A team of 14 students from the University of Glasgow are amongst the first ever Scottish students to take part in a national enterprise and education competition in Leeds on 22nd April 2005. The students were selected to take part after helping to inject enterprise skills into Scottish schools and developing their own career skills and employability in a global environment.

The competition is organised by SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise), a not-for-profit social enterprise organisation active in 1,800 universities around the world. SIFE mobilises university students to create life-changing opportunities for others while discovering their own potential.

The Glasgow team is using their educational and personal experiences in their local community to teach others enterprise skills.

The students have developed an 'Enterprise Toolkit', set to compliment that Hunterian's Hunter Pack Project, whereby the Hunterian Museum is used to benefit young people as part of an innovative approach to learning. The Enterprise Toolkit uses educational artefacts or images to convey ideas about enterprise and entrepreneurship.

University of Glasgow student and team leader Aaron McIvor said: "The project is designed to capture the imagination of pupils at a very young age. By introducing school pupils to enterprise and how business works, our project can help stimulate them and have a huge impact. As the pack also has a detailed 'factbank' that provides a guide to the subject area, it enables teachers to learn about enterprise themselves as well as adapt the information for all levels, from 4-17 year olds."

Other projects run by the students include Triple C, a fun 'confidence and creativity challenge', whereby they split into teams and develop ideas for creative tasks that take the students out of their comfort zones and encourage them to undertake a creative challenge to boost their business confidence. Tasks have included getting their logo on TV and organising a student 'hunt the tin of Spam'. The tasks have helped prepare the students for working in teams in pressure situations and encouraged innovative thinking ﾖ making them perfect candidates for the BBC's The Apprentice.

A recently formed partnership with Columbia University is also developing the students' cross-cultural enterprise knowledge and skills. A new joint project is to be established in the near future that will examine cultural differences for students though an online enterprise game based on the Cult of Celebrity. Teams are set to be given different scenarios each week, and the game will be judged on business awareness and creative flair to explore entrepreneurship on both sides of the Atlantic.

The proof of the Glasgow students' skills is also demonstrated by their ability to win sponsorship from designer clothing brand Ted Baker, who are supplying them with suits for the event. A spokesperson for Ted Baker said: 'Ted Baker is proud to be supporting Glasgow Universities' SIFE Team throughout the competition. Undoubtedly their positive attitude, commitment and product will hopefully see their successful progression throughout the tournament.'

Seven students from Glasgow are set to present their projects in Leeds. Twelve teams from universities around the country will compete in the National Competition on 22nd April in Leeds. A panel of top business leaders from organisations including ASDA, KPMG, L'Or￩al and HSBC will judge them.

If the University of Glasgow SIFE team is successful at the National Competition, the students will represent the UK at the SIFE World Cup in Toronto.

For more information contact: Aaron McIvor, 2nd year Computing Science and Business Student, University of Glasgow, Tel: 0141 3410788 Mob: 07851 608855 or Jenny Murray, Press Officer, University of Glasgow, Tel: 0141 330 8593

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)

First published: 21 April 2005