NUS Students from SDE and BIZ Excel Once Again to Make It Two Championship Wins in a Row

A combined NUS team comprising of students from the School of Design and Environment's Department of Real Estate and the NUS Business School represented the university at the 4th USC Marshall International Real Estate Case Competition from 13-17 April 2009 successfully defended their title and emerged as the champions for the second time in a row, beating strong teams from American Universities such as the University of Wisconsin, University of Texas, University of Colorado, Cornell University and University of Southern California.

The NUS team, named ECO, consisted of three students from the School of Design and Environment's Department of Real Estate, namely: Jalleh Shaun Ming Yi (Captain), Tang Yong Ching and Yvonne Tan Yi Wen, and three students from the Business School: Chong Kang Wei, Visayong Viravong and Wu Junhan, with Dr Kwame Addae-Dapaah from the Department of Real Estate of the School of Design and Environment as the faculty advisor.

Each team was required to submit a written report and make oral presentation to the hypothetical Oceanic Global Real Estate Opportunity Fund's Investment Committee on the potential acquisition of a financial Portfolio, based on a real-world scenario. Each team was required to consider the totality of issues involved in the case to conclude whether, and under what conditions, the Fund should act to acquire the asset.

The case was released electronically at 8:00 am (PST) on Monday, 13 April 2009 and Each team was required to submit a written report to the USC Marshall School of Business in Los Angeles by 3:00 pm on Thursday, 16 April 2009. Two rounds of oral presentations were made before a panel of high-powered real estate developers, investors, fund managers, consultants and financiers including, among others, representatives from JP Morgan and CB Richard Ellis.

Four finalists: University of Wisconsin, Connell University, University of South California and National University of Singapore were shortlisted for the second round of oral presentation before a panel of 15 judges, all competing teams and other invited guests. There was a 20-minute presentation followed by ten minutes of Q&A.

NUS was declared the winner on the basis of the quality of the written report and excellent presentation which holistically and professionally addressed all the relevant issues in the case. The University of Wisconsin took the runners-up placing, while University of Southern California and Cornell University secured third and fourth place respectively.

A member of the organising committee, Professor Robert Bridges of the University of Southern California, cited that the NUS should be proud of its team who were 'amazing' with their detailed and holistic presentation. This comment was further affirmed with every judge placing ECO, the NUS team, as their first choice for the winner.

The School of Design and Environment thanks and congratulates its students and its partners from the Business School for all the hard work, effort and collaboration that made this second win in a row possible.