All Aston University postgraduate students studying business have the opportunity to take part in the Universities Business Challenge (UBC) Global Masters. The UBC Global Masters is a team-based business simulation event that provides participants with the opportunity to act as a board of directors, who have taken responsibility for improving the performance of a company. You and your team will need to take into account not only the financial performance of the company but also its responsibilities to its various stakeholders including its suppliers, its customers, and its employees.
The UBC Global Masters offers postgraduate students a unique opportunity to develop the skills that you will need when moving into the working world. Whether you are hoping to work for a large multinational corporation, take on a public-sector role, return to run a family-owned business, or set up your own enterprise, you will need to develop your skills in making the strategic and operational decisions that create value for organisations.
The UBC Postgraduate Global Masters provides an opportunity for personal and professional development that is intellectually challenging and practically relevant, equipping participants with essential skills. Find out more here.
The UBC is an annual event, where you will compete with University teams across the UK. The UBC commences around October and runs over two rounds through to approx March the following year. All Aston University postgraduate students studying business can take part in this activity (September and January starts), you can pick your own team of 5 from your course or express an interest to join and be matched up with other Aston postgraduate students from a range of courses.
Aston University has taken part in many UBC Global Masters, within the last two competitions we have funded the entry of 12 teams and had five of these teams go on to represent Aston in the finals. Find out more about the teams that made it into the finals below.
2022/2023 UBC Final
As the current holder of the UBC Global Masters Trophy (see below), the March 2023 grand final was hosted here at Aston Business School, with teams from the universities of Dundee, Lancaster, Leeds, Lincoln, Liverpool, Sheffield Hallam, Southampton and Aston. Exceptionally, three Aston teams made it into the 12-team final (out of approx. 90 entries) but didn’t get onto this year’s podium – ceding ‘our’ title to Southampton University.
- Team AD2
Team members are Vidhya Sivakumar, Anoop Gupta, Anshika Lakhina, Avni Ahuja and Suvam Podder - all studying their MBA at Aston University.
Their team leader is Vidhya Sivakumar and their staff mentor is Dr Ilias Basioudis.
They won their eight-team qualifying group to make it into the UBC GM Grand Final.
- Team AF2
Team members are a mix of MSc and MBA students at Aston University, comprising Hamza Ali, Kranthi Kumar Varaganti, Eno-Emem Egbas and Monica Ugoma Ekeleme.
Their team leader is Hamza Ali and their staff mentor is Dr George Salijeni.
They won their eight-team qualifying group to make it into the UBC GM Grand Final.
- Team AK2
Team members are Anurag Verma, Nikhil Nunna, Pham Quynh Mai Dinh, Riddhi Banerjee and Taradheesh Dubey – all studying their MBA at Aston University.
Their team leader is Anurag Verma and their staff mentor is Dr Reza Marvi.
They won their eight-team qualifying group to make it into the UBC GM Grand Final.
2021/2022 UBC Final (winners!)
This year we had two Aston University teams make it to the final in March 2022, which took place at Liverpool University - there were only 10 finalists out of 72 participants overall. A team of Aston MBA students took the top prize at the Universities Business Challenge (UBC) Global Masters 2022!
- Team GG3