By Riley Hill
On the weekend of Jan. 5, several University of Calgary teams won medals in the Inter-Collegiate Business Competition, an annual undergraduate business competition that includes over 30 universities from around the world. The competition began in 1978 and has been held annually ever since. This year’s event took place at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.
The ICBC showcases eight different business-related events where teams of two to three students compete.
U of C teams won gold in an accounting and business debate, silver in business policy and bronze in marketing, finance and business ethics.
The winning business debate team included fifth-year economics and political science student Hardave Birk and U of C business student Carol Yan.
“This year, me and another Students’ Union representative, Carol Yan, were on the ICBC debate team. We ended coming in first, so that was really exciting,” said Birk. “It was a great experience. You get to meet students from across the country.”
The topic of the debate was on selling water at market price.
U of C business professor and U of C ICBC coach Bob Schulz said he was proud of the U of C teams’ success.
“We got seven out of eight of our teams into the finals [this year]. So seven of eight of our teams finished in the top six out of more than 30. That’s pretty darn good,” said Schulz, who has played a large role in the teams’ success.
“In 35 years, we’ve won 80 gold medals, which is more than twice as many than anyone else over that time. There’s no one even close to us, really.”