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Students present solutions for six Illawarra businesses

Six Illawarra-based organisations will learn tomorrow (Friday 24 July) how they may have benefited from the education, skills and perspectives of about 100 University of Wollongong students.

The students, who are studying a wide range of courses and come from many different countries, are taking part in Univative Illawarra which links teams of students with host organisations in the region. The hosts brief the students on their organisation and the context for their business challenge and the students then work offsite to research the problem and prepare a report and presentation.

Students develop their employability skills – such as teamwork, research, problem-solving and communicating via reports and to an audience. At the same time, the host organisations gain fresh insights and research in to workable solutions for their workplace.

“We have significant numbers of international students opt in to these kinds of programs – and when they mix with local students – everyone benefits. The students enhance their cross cultural skills for future global workplace settings and the employers gain international perspectives and solutions,” according to the Head of Careers Central at UOW, Martin Smith.

Univative Illawarra co-ordinator, Neil Webster, said that in the current economic climate, giving local business access to university trained talent to progress their strategic objectives, was a great way for the University to engage with its communities.

“Given the challenges currently experienced by universities in international student engagement and transition support strategies, Univative Illawarra is an example of good practice which satisfies all stakeholders’ objectives, Mr Webster said.

The six Illawarra organisations participating are: The Fraternity Club, Longboard Brewing Company, Dixon Sportswear, Wollongong Hawks, Siteflex and Myhelper.

Media please note: Students will make their hour-long presentations to each of their host organisations starting at 10am and ending at 5pm in different lecture rooms within the Communications Building (Bldg 20). For media opportunities contact Neil Webster on 0439 028 748 (m).