A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
The Enterprise Internships scheme is providing the prospective entrepreneurs - who represent six start-up businesses - with a place to work and enough money to meet their immediate living costs over the three months of summer vacation, allowing them to develop their business ideas.
The eight students were chosen from over 25 applicants and represent a diverse range of potential new businesses.
Nina Roussakoff recently graduated with a degree in Sociology and is working on a female-friendly computer games business, Dreamgate. She has been developing the idea since 2009 and hopes it will become her main occupation.
Her aim during the summer is to finalise and launch her first game, Steamgirl, which is already 70 per cent complete.
Roussakoff, 26, said: “Steamgirl is a game about a young woman discovering her talent for invention during the Steam Age. Like Steamgirl’s passion for gadgets, I have always had a passion for games and wanted to make them since I was 10 years old.
"When I presented my business plan, I never imagined it would get so much interest! Thanks to the University I am now able to fund music and artwork for the game and really give this project some spark.”
The other research interns include Peter Spence, an Economics student, who is working on a range of productivity related applications for smart phones, PhD Biology student Joanna Banasiak, who is developing recycling options for laboratory waste, and Alex Winch, an Economics and Language and Linguistic Science student, who is working on an idea to provide healthy meal ingredients for next year’s intake of students.
A three-strong team of students from the York Management School is working on an online property site for people seeking short term rented accommodation which would benefit landlords and tenants.
These real life case studies are likely to be much more effective in presenting the realities of getting an idea off the ground than any text book.
Meanwhile Camille Sainsbury, who recently graduated with a degree in History of Art, is using her connections with Malaysia to establish a service for budget travellers interested in working in conservation projects, potentially aiming at the gap year market.
Andrew Ferguson, Director of the University’s Careers Service, hopes other students will benefit from the interns’ experience.
He said: “All Enterprise Interns have agreed to keep a record of their experiences over the summer and we will also be working closely with them to offer any assistance we can.
"We are hoping to share their learning, both the good and the bad bits, with future students considering the option of starting their own businesses while at University.
"These real life case studies are likely to be much more effective in presenting the realities of getting an idea off the ground than any text book.”
The Enterprise Interns are based in the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in Enterprise (CETLE) in the Ron Cooke Hub building at the centre of the £750 million Heslington East campus expansion.
CETLE enables students to develop enterprise skills so that they are equipped to make an impact in the future as social entrepreneurs, enterprising employees and successful business owners.
Established as a White Rose initiative between the Universities of York, Sheffield and Leeds in 2005, CETLE at York hosts a micro-incubator in which students can start and base their own businesses.
Since its launch, CETLE has provided workspace and encouragement to a wide range of student entrepreneurs and is the base for the student society York Entrepreneurs, which with 1,400 members, is one the largest societies on campus.
CETLE provides small grants to promising business concepts and thanks to its support, a number of former York students have gone on to run their own businesses.
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