The 'Univative' program was held during the winter break for university.

It aims to foster students' career development and learning and provides the opportunity to connect with a real workplace challenge and gain important employability skills.

Three organisations based in Canberra from the not-for-profit government and corporate sectors presented their unique business challenges.

UOW Southern Highlands students from a variety of disciplines including arts, business and commerce worked in team settings to solve one of the challenges, competing against other student combinations from the University of Canberra.

A student team representing UOW Southern Highlands working in conjunction with Volunteering ACT comprised of team leader Jessica MacDonald, Jacinta Brown, Jennifer Sutton and Nicole Robinson.

The other UOW Southern Highlands student team included team leader Alexandra Degnan, Renee Parks, Madeleine Lane and Emily Ross. Their host organisation was the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).

Team members collaborated to investigate the issues, explore possibilities and develop innovative solutions in preparation for the final day when recommendations were made during formal presentations to the host organisations and were supported with a written report.

All three host organisations responded they were extremely impressed with the presentations and recommendations.

Carer consultant at UOW Southern Highlands, Tania Goodman, said host organisations had high expectations and students got to think outside the square and engage out of their comfort zone.

"They gain new knowledge and skills from the experience which will prove invaluable as they enter the workforce," she said.