Derby is top UK university in Euro contest

Three students at the Buxton campus of the University of Derby beat all other UK entrants in a competition to find the most daring young entrepreneurs in Europe.

Their team, called Hotspa Derby, came in the top ten of the European Mise en Place Cup (EMCup) at Maastricht against competition from the continent’s top hotel schools.

And they were placed above all the other UK university teams, even though it was the first time Derby had entered the competition, which is designed to encourage hotel management students to “dare to stand out from the crowd through entrepreneurship and commitment”.

Hospitality management student Andy Heyes, Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts student Wiktor Witan, and Lelia Fiastru, who is studying Spa Management, joined forces to present their ideas on the competition’s theme of Wellness and Wealth.

Using the slogan “The Greatest Wealth is Health”, Andy, Wiktor and Lelia outlined their ideas on the little investments in time which boost wellbeing – and could even extend your life.

“We are all very proud to represent the University and hope we brought lots of fun, energetic and enthusiastic ideas to the competition,” said Andy, whose team came in eighth place.

Feedback from the judging panel revealed that the Derby students’ entry had been “an excellent achievement… your students were competing against all the top European hotel schools and were judged by key employers.”