquarie team in this year’s Univative competition.
Working on a project for the Salvation Army Streetlevel Mission, Grace and her team were challenged to develop a proposal for services and programs to be provided at the existing Surry Hills location and the newly reopened site at Waterloo.
“Univative was an amazing opportunity to gain first-hand experience working on a real business project. It refined my public speaking and professional writing skills as well as providing exposure to stakeholder and project management, consulting and research. It was invaluable to collaborate with a team of inspiring, innovative and supportive students,” said Grace of her experience participating in the competition.
Univative is an inter-university, inter-disciplinary, and inter-cultural student team project competition jointly organised by Macquarie University, UNSW, University of Sydney, UTS, University of Wollongong and Western Sydney University.
One of the many benefits of this annual competition is the connection it provides students with corporate and community partners such as Ernst and Young, Dentsu Aegis and The Salvation Army through industry-sponsored projects that reflect a genuine business need or challenge.
As is the case in many business environments, participants are allocated a team and project. Teams work on their project over the mid-year break from University and are supported by the Macquarie University Career and Employment Services team. Teams report weekly to project sponsors who are at management/CEO level and at the end of the project each team gives a 15 minute presentation to the organisation.
Previous projects have included the development of a new marketing strategy, a strategy to boost sales, the idealogical development of a new homepage/app and the development of a sales pitch for a large management consultancy. Some employers have ended up implementing these projects.
“The growth you see in students’ confidence and skills over the four week intensive process is amazing. We’ve also seen a number of students offered jobs with their project host organisation at the end of the competition. I would highly recommend Univiative to anyone, particularly Arts students,” says Tania Currie, Faculty of Arts Career Development Consultant.
“As well as the practical experience it provides, Univative gives Arts students a fantastic opportunity to fully appreciate the value of their critical analysis and lateral/creative thinking skills. Arts students don’t realise how applicable and unique to Arts these skills are but organisations are crying out for people with this capability in today’s world of work,” further explains Tania.
This year Macquarie had over 30 students participating in the Univative competition. Applications to participate in the competition open in April and the winning team is announced in July. Further details about Univative can be found on the Career and Employment Service website.
Working on a project for the Salvation Army Streetlevel Mission, Grace and her team were challenged to develop a proposal for services and programs to be provided at the existing Surry Hills location and the newly reopened site at Waterloo.
“Univative was an amazing opportunity to gain first-hand experience working on a real business project. It refined my public speaking and professional writing skills as well as providing exposure to stakeholder and project management, consulting and research. It was invaluable to collaborate with a team of inspiring, innovative and supportive students,” said Grace of her experience participating in the competition.
Univative is an inter-university, inter-disciplinary, and inter-cultural student team project competition jointly organised by Macquarie University, UNSW, University of Sydney, UTS, University of Wollongong and Western Sydney University.
One of the many benefits of this annual competition is the connection it provides students with corporate and community partners such as Ernst and Young, Dentsu Aegis and The Salvation Army through industry-sponsored projects that reflect a genuine business need or challenge.
As is the case in many business environments, participants are allocated a team and project. Teams work on their project over the mid-year break from University and are supported by the Macquarie University Career and Employment Services team. Teams report weekly to project sponsors who are at management/CEO level and at the end of the project each team gives a 15 minute presentation to the organisation.
Previous projects have included the development of a new marketing strategy, a strategy to boost sales, the idealogical development of a new homepage/app and the development of a sales pitch for a large management consultancy. Some employers have ended up implementing these projects.
“The growth you see in students’ confidence and skills over the four week intensive process is amazing. We’ve also seen a number of students offered jobs with their project host organisation at the end of the competition. I would highly recommend Univiative to anyone, particularly Arts students,” says Tania Currie, Faculty of Arts Career Development Consultant.
“As well as the practical experience it provides, Univative gives Arts students a fantastic opportunity to fully appreciate the value of their critical analysis and lateral/creative thinking skills. Arts students don’t realise how applicable and unique to Arts these skills are but organisations are crying out for people with this capability in today’s world of work,” further explains Tania.
This year Macquarie had over 30 students participating in the Univative competition. Applications to participate in the competition open in April and the winning team is announced in July. Further details about Univative can be found on the Career and Employment Service website.
