"Uninursery" Challenge

Birmingham Future's Graduate Retention Team is setting university students an entrepreneurial challenge in a bid to teach them how to become more business savvy. The team will be presenting its challenge to students from Birmingham, Warwick, Coventry and Aston universities throughout the coming month. Working in teams, the students will be able test how well they communicate with each other and with the panel before presenting their findings to the advisors. The students' projects will then be assessed by a panel of advisors from Birmingham's professional and financial services sector comprising accountants, lawyers, human resources specialists and PR consultants. The challenge is part of the team's campaign to attract undergraduates from the city's higher education institutions and to retain aspiring young professionals within the city's professional services. The challenge will offer students insight into what it takes to run a business at every level, including areas ranging from advertising and PR to legal and financial. Cynthia Corby, partner at Baker Tilly and chair of Birmingham Future's Graduate Retention Team, said: "The city's professional and financial services community is thriving but we must ensure the next generation of professionals have the skills to keep Birmingham on track and heading in the right direction. The nursery challenge offers students a taster of their chosen profession while giving the team an insight into the existing skills gap. "It's a fun and alternative way of teaching students the skills needed for all areas of business. The students can ask for help from a panel of advisors in specific fields and we hope to get them thinking logically and strategically about time-management, risk-taking and organisation, all of which will be vital to their success." The nursery challenge is just one part of the Graduate Retention Team's campaign to develop the business acumen and 'soft' skills of aspiring young professionals and show graduates that Birmingham is the place to develop a career. Cynthia Corby added: "The Graduate Retention Team is identifying the needs of graduates and comparing them to the needs of their potential employers while developing 'soft' skills which are in decline among the city's graduates. By developing links with students today, we hope to attract the highest calibre graduates to the city's professional and financial services sector." The first nursery challenge took place at Aston University on 23 February. Other nursery challenges will take place at Warwick University on 3 March, Coventry University on 21 March and Birmingham University*.

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