Twenty-five sixth form students faced up to some stiff problem solving, including how to market Oxford United's Minchery Farm stadium, writes David Duffy.

The project, organised by East Oxfordshire Education Business Partnership, enabled students to learn the principles of creative problem solving, to develop the key skills of problem solving, working with others and communication and then solve real-life problems on business premises.

The students followed a programme of creative problem solving similar to that devised for Unipart employees, at Unipart House, Cowley, before going into ten companies to solve problems devised by them.

The three-day exercise ended with the students giving a presentation of their solutions to an audience of employers, teachers and students.

The students used customer and employee research to provide solutions to the problems posed to them. They covered topics from marketing United's new stadium to promoting Oxford Playhouse for younger people.