Workplace Skills Olympiad wins outstanding achievement award

Dec 01, 2003

The Higher Education Workplace Skills Olympiad (HEWSO) has been announced as a winner in the prestigious awards of the Business Higher Education Round Table for Outstanding Achievement in Collaboration in Education and Training.

Chair of the HEWSO Steering Committee, Martin Smith, of the University of Wollongong, said that this award was the culmination of the recognition of HEWSO as a significant contributor to links between universities and business, industry, government and the community sector.

"HEWSO is entering its fourth year, and has well and truly proven itself as a way to identify and to enhance skills which graduates need when entering the workforce" he said, "and has justified the effort put into its establishment by the National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (NAGCAS) which initiated the project.

The project has gained the support of the Department of Education, Science and Training, the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee, The Graduate Careers Council of Australia, the Business Council of Australia, and the Australian Association of Graduate Employers.

DEST is the major sponsor over a three-year period, and is joined in sponsorship for 2004 by the Business Council of Australia, Gradlink.edu.au, The Empower Group, the NSW RTA, and the AAGE.

Presenting an award to the HEWSO 2003 winner earlier thus year, the Minister for Science, Mr Peter McGauran said:

[The team] researched and understood an entire industry within the short time frame. Understood the various external influences affecting the industry and showed a high level of analytical thinking in seeing how these may affect our organisation. Understood the resource constraints of our organisation and took these into consideration with their recommendations.Critical thinking and recommendations were excellent. Showed understanding of all facets of our business and came up with some practical and usable recommendations.

HEWSO provides an opportunity for teams of students entering their final year to work on a real business problem or issue, for a host organisation, which produces results for that organisation ("better than professional consultants" some of them say), and helps students to develop a range of skills demanded by graduate employers. The student feedback has been extremely enthusiastic, indicating that they learn a great deal about the workplace in the industry they look at, gain greatly in their understanding of team working skills with students from a range of disciplines, and have a lot of fun.

Further Information from: Martin Smith, Chair, HEWSO Steering Committee: (02) 4221 3324 or 0409 319 462.

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128