ARGUS University Challenge

Éamonn D’Arcy is Professor of International Real Estate and Co-Head of the Department of Real Estate and Planning at the Henley Business School, University of Reading, United Kingdom. He has over thirty-five years’ experience as a real estate educator and is the Programme Director of the full-time MSc Real Estate Programme and the Flexible Programmes in Real Estate at Henley. He is a past president of both the International Real Estate Society (IRES) and the European Real Estate Society (ERES) and is currently the Director of International Liaison for the American Real Estate Society (ARES). He has also served on the board of the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA).

His research and teaching interests focus on real estate economics, the operation of real estate markets in practice, the internationalisation of real estate involvements and issues relating to corporate responsibility in the real estate sector. He is a recipient of the 2024 ARES Education Award. This prestigious award was made in 'recognition of his many significant contributions to the advancement of real estate education'. Éamonn is the first recipient of the Education Award to be based outside North America.

This unique challenge allows students to participate in a powerful and compelling competition to enhance their knowledge of ARGUS Enterprise to aspiring real estate professionals. The competition includes simulating a real-life investment analysis of a commercial real estate property by modeling the assumptions provided in ARGUS Enterprise and creating a paper describing the outcome of the analysis. We have invited an elite group of highly ranked universities to participate in the Challenge. The rules of engagement are outlined below. Good luck!

Rules of engagement

• Each university may enter multiple teams of 3 – 5 members per team. Each team member must be currently enrolled at their university. Team member names and e-mail addresses will be submitted to the ARGUS University Challenge site by Thursday, February 26, 2026. If submitting more than one team from a university, you must indicate a team name next to the university name on the form. Final team members may not change after this date.

  
  

• Each team must have a chosen faculty member of the university functioning as the advisor. The role of the faculty member is to confirm each team member's current enrollment and offer guidance before the assignment's distribution. Please note that all work for the Challenge must be completed by team members.

  
  

• Faculty, students, alumni, industry professionals and/or anyone outside the core team is not allowed to assist with the case.

  
  

• The challenge will be available on the University Challenge website by March 06, 2026. The assignment includes preparing a model using ARGUS Enterprise in addition to submitting a paper explaining the results of the analysis. An ARGUS Enterprise 90-day academic license will be emailed to each participant to be used during the Challenge.

  
  

• Teams are to submit their cases by emailing them to challenge@argussoftware.com. They will need to submit the ARGUS file/files and paper by Friday, April 17, 2026.

  
  

• Students will compete for scholarship awards totaling $25,000.

  
  

  • 1st prize winner receives $15,000

  • 2nd prize winner receives $6,000

  • 3rd prize winner receives $3,000

  • Honorable mention winner receives $1000

    
    

• A panel of judges from the academic community and industry will participate in reviewing the case studies and nominating the winners. Winners will be announced May 20, 2026.

  
  

• Announcement of the winners of this competition will be announced and published on ARGUS Software’s website in addition to their newsletter.

  
  

• Winners’ submissions will also be posted on the University Challenge website.

  
  

• Participants’ names, pictures, and school logos may also be published on the website.

  
  

• If you have questions pertaining to this Challenge please contact an ARGUS representative at challenge@argussoftware.com or log onto the ARGUS Community at argussoftware.com/support.