University of Connecticut’s School of Business Hosts International Competition
From October 14th – 18th, the University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Business will host students from both domestic and international universities, to participate in a competition to solve a real-world problem.
Now in their fifth year of hosting the competition, the UConn School of Business’ Center for Educational Business Education and Research (CIBER) has taken charge in their mission to increase the competitiveness of U.S. business in the global marketplace, as set forth by the U.S. Department of Education which funds the CIBER program. This year’s competition hosts students hailing from 8 different Colleges and Universities, located within the U.S. as well as higher education institutions as far away as Johannesburg, South Africa. Sulin Ba, associate dean and CIBER faculty director, along with Michele Metcalf, CIBER director, will lead the event, proposing a challenging problem derived from the global business marketplace for which the teams of students must envision a solution.
Unlike traditional case competitions, this three-day competition tasks students to demonstrate their ability to work in teams consisting of students from varying cultures and nations. Each team is comprised of four students from four different universities. The first day of the competition includes several teambuilding and ice breaker activities to get the students acquainted with their teams before the real work begins. The next morning the case is released and the teams have 24 hours to develop a solution. At the culmination of the third day of the event, students will present their solution to the problem to a panel of judges. The evaluations of the judges hold serious weight for the student competitors; only three teams advance to the final round. The judges are comprised of international business executives with various expertise hailing from the local Tri-State area business community and UConn School of Business professors.
The UConn School of Business’ CIBER Case Challenge not only proposes solutions for real world problems; it is also an event that introduces students from varying cultures to the sights of Connecticut. To facilitate greater bonding within teams, participants will travel to Mystic, CT to participate in a series of team challenges set against the backdrop of Connecticut’s treasured Mystic Aquarium.
In an ever-changing international business climate, UConn, as one of the 17 Centers for International Business Education and Research funded by the U.S. Department of Education, challenges their own students to work in diverse teams of different backgrounds and nationalities. In their 2015 report on higher education, U.S. News and World Report ranked the University of Connecticut as number nineteen among the top 20 public universities in the United States.
For more information about UConn’s CIBER and the CIBER Case Challenge, please visit ciber.business.uconn.edu.