Every year our International Full-time MBA students take part in a TRIP. This stands for Themed Research International Project. As a Programme Manager for our Full-time Masters in Financial Management Programme I was asked to join the students on this outing to Brussels. As a native Dutchie (that is what we call locals in English) I am quite familiar with Brussels as I grew up in a part of the Netherlands which is only a 1 ½ hour drive to down town Brussels, or as I would like to call it ‘Bruxelles’. I have a soft spot for the French Language which comes in handy as this city is bi-lingual (Dutch and French).
I must admit that I have only been exposed to the Food & Beverage of Brussels as this is unfortunately a bit more refined when you compare it to the Dutch kitchen, but nonetheless this trip was not primarily designed to discover the local cuisine. This was about the intricate and complex system of Brussels as a leading European AND government city. A lot of companies that we all know have at least an office in Brussels in order to lobby – at least to a certain extent.
On Monday 27 May the students took part in a kick-off session given by Mr. Tom Yannuzzi – Assistant Professor, Communication Studies at Penn State University and a guest lecture by Prof. Koen Berden where he discussed the Economics of European Integration and Impact Assessments.
Tuesday morning 140 MBA students and RSM staff gathered at the main gate of Erasmus University and hopped on the two buses which took us to ‘The Hotel’ in Brussels on the Boulevard de Waterloo where no time was wasted as we dropped off our luggage and headed for the first presentations of the day. Mr. Jean-Michel Sers delivered an insight on how the European systems are working regarding research done by and in the E.U. followed by a presentation on ‘How the EU Institutions Work & How to influence the process’ by Mr. Dirk Hudig (this is the lobbying part). The last informational session was provided by one of our Executive MBA Alumni: Mr. Augusto Bergueno Arjona on Europe 2020 Digital Agenda for Europe.
The first day was concluded by an Alumni dinner at La Manufacture where the students had the opportunity to get the ins and outs of the companies where the Alumni are working. I am pretty sure that students concluded this first day a bit later than I did as Brussels has a great nightlife with little bars and pubs.
Day two was all about company visits. We gave the students some time to recover from Brussels and at 11.00 hrs presentations were given by Ms. Henriette van Eijl on the subject ‘Innovation within the European Community’. I attended a very interesting visit at the European Investment Bank. The other companies to visit were: BP, Daimler and Deutsche Bank.
At 20.00 hrs the buses left again for Rotterdam and hopefully leaving our students inspired, intrigued and motivated by the hustle and bustle of Brussels.
Cheers,
Bart
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