Hello Everyone,
Interest for the Imagine Cup has been strong and we can confirm the various categories are now open for competition. From experience we know that the next couple of months will be key in getting great UK representation in the Imagine Cup.
Here are just a few of the reasons for encouraging your students to compete:
- PR: The Imagine Cup attracts the attention of both regional and national newspapers, together with technology and education press and news websites such as the BBC. Having students from your university compete in the Imagine Cup is great for raising the profile of your university in two important ways. Firstly it demonstrates the quality of your graduates to IT employers and makes them more attractive as employees (e.g. Dominic Green, UK winner of the 2008 competition) and secondly, it attracts new students to your university.
- Skills Development: Fundamentally the Imagine Cup is about helping students get real world experience with Microsoft technology. The skills learned during the various competitions compliment their studies and are invaluable when students apply for jobs with IT companies.
- Students Inspiration: With every technology interest area catered for, the competition is a great way to channel students’ passion for technology out of class.
We want as many UK institutions and students to get involved with the Imagine Cup as possible, and to help you participate we provide:
- Giveaways for students: Every week we give away web cams and Starbucks vouchers. We also hold a monthly draw for a Dell laptop, providing everything a student needs to see them through their studies and the Imagine Cup competition.
- Donation of an Xbox 360 gaming lab kit for your university: The university with the most registrations will receive 4 Xbox 360s, 8 wired controllers and an assortment of the latest Xbox 360 titles. You are free to use them for XNA development or as a social/recreation area for students.
If you would like to receive regular updates on the registration numbers from your university then please let me know and I will happily send them to you. You can contact me by telephone (0118 909 3409) or if you prefer by email (mailto:ukacinfo@microsoft.com).
And just to give you an idea of how we are doing so far, here are the top fifteen universities with the highest number of registrations:
| University | Registrations |
| Brighton | 89 |
| Birmingham City | 38 |
| Cumbria | 38 |
| Bradford | 37 |
| Reading | 35 |
| Robert Gordon | 35 |
| Derby | 31 |
| Nottingham | 24 |
| De Montfort | 23 |
| Keele | 23 |
| Cambridge | 20 |
| Hull | 20 |
| Imperial College | 20 |
| Brunel | 18 |
| RHUL | 20 |
If you would like to know more, them please email or telephone me. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.
Good luck,
Allison
