Virtual world provides real career skills.

Box Hill Institute’s Centre for Business program is giving students a real head start with its Virtual Enterprise Action Learning Environment program. This hands-on experience allows students to virtually interact in a real business environment. It gives them opportunities to engage in real business processes and exposes them to typical fast paced everyday business environment.

Running since 1997 this innovative program operates as a virtual office. Students can use their initiative and employability skills in a real workplace context.

The program works by recruiting students as employees in the Institute’s virtual business work place. They have opportunities to publish on Elgar Virtual Enterprise - a system sponsored by Watsonia Publishing - work with real business correspondence and activities, and complete workloads relating to their department such as administration department, sales and accounting.

Students are rewarded through the programs 'virtual' pay system which is provided by their own Virtual Payroll Division. This gives students further opportunities to purchase from the 5,500 international virtual enterprises with whom Box Hill Institute have business communication ties.

The program is facilitated over 12 weeks from March 2010, giving students the opportunity to learn real employability skills in their Certificate III in Business and Certificate III in International Business.

This is the first time it will be conducted in the Certificate III in Business curriculum. Facilitators Mike Kronberg, Helen Bosa and Catherine Bragagnolo are looking forward to seeing their students enter the Institute’s real business learning environment.