A Canadian squad has received £2,000 for winning the seventh annual Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Global Student Challenge competition, in which teams vie to run the most successful virtual construction company.
The team, from Toronto’s George Brown College, beat finalists from China, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Scotland.
Called "DGC Toronto", it comprises four final-year students – Jonathan Isenegger, Philip Jager, Kristopher Turnbull-Poulin, and Maxim Sokolicz – who are in the Honours Bachelor of Technology (Construction Management) programme at George Brown, a university that also made it to the 2019 finals.
The award was collected virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
As well as cash, the winners get access to a mentoring programme with industry leaders offering advice and guidance to support their professional development.
More than 50 international teams entered this year’s competition before the top six best performers were chosen to go through to the final.
The other finalists were:
- CIOBNB – Chongqing University
- Base Build – RMIT University
- Skywalker Construction – Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Sang Neggala – Universitas Indonesia
- Glasgow Construction Corp. – Glasgow Caledonian University
Mark Beard, President of the CIOB, said: "This is a challenge not for the faint hearted. All the teams have shown their ability and potential by reaching these finals. As students you will now have a greater sense of what it is like to work in a construction company making high-level decisions. I have no doubt that all of our finalists will be able to reach that level when they leave university."
The competition provides a realistic simulation where teams, made up of three or four people, act as a Board of Directors running their own company.
Find out more about Global Student Challenge here.
Image: Team DGC Toronto comprises Philip Jager, Kristopher Turnbull-Poulin, and Maxim Sokolicz (CIOB)
