QUT has welcomed more than 500 high school students to its Gardens Point campus in the past week, for a series of campus tours and a major business competition for teenagers.
The two separate events were held as part of the university’s engagement activities to give school students a real-world taste of uni.
On Friday (May 20), more than 500 Year 10 students from four schools (Caboolture, Tullawong, Deception Bay and Yeronga state highs) toured Gardens Point with the help of current QUT students.
The tours were part of a Widening Participation outreach initiative, which saw QUT sponsor 1400 students from 12 schools to attend the Brisbane Careers and Employment Expo at the nearby Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
QUT Equity Director Dr Theresa Lauf said the Widening Participation team worked with partner schools to coordinate the experience and enabled them to bring their whole year levels by providing funding for transport and a campus lunch.
“The team also delivered preparatory in-school information sessions before the Careers Expo to help high school students get the most they could out of the event,” she said.
On Saturday (May 21), another group of high schoolers was on campus – this time for the final of the national QUT BlueShift high school business case competition.
The annual competition is open to students in Year 10, 11 and 12, who compete in teams to develop business solutions for a real company and vie for a $3000 cash prize for their school.
This year, 51 teams registered from across the country to brainstorm ideas for client Compare the Market.
Brisbane State High team ‘The Gryphon Group’ won the final to become QUT’s 2022 BlueShift champions, with ‘Meerkat Masters’ from Queensland Academy of Health Sciences coming in a close second, and ‘CDI Consulting’ from Northside Christian College taking out third place.
The winning students received a $2,000 QUT Faculty of Business and Law scholarship, a prize pack from Adobe, Videopro, Culture Kings, Merlo, QUTeX and Bagel Boys, and a $250 gift card for each team member. Brisbane State High also received the winning school $3,000 cash prize.
QUT Business School Associate Director (Work Integrated Learning) Ingrid Larkin said BlueShift had given the high school students a taste of studying a business degree at QUT.
“It was great to see high school students presenting such well researched and planned recommendations, in both the written reports and from the finalist teams,” she said.
“It was a really competitive field this year.”
Thousands more school students will descend on QUT in July for the university’s first full in-person Open Day in three years.
The 2022 QUT Open Day will be held on Sunday, July 31, from 9am to 3pm at the Gardens Point (city) campus in Brisbane.
People can register online to keep up to date with the latest information about Open Day, courses, scholarships and key application deadlines – and go into the draw to win a Macbook Pro.
High school students looking for some career inspiration in the lead-up to Open Day can also try QUT’s Match My Skills online quiz to create a personalised list of careers and courses that best suit your interests and skills.
QUT Media contacts:
- Mechelle McMahon, media@qut.edu.au
- After hours, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au
