Take part in global student challenge

THE Chartered Institute of Building’s Global Student Challenge is open for registration for the 2019 competition.

Since 2014, this international competition has challenged built environment students to run their own virtual construction company – with the leaders after six weeks of competition given the opportunity to compete in finals that attract talent from around the world.

In this sixth year of the competition, the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is seeking teams made up of full-time students studying a degree in the built environment.

The winning team receives £2,000 (RM10,560) in prize money, along with access to a unique mentoring programme, with industry leaders offering advice and guidance to support the winners’ professional development.

The CIOB is the world’s largest and most influential professional body for construction management and leadership. It accredits university degrees, educational courses and training.

Its Global Student Challenge is a real test of construction industry know-how, taking place in stages over a number of months. The competition provides a realistic simulation where teams, made up of three or four people, act as a Board of Directors running their own construction company.

There’s a “Foundation Years” stage, where competitors learn how to play the game, running a virtual construction company in a simulated environment using the MERIT software, testing different strategies and refining tactics for the competitive game.

The CIOB advises that, based on performance in previous years, teams who do well in the competition are the ones who make the most of this stage.

The “Early Years” stage starts a few weeks later. Teams now play competitively with other teams around the world, making decisions that determine the success - or otherwise - of their companies.

More than 60 teams entered the 2018 competition, with the six teams scoring the most in the early rounds being invited to the finals as part of the CIOB’s annual Member’s Forum.

In 2019, both events will once again run alongside each other, this time in Edinburgh, Scotland from June 23 to 27. This means that as well as competing to win the Global Student Challenge title, finalists also get to participate in the CIOB’s Member’s Forum and network with senior construction professionals from all over the world.

The competition is only open to full-time students. Teams are normally made up of four members, but three is permissible.

For details on the Global Student Challenge, visit https://gsc. ciob.org/. The registration closes on Feb 28.