MBA students at Kansas University will have the chance later this semester to compete in two different competitions to hone their real-life business skills.

The contests are called “case competitions,” and involve a group of students receiving a real-life business decision involving a real company, said Frank Marshall, assistant dean of the School of Business.

Teams are given 24 hours to research the issue and develop a response, which is then presented to a panel of experts, including business school faculty and company executives, who determine a winner.

“It’s a live case where the students are actually applying what they learned in the classroom,” Marshall said.

KU will host one competition in April — the 2009 CIBER International Case Competition — involving other national and international universities.

In May, MBA students will travel to Guangzhou, China, to compete in the Sun Yat Sen International Business Case Competition. There, instead of competing as a group, KU students will be split and placed on other teams to maximize the interaction with other international students, Marshall said.

The group going to China will be accompanied by Tailan Chi, associate professor of business. The annual trip doesn’t usually involve the competition, Marshall said. Students also will be talking to Chinese business leaders, and getting other international experience.

The trip is funded by a combination of scholarship and student funds, Marshall said.

Marshall, assistant dean in the School of Business, said the case competition experience was good for students, as it gives them practical experience solving a real-life problem.

“They get immediate feedback from a panel of experts,” he said. “And they get all the right kinds of feedback.”