ASPIRING Alan Sugars from the University of Worcester scooped a top place in an international competition.

Entrepreneurial students finished an impressive second in the Entrepreneurs Open Challenge 2007 (EPOCH) - a four-day competition which brought together top business-minded students from the UK and Europe.

The event mirrors TV programme The Apprentice and was hosted by the London School of Economics.

Teams representing universities from York, Birmingham, Bristol and Stockholm were just some of the other seven finalists, narrowed down from an initial 60-plus universities.

The Worcester team was made up of students from a range of disciplines across the university, including English, business management, IT and psychology.

All members were put to the test in four challenges, including negotiation, sales, marketing and strategy.

The team won the prestigious Orange sponsored marketing challenge in the process, but were beaten into second place overall by Kingston University.

Worcester's team leader student Matt Leavesley said: "Our team performed exceptionally well with all the challenges and we all learnt a lot from a very intense week.

"I would like to thank the university for fully supporting us through these challenges and hope next year we claim first place."

Business school principal lecturer Marilyn Hunt, said: "To finish second out of an initial 60-plus universities is a great achievement.

"We're delighted that our students performed so highly, and have really done their part in helping to put Worcester firmly on the entrepreneurial business map."

University vice-chancellor Prof David Green added: "I'm delighted that Worcester students have proved so outstandingly enterprising."