GCCA | Graduate Careers Council of Australia

Graduate Careers Australia

ergo - Number 91 June 2003

HEWSO Winners

The spectacular Transport Exhibition Hall at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney was the venue for the announcement of the National Winner and three Highly Commended teams, in the 2003 Higher Education Workplace Skills Olympiad (HEWSO) on Friday 11 April 2003.

The award for the winning team from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) was presented by the Minister for Science, The Hon Peter McGauran MP. The QUT team worked with a small Brisbane HR consultancy, Trevor-Roberts Associates, on a business problem set by the company. The company’s comments on the team’s presentation indicate the high levels of performance achieved by all the HEWSO teams.

[The team] researched and understood an entire industry within the short time frame. [They] understood the various external influences affecting the industry and showed a high level of analytical thinking in seeing how these may affect our organisation. [They also] understood the resource constraints of our organisation and took these into consideration with their recommendations…[Their] critical thinking and recommendations were excellent [and they] showed an understanding of all facets of our business to come up with some practical and usable recommendations.

Vice-President of the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (AVCC), Professor Di Yerbury of Macquarie University, presented awards to three Highly Commended teams from the University of Sydney (working with the Australian Taxation Office), The University of Melbourne (the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance) and the University of Wollongong (the Illawarra Credit Union).

The four award-winning teams had progressed through a rigorous judging process, in which they were first assessed by their host employer, and then, as the winning team from their university, presented again to a national panel of judges in finals sessions held in Sydney and Melbourne. Teams came from a total of 17 universities around the country, and each prepared a 20-minute presentation of its findings and a business report. HEWSO, an initiative of the National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (NAGCAS), has now run for three years, and has grown in strength as the number of universities involved increases each year. It provides an opportunity for teams of students entering their final year of study to work on a real business problem or issue, producing results for the host employer and helping students to develop a range of skills demanded by graduate employers.

The project has gained the support of the Department of Education, Science & Training (DEST) , the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee , the Graduate Careers Council of Australia (GCCA) , the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Association of Graduate Employers (AAGE) . DEST is the major sponsor of the event over a three-year period, and in 2003 other sponsors include gradlink , Centrelink , The Empower Group , the Department of Health and Ageing and the AAGE .