Student Skills Competition

Physics Team

20 March 2007

Tuesday 20 March 2007
Student Skills Competition
As final preparations get underway for the Student Skills Competition which is being held at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Wednesday 21 March,13 teams representing a broad range of academic disciplines are in the running.

For the winning teams, victory can mean much more than the top prize of £1500 sponsored by the RPS Group, or the £500 for best stand and best presentation sponsored by the BBC and the Army - success for past winners has brought offers of employment.

The Student Skills Competition tests students' skills and teamwork and each team has to be responsible for designing and running a display stand, and then giving a presentation in the Arts Centre Theatre on the theme of student skills development. People who visit the stands will have a chance to find what it's like to study for a degree at Aberystwyth and hear about the skills students have to offer potential employers.

According to Lynda Rollason, the competition's organiser, the aim is to help students to recognise those academic and transferable skills they have developed through their university career and to promote those skills to employers, other undergraduates and future university entrants.

"By taking part students are giving themselves the perfect opportunity to develop a number of important skills such as teamwork, effective communications, oral presentation, design, planning and organisation. This experience will enhance their CV, increase their understanding of employers' skill requirements, and gives them a clear head start in the race for graduate jobs."

"The teams have all worked really hard over the last few months so please come and watch the teams in action and visit their stands".

"Don't forget that the event runs alongside our Careers Fair so come along and visit all the employers who have made the effort to come along here for the day".

A panel of judges will be assessing student presentations and their exhibition stands throughout the day, and the competition will culminate in an award ceremony, commencing at 4.15pm, when the winners of three categories will be announced:

Prizes

Overall Winning Team £1500 sponsored by RPS Group

Best Presentation £500 sponsored by BBC Cymru Wales

Best Stand £500 sponsored by the Army

All students taking part in the event will receive a £20 Book Token. The departments taking part in the competition are; Law, Computer Sciences, Environmental Earth Science, Mathematics, English, Biological Sciences, International Politics, Human Geography, School of Management and Business, School of Education and Lifelong Learning, Sports and Exercise Science, Institute of Geography and Earth Science and Physics.

Each team have been ‘twinned’ with an employer, and the idea is that employers would work with students and focus attention on those skills employers are seeking.

The Careers Fair will be held on the same day as the Student Skills Competition and many employers will be bringing a stand and be ready to talk to visitors and students about what they look for when they recruit new employers. The event is all about information-sharing rather than recruitment.

Many local employers will be attending the Fair to look around and meet Aberystwyth students. A further aim of the Fair is to emphasise the importance of work experience for students during their degrees. Two stands at the Fair will be devoted to the promotion of work placement schemes which Aberystwyth students are eligible to apply for: Year in Employment Scheme (YES) and GO Wales.

The day will start at 9am and finish at 5pm.

Order of Students Presentations

Theatre

9.15 Introduction

9.30 Law

9.45 Computer Sciences

10.00 Environmental Earth Science

10.15 Mathematics

Break

11.20 English

11.35 Biological Sciences

11.50 International Politics