Students from eight countries participate in the inaugural BBA Business Challenge international business competition

IE University’s Segovia campus has just hosted the inaugural IE Business School BBA Business Challenge 2019, attended by Business Administration students from eight universities in China, Canada, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Australia, the United States and Spain. The winner was the Rotterdam School of Management team, with Ivey Business School in Canada the runner up.

Thirty-two students, divided into eight teams, participated in the international competition held in Madrid and Segovia, organized by IE Business School’s BBA degree program and that required students to solve business cases judged by a panel of outstanding professionals and academics.

The students, selected for their academic merits and exceptional profile, came from IE University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Canada’s Western University Ivey Business School, BI Norwegian Business School, Rotterdam School of Management, the University of Melbourne, Sweden’s Lund University School of Economics and Management and the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.

The challenge was to solve problems in the field of business and present solutions to a jury of specialists. The teams arranged each four-hour competition day to work on a short case, while they had another twenty-four hours to solve a longer case chosen by the organization.

The students took advantage of their stay in Segovia to participate in intercultural activities, enjoy the city’s famed gastronomy and to visit its most emblematic sites, such as the Roman aqueduct, the Alcázar, the Cathedral and the Casa de la Moneda.

"The first IE Business School Competition BBA Business Challenge has been a resounding success for our business school and for the degree program. We are very happy to have started a tradition that will bring students from all over the world to IE every February to such an exciting competition," said IE Business School’s Dean, Martin Boehm.

“The first IE Business School Competition BBA Business Challenge has been a resounding success for our business school and for the degree program.”

Marc Smelik,  the Deputy Dean of Degree Studies at IE Business School, highlighted the participation of the best students from the most important business schools in the world in the inaugural BBA Business Challenge. "This is a competition for young minds to analyze and solve business challenges in the beautiful enclave of the campus of IE University in Segovia. Some of the skills most sought after by companies around the world have been applied in this competition, such as analysis, effective communication and teamwork under pressure, that's why we are very happy to offer this development opportunity as part of IE's role in global education."

The winning team, Rotterdam School of Management, was made up of Chloé Fleury, Mate Pocs, Saleh Dadkhahipour and Luca La Porta, who were supervised by RSM’s Lance Cosaert.