Cranfield students win the National Apprenticeship Challenge 2016

In 2016, for the third year running, a team of Cranfield students won the National Apprenticeship Challenge with another Cranfield team receiving the runner’s up prize. As winners of this year’s challenge, Cranfield’s team received a £1,000 cash prize and a final stage interview with Sunday Times’ 500 top employers and small-medium enterprises, which will be invaluable in progressing their careers.

Cranfield MSc in Management students Jennifer Pater, Tim Arntz, Heather Simmons and Alfie Jackson, who made up this year’s winning team, commented:

“Entering the awards was a great opportunity to meet and compete with students from other universities. During the Challenge weekend, we had lots of opportunities to practise key transferrable skills such as teamwork, leadership and decision making.”

The Challenge brought together over 80 students from 12 universities across the UK. The students had diverse academic backgrounds ranging from criminology through economics to fashion design. They were asked to complete two tasks that were designed to encourage them to think critically, be creative, play to one another’s strengths, and work as a team. Their efforts were then judged by a panel of successful entrepreneurs and senior business leaders.

Challenge one: build a business plan for an airline starting with a budget of £45 million. This entailed developing and implementing business strategies that could be used to decide on critical elements such as routes, scheduling, pricing, marketing and HR.

Challenge two: pitch ‘out of the box’ ideas for a brand new social media platform to a panel of entrepreneurs. Students were offered the opportunity to be more creative and work under pressure to a four-hour deadline.

, coach and mentor for Cranfield’s team, said: “It is an honour to win the Challenge for a third time in a row. I believe that our success lies in our commitment, the high calibre of our students, and the positive synergy between professors and students.”