“I just wanted to say thank you for organizing the Consulting Night. It was a really fantastic evening. It was great to get off campus and meet the employers in a different environment. They were a really interesting group of firms and I really enjoyed speaking with all of them. The nice thing about these types of evenings is that it opens up your mind to the wide range of opportunities and industries that exist out there and sometimes you are pleasantly surprised to discover that what you had previously assumed to be your niche or interest, is not necessarily the only thing you could enjoy,” said Clarissa Turner, MBA, Class of 2012.

A team of four NUS and one HKUST exchange students at the University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce topped the 12th Annual Navigant-McIntire Case Competition. Comprising Year 2 students Alvin Lim, Edwin Iskandar, Leonard Sin, Year 3 student Amanda Lai, and HKUST student Crystal Leung, the team beat eleven other teams to emerge victorious.

As the School had just signed the MOU for undergraduate student exchange with McIntire late last year, these four students are the very first batch of Business students on exchange at McIntire. McIntire’s undergrad business program was ranked no. 2 in the list of Top Undergraduate Business Programs 2010 by Bloomberg Businessweek, ahead of Wharton’s no. 4.

The Navigant-McIntire Case Competition is a difficult contest that provides students with the opportunity to exhibit the analytical skills that they have developed while working in teams. The competition offers a unique opportunity to interact and gain feedback from Navigant consultants, the competition’s corporate sponsor, concerning real cases.

The team did a 13-hour case on an American brokerage business that was assessing its exposure to regulatory breaches in their mutual fund trading business. They played the role of consultants who advised on the firm’s financial exposure and solutions to avoid a regulatory nightmare.

CASEIT is an international undergraduate business case competition with a strong focus in Management Information Systems (MIS). This annual competition began in 2004 and provided students from all around the world with an opportunity to apply their classroom skills and knowledge to real-life business scenarios through strategic IT analysis and presentation.

At the recently concluded CASEIT 2011 competition held at Vancouver, the NUS team, after going through two rounds of presentation following a 24-hour deliberation period, came in third. Queen's University was the champion and Indiana University Kelley School of Business clinched 2nd place. The NUS team was made up of Computing student Lim Wei Yang and two Business students Joyce Kay and Ervin Lim.

There were altogether 16 teams from institutions such as Singapore Management University, University of Minnesota, Carnegie Mellon University, Arizona State, and University of British Columbia, among others. This is the third time that NUS is participating in this event.

The NUS BSA Sports Tournament was held for the first time on 29 January 2011. Jointly organised by the NUS Business School Alumni Assoc and Bizad Club, more than 150 participants took part in the tournament. Aiming to create a more holistic campus life for students and encourage a more active and healthy lifestyle, the event brought like-minded people together to relax and have fun.  The finals of the soccer match saw a clash of the titans with two very skillful teams competing for goal. The teams, an Indian group led by captain Jasdeep and a Barcelona group led by captain Hooman, had topped their respective groups in the earlier matches. It was the highlight of the day as the two teams fought hard, with Jasdeep’s team eventually emerging the winner.

Sports Director of NUS Students' Business Club, Ang Wei Ming felt that the effort put into planning and executing the event had paid off and that it was a success. "Everyone worked well and hard to ensure the event ran smoothly and that the players' welfare was met. Although the rain forced us to postpone the event the first time round, I believe that for all those involved, both participants and organizers, the event was a memorable and exciting one."

NUS MBA Student Activities Club celebrated Lunar New Year 2011 with a splendid campus get-together on Saturday, 29 January 2011.  Enthusiastic volunteers started decorating the Mochtar Riady Building in the late afternoon, and by the time they were done, the building looked remarkably more Asian with red decorations and golden lampions hanging from the walls.

The event opened with a welcome speech by Prof Quek Ser Aik, Vice Dean of Graduate Studies. The MCs of the evening, Rachel Geng and Susan Tong, then introduced the Chinese zodiac and shared an interesting story of why Chinese loves red during this period, which is to scare away a beast called ‘Nian’.

The crowd was then treated to a lion dance performance before dining on a delicious buffet. Following dinner, an array of performances commenced. Our Vietnamese friends started off with a folk song and the highly engaging bamboo dance. Next in line were the Korean students who deliver a crash course on Korean culture – “How to play traditional Korean games” and “How to bow properly”.

The Chinese students then teamed up with students from other nationalities to sing traditional and modern Chinese songs. The celebration ended with a ‘Shuanghuang’ performance, which drew thunderous applause from the crowd.

It is a tradition for the Mandarin Alumni members to gather every Lunar New Year to celebrate and catch up with one another. About 60 members attended the luncheon at Cheer Garden Restaurant on 12 Feb 2011. After committee members greeted all with well wishes, everyone tossed ‘yu sheng’ for prosperity and good luck in the Rabbit Year. A game of Bingo was then played and 10 lucky winners walked away with prizes. Famed geomancer Mr. Tong Noong Chin was also invited to provide a synopsis of what each Chinese zodiac sign can expect in the Rabbit Year. All the participants enjoyed themselves thoroughly and were glad for the opportunity to bond and have fun.