UDA stands out in the challenge of Company Game

The School of Production Engineering participated in the challenge of the platform Company Game in the course of the March-July 2019 cycle, in which they managed to position themselves in the thirteenth position of two hundred universities at an international level.

Company Game is a virtual platform that offers a realistic business training experience through simulation in different academic areas and degrees of difficulty. This tool has created a new way of learning that consolidates the knowledge acquired in the classroom through practical application.

Engineer Sebastián Suárez, a professor at the School of Production Engineering, heard about the initiative and decided to form a group of students who, according to his criteria, could rise to the challenge.

Thus the group was formed by: Verónica Guillén, tenth cycle, Vanesa Rodríguez and Sebastián Íñiguez of the eighth cycle.

On this occasion, the students decided to participate in the business branch, since it is the guiding thread of their professional training, and competed with more than 600 universities in Latin America.

During the simulation they made decisions about business, marketing, production, finance and international logistics.

Suárez commented that after the first phase of the simulations, they managed to pass to the second stage, occupying the twelfth position of the two hundred remaining universities that were still in the contest.

For the second stage, the difficulty increased greatly, since decision-making involved issues of international logistics, long and short-term loans, macroeconomic indicators of gross domestic product, variation in the cost of oil, among others.

"This simulator takes into account many variables and factors, therefore, decision making is difficult and can even be stressful, but I appreciate the opportunity to participate, because it has given me a new perspective of how things happen in the practice, "said Vanesa.

In addition, Verónica stressed the importance of putting theory into practice and how this experience has potentially contributed to her learning: "For example, we have learned that advertising, which many Cuenca companies consider an expense, is an investment that brings good results. for the development of the company. "

Despite being the first experience with the simulator, the students managed to reach a third stage in the game. In this stage the difficulty increased even more, since the level was very demanding, competing even with postgraduate and masters students.

"We have simulated strategic and tactical achievements during all periods. We have practically had two companies in our hands and we have made decisions of millions of dollars ... I never would have imagined it! ", Said Sebastián.

Both the teacher Sebastián Suárez, in charge of directing the students, as Vanesa, Verónica and Sebastián, are convinced that the achievements are mainly due to team work, leadership, consensus of the opinions and proposals of each one, since During the simulation processes they have met about eight hours a week.

"We were in the same classroom without thinking about what we could achieve if we united for a common purpose," said Sebastián.

Engineer Suarez indicated that the prizes offered by the platform are student scholarships in Europe for students and for the university free one-year licenses to bring the experience to the classroom.

Therefore, it motivated all the students that make up the Universidad del Azuay to face the challenge, since this experience has given them lessons in the academic, professional and personal field. It is an alternative method of learning that involves its participants as much as possible and ignites the competitive spirit of both students and teachers.

The invitation was also addressed to teachers, to adopt a form of teaching that goes beyond traditional methods.