Professor Laurence Goldstein, from the Department of Philosophy, has designed a competition called ‘A Little Bit of Sugar’ (ALBOS) enabling students to work collaboratively on devising ways of generating wealth.
ALBOS is loosely modelled on the BBC2 programme The Apprentice (but without the element of humiliation). The multidisciplinary teams consist of students from the Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, and from different stages of their academic careers, so students get to work with others with whom they would not normally come into contact.
The initiative is designed as an enjoyable activity that helps students gain commercial awareness and insight into the world of business, strengthens their CVs and improves their employability.
The scheme is run by students from Kent Union, with support, advice and encouragement from Kent Innovation and Enterprise (KIE) and Kent’s Careers and Employability Service.
Projects that emerge from this competition are judged by a panel, with an award going to the winning team. The prize this year, awarded at a ceremony in early December, went to the team ‘Gilt Edged’ who devised a comprehensive manual that can be used by students nationwide, for reducing bills, discovering cheaper alternatives, being alert to unscrupulous exploitation and generally avoiding running up debt.
This year’s competition was judged by Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Alex Hughes, Dr Yipeng Liu, Enterprise Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, Piperis Filippaios, Graduate Entrepreneur and Marcus Ball, Student Entrepreneur.
The University plans to run the initiative again on a larger scale. ALBOS follows the University of Kent’s successful Employability Points Scheme, which was shortlisted for a Times Higher Education award in the category of Outstanding Student Support.