Zhi Jun (middle row, sixth from left)  holding the trophy after winning third place at the IBS Challenge organised by CIDB together with his fellow TARCians and FOBE lecturers (left) Ts. Gunalaan a/l Vasudevan and (right) Puan Hidayu Murni binti Abu Hussain.

It was tough but fruitful weekend for 20 of our Bachelor of Construction Management and Economics (Hons) Year 2 students, who managed to claim third place at the Industrialised Building System (‘IBS’) Challenge held at the Construction Industry Development Board ('CIDB') Convention Centre from 27 - 29 March 2018.

The students from the Faculty of Built Environment (‘FOBE’) competed with close to 100 other participants from four other institutions in the challenge organised by CIDB, where they had to overcome specific obstacles spread over eight different challenges which tested their knowledge, skill and thinking capabilities.

Lee Zhi Jun, who led his team to the third-place finish, was satisfied with the result as they learned a lot from the experience.

"We improved our teamwork and communication a lot, as most of the challenges required those skills in order to overcome them. For example one of the challenges required some team members to build a structure while other members could only give instructions from the sidelines and that really tested our communication skills," said Zhi Jun.

"Apart from communication skills, we are now much more aware on how important it is to have a strong leader to direct the team. A decision maker is essential to help gather suggestions and make decisions which can drive the team to success.

"Fortunately for us, most of the challenges involved topics we have already covered theoretically in class, so we only need to learn how to apply them in the challenges to succeed. This experience certainly helps us realise our shortcomings, and we will surely look forward to improving in the near future," he added.