UAE students win first place in California competition

Al Ain: A team of four students from Al Ain Women's College (AAWC) won the first place in the 44th annual International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition hosted by the University of San Diego in California, US.

The students, from the Higher Diploma Business programme, bagged the award for the best overall performance in the competition. The team also won a second place for Outstanding Financial Report in their category, said a spokesperson of the college.

This is the second year in a row that the AAWC has participated in this International Business Competition and won the awards. "This is a remarkable and amazing achievement for the AAWC students, considering the language difference, the challenges in meeting international financial reporting standards and the foreign environment," she said.

The AAWC team included Afra A Suwaidi, Nouf Al Muhairi, Fatima Al Amri and Fatima Al Noeimi.

The competition involves running a virtual company and competing with other industry players over a period of five simulated years.

"The teams must make regular strategic decisions in the areas of finance, production, marketing and human resources as is done when managing a real company," said the spokesperson.

The competitors included teams from Pennsylvania, Oregon, Ohio and Sharjah Men's College from the UAE. The competition officially started in January 2008 and extended over four months, during which teams made their decisions remotely from their respective countries. The final stage involved all teams meeting in San Diego to compete head-to-head and make their final decisions.

After the competition, the AAWC team went on to visit educational and cultural sites in California and New York City.