Four Curtin students have returned triumphant from Barcelona after playing key roles in developing a winning communication plan for a multinational medical equipment company.
Insyirah Binte Abdullah, Nadhilah Shahruddin, Quin Song and Ronald Pang took part in the Global Communication Project (GlobCom) where students from 11 universities worldwide worked to create a communications plan for medical and technical equipment company Carl Zeiss.
The students toiled day and night on websites, Facebook and Skype. They collaborated online across time zones to produce a pitch for the company.
The culmination of the project saw the students travel to Barcelona, pitch to Carl Zeiss and lecturers from around the globe, and catch up with their international team-mates.
Ms Abdullah said the project was demanding but fulfilling.
“I knew from the start that we were going to have plenty of late night online meetings, miscommunications, and so on,” she said.
“Despite that, the thought of doing a proposal for a real organisation with an international team was just too exciting to pass up.
“Going to the symposium was great because we got to meet all our global team leaders and team-mates who we’d been communicating with online.”
Curtin is the only Australian university to participate in GlobCom, which was incorporated into a first semester public relations unit three years ago.
GlobCom Australian co-ordinator, and Curtin lecturer, Catherine Archer said the project provided invaluable experience in dealing with the international nature of public relations, and insight into cultural differences and challenges.
The Curtin students were part of a team of 22 people that competed against nine other international teams.
