UniVative Illawarra scheme now embedded in curriculum

Dec 11, 2006

The University's innovative UniVative Illawarra program, which has proven beneficial to organisations wanting to resolve issues facing their operations over the past several years, has now moved up another notch with the scheme embedded in the curriculum.

The Careers Service has overseen the new development which allows participating students to receive credit towards the Commerce subject, Applied Learning (Comm290). The Faculty of Commerce was keen to support the notion of students working on real organisational issues and was pleased to support the educational initiative.

The students were assisted over a 10-week period by subject co-ordinator, Dr Elias Sanidas.

Careers Service Manager, Mr Martin Smith, said that previously students were in line for awards depending on the success of the recommendations they put forward to their host organisations.

"Now for the first time students are still gaining vital industry interaction but receiving a credit towards their degree at the same time -- it is no longer just an extra curricula activity," Mr Smith said.

Mr Smith said students gain valuable skills working on real organisational problems showcasing their talents to potential graduate employers in the Illawarra.

He said the host organisations gain access to the best and brightest students armed with their new ideas and innovative approaches to solving real business problems.

Students taking part in the Applied Learning subject consisted of the team Kara Anderson, Ying Ying, Yuuan Zhou, Jason Li and Joel Nicol who examined the partnership between BlueScope Steel and the Illawarra Group Training (IGT) that manages the 146 apprentices hosted by BlueScope Steel and alliance partner, Transfield Services.

Under the guidance of Dr Sanidas, the project team gained a solid understanding of the arrangement in place between BlueScope Steel and IGT and recommended a number of improvements that the parties could make going forward.

IGT Manager, Chris Schfield, said he was pleased with the group's findings noting that IGT was already providing some of the improvements that had been identified in the report.

BlueScope Human Resources Manager, Phil Rouse, who sponsored the project, commended the team for their professional conduct and the high quality of the report.

The Illawarra Regional Information Service (IRIS) was the other host organisation for another group of students.