Spotting a UCT student at the upcoming Bright Young Minds (BYM) conference in Johannesburg should be a breeze - they will make up just about one-quarter of the delegates selected for the event, designed to showcase the talents of some of the country's top students to the business world.
Started by the Stellenbosch arm of AIESEC (the world's largest international student organisation), the BYM concept aims to parade the potential of South Africa's BYM and "fast track their development for the benefit of South Africa". With the assistance of big name corporate sponsors (Sanlam, Microsoft, BHP Billiton and Shoprite) and a host of institutional supporters, BYM has for the past three years been hosting a conference where student delegates get some exposure to business leaders and top international companies.
Following a national advertising and recruitment campaign over the past few weeks, BYM has selected 100 final-year and postgraduate commerce, science, engineering and IT students from tertiary institutions from around the country to attend its 2003 conference, to be held at CIDA City Campus in Johannesburg from June 29 to July 5. Twenty-four of the students - chosen on the basis of academic performance, leadership skills, diverse experience, initiative and creativity - hail from UCT.
According to BYM spokesperson, Alana Marais, it will be the first time in the conference's run that such a sizeable contingent is selected from one university.