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In parallel with the National Final of Flux 2009, the University of Plymouth has hosted a conference on embedding enterprise in Higher Education.
The three day programme of events ran from 6 - 8 April and included the FLUX competition, a graduate recruitment fair, speaker presentations, workshops and discussions around enterprise in education through curricular and extra-curricular activities.
HERDA-SW’s Graduates 4 Business project part-funded FLUX and the Enterprising HE Conference received support from the Knowledge Escalator initiative, which ran a workshop on enterprise champions who can act as catalysts for introducing an enterprise ethos into HEIs and champion culture change amongst staff and students.
FLUX, the UK’s biggest student enterprise competition ended with a nail-biting finish between the Universities of Plymouth and Ulster. Just one point separated teams from the two universities at the final of the FLUX competition, with the University of Ulster clinching victory.
Teams of six from 28 universities from across the UK took part in the fast-moving competition which immersed students in a real-life business challenge. Teams sought advice from business experts before coming up with a solution to the problem, which they presented to judges in a Dragon’s Den-style pitch.
The 28 teams were whittled down to just four for the climax of the event, with an audience of 250 business experts and students voting on who they thought should win. The winning team from the University of Ulster received £500 each as well as a trophy and the title of FLUX national champions 2009.
The event’s graduate recruitment fair featured high-profile employers including Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd, Experian, JP Morgan and Enterprise Rent-a-Car – some of whom visited Plymouth for the first time as a result of the FLUX competition.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Wendy Purcell said “All of the students who took part in the FLUX competition displayed a huge amount of enthusiasm and passion - they are a credit to themselves and their universities. I’m particularly proud of the Plymouth team who gave 100 per cent commitment to the task and were pipped to the post by just one point. I would also like to thank the business experts who gave their time to make FLUX such a success. Being able to tap into their knowledge and skills gave the teams a real boost.”