A team of five UQ Business School students will fly to Sydney tomorrow to compete in the national finals of the UBS Investment Banking Challenge.
Calling itself 'Extraordinary Items' after a line on the Profit and Loss statement, the team is made up of twins Lachlan and James McMurdo, and John Robson (Clayfield), Mark Heiser (Ascot), and David Burello (Eaton's Hill).
James McMurdo said the team had entered because it was an opportunity to apply their learning - they are all dual degree commerce students - to a real life transaction, and have the chance to win internships with UBS and cash prizes. He said, "It's fun working with a bunch of your mates on something like this and we're looking forward to competing in Sydney." "The competition was tough with 30 teams from UQ in the first round."
Five teams made it through to the UQ final on Wednesday 7 May and presented to a panel made up of UQ Business School academics and UBS representative Ross Dunwoody (himself a UQ graduate). Dunwoody was impressed with the quality of the analysis demonstrated by the finalist teams. The team will be accompanied to Sydney by UQ Business School academic Dr Jason Hall who last year coached a team to sixth place in the Rotman International Trading Competition hosted by the University of Toronto.
