Lancaster and Sunway students enjoy a game

Bright-eyed exchange students, 28 to be exact, from Lancaster University who were in Sunway University on a Sunway-Lancaster Summer Programme (Sep 4 – 24) this year, found themselves in a game during their stay at Sunway. It was a Business Simulation Game that they facilitated for a group of younger students enrolled in the Foundation in Arts (FIA), a Pre-University programme which is the foundation programme tailored for the Lancaster collaborative degree programmes offered at Sunway University.

The aim of the game was to develop communication, teamwork and entrepreneurial skills around challenging yet hypothetical activities of buying and selling as well as coming up with solutions to real-life problems and situations that can be found in Kuala Lumpur. It forced the FIA students to think in a business way to come up with solutions. The groups had to present their ideas to the rest of the participants at the end of the game.

One of the tasks was to build towers of straw and paper that would be able to hold an egg.

Jemma Gaskell, one of the exchange students from Lancaster said “I really enjoyed the business game especially since my two teams came in 2nd and 3rd. The Sunway students presented very well and I was impressed with their skills”.

Kimberley Warrillow, an International Opportunities intern from Lancaster University who chaperoned the British students to Malaysia explained that the game was an extension of volunteering that Lancaster students do with school children in their community. It empowers the volunteer students, indirectly teaches them about social enterprise and the 3 “P”s (which stands for People, Planet and Profits) which are important to have in daily life. “One needs to work with the community, taking into consideration the community and the environment while allowing a company to make profits. All 3 “P”s should ideally be combined” she said.

“The most important thing is for students to have confidence and we definitely saw this in the FIA students during the business game. In future, I hope the students will continue their relationship with the community” added Kimberley.