Business students get the chance to experience the Singaporean culture

Students from Newcastle Business School will travel to Singapore this Easter, following their success in a competition which required them to explore perspectives on management and the impact of cultural awareness.

This is the first year the competition has been run by the School, providing a platform for students to collaborate on a business focussed project. All first year business students from Northumbria and final year students from Kaplan, Northumbria’s international partner in Singapore, were invited to take part and share their knowledge and experience of their country of study.

The first round of the competition asked each team to create a newsletter providing an introduction to management in their country of study. Following this, successful teams undertook some primary research to find out what managers do and what challenges they are facing today and produced an excellent range of podcasts and vodcasts to showcase their findings.

From the original 17 teams that entered, 4 made it through to the final to give a presentation to a panel of six judges from the University on ‘Why is cultural intelligence important for managers?’

The winning team, Amber Trott, Jessica Derbyshire, Elliott Brown and Adam Ball, will spend one week in Singapore during their Easter break visiting local businesses and experiencing first-hand the differences in culture.

Fiona Robson, Principal Lecturer in Organisation and HRM at Northumbria Business School and organiser of the competition said: “The winning teams from both countries delivered excellent presentations which showed their ability to combine theory and practice. They gave some really interesting examples and also linked to their own experiences of studying in a culturally diverse Business School and this experience is something that will really enhance their employability prospects.”

Elliott Brown, one of the winning Northumbria students said: “We were overwhelmed when we got accepted to go to Singapore. It’s an amazing opportunity and somewhere I would never have been able to go to if it wasn't for the competition. A good degree is crucial to get ahead in the job market; but I want to experience more than that at University. I want to have great experiences and make great friends that will stay with me for life, and undoubtedly this trip will be one of them.”

The winning students from Kaplan in Singapore are expected to travel to the UK to visit Newcastle Business School later in the year.

For more information on studying business at Northumbria visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/nbs