Countdown to Skills Competition 07

The countdown to the 2007 Student Skills Competition got underway just before Christmas as the 15 teams tackled the “Aber Rope Trick” as part of a team building day. The event, which this year takes place on Wednesday 21st March, is in it's eleventh year and is unique to the University at Aberystwyth.
The Student Skills Competition tests students' skills and teamwork and culminates with students being asked to design and promote an exhibition stand and do a group presentation on employability skills, and in particular, the skills that their particular academic discipline has to offer employers.

Teams of about eight students took part in the Aber Rope Trick where they had to produce a perfect square using only a rope. The teams were taken outside on the field and then blindfolded.  One member of the team was present as an observer to make sure they didn’t cheat and that they didn’t hurt themselves.  When the exercise was over the teams went through the process and discussed if they worked together as a team and what they could have done better.

Lynda Rollason of the UWA’s Careers Advisory Service and the main organiser of the event said:  “Teamwork is a vital ingredient to this competition and teams worked together to form a perfect square using a rope.  What they didn’t know is that they would be blindfolded.  It was interesting to see how they tackled the problem.  It also made them aware that things could change at the last minute before the final, and if they do they have to react to it as a team”.

The Student Skills Competition is run on the same day as the Careers Information Fair and teams will make a 10-minute presentation and have a stand selling their employability skills to a panel of judges assessing their work.  The top prize for the overall winning team is £1500 sponsored by RPS Group.  Two other prizes are on offer for Best Stand and Best Presentation both £500 and sponsored by the Army and BBC Wales.