Bulletin

Issue: June 2004

News

Winning team in Workplace Olympiad

La Trobe University fielded one of three winning teams in this year's national Higher Education Workplace Skills Olympiad.

The seven-member La Trobe team - comprising computer science, infor-mation systems and health science students - worked with the Australian Bureau of Statistics on electronic data recording in the collection of business statistics.

The students formed a consultancy group called 'LaTwise' which was highly praised for its project and took out the 'Highly Commended' category.

The Olympiad is designed to enhance workplace skills, particularly those identified in the Employability Skills Framework developed by the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Teams are first assessed by their host employer, and the winning team from each university makes a 20-minute presentation of its findings and business report to a national panel of judges. Teams from 14 universities took part in the finals.

Co-ordinator of the LaTrobe team, Pat Brown from Course and Careers Services, said the Olympiad enables final year students to work on real business problems or issues.

Ms Brown said the Olympiad scheme - which last year won the Business Higher Education Round Table Award for Outstanding Achievement in Colla-boration in Education and Training - can produce good results for employers, as well as help students develop a range of skills demanded by graduate employers.

Sponsored by the Department of Education, Science & Training, the Olympiad is supported by organisations including the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee, the Graduate Careers Council of Australia, the Business Council of Australia, and the Australian Association of Graduate Employers.

Ms Brown can be contacted on tel; 03 9479 2459. For details about this year's projects see web site: www.gradlink.edu.au

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