"I define myself as a risk-taker, and that will never change."

Some remarkable accomplishments

https://www.wittenborg.eu/life-meant-be-lived.htm

Linda has a long list of professional accomplishments in her repertoire from being an author of a book, being a part-time university-level lecturer in which she taught taxation law for 16 years, to still owning her own accounting practice for the past 10 years and counting, to say the least.  However, Linda's biggest accomplishment according to her, is being the owner of a private educational institution named Edward's College, which had approximately 150 staff members and an average of 700 enrolled students per year. "I am very proud of the time I spent being a board member at the private college."

What brought Harwood to Wittenborg.

Linda has travelled a lot in the past and recently visited Europe and she evidently enjoyed her stay. The decision to come to Wittenborg was made a few months prior to her actual enrolment. "I really like the new environment and culture that the Netherlands brings to me and I am also here to be exposed to the European market, a market that I have not paid much attention to in the past." It is no secret that Linda holds an innovative and open mindset as she constantly seeks for more.

Motivation to continue

It is not exactly the norm to see such an active student at an age where many would 'call it a day'. For Linda, settling down is practically impossible. In fact, during the interview she also discussed a future project that she will start with a friend in Malaysia to hold workshops for “Women.in Business”. Linda will often say that "Life is meant to be lived" and she has never thought otherwise.

"I live by the philosophy that a person should never stop learning or educating themselves... no matter what age or stage they are at in life."

Are you a procrastinator?

https://www.wittenborg.eu/procrastination-thief-time.htm

‘Procrastination is the thief of time’.  Have you heard this phrase before? Well, it’s an old adage coined by the English writer Edward Young in his 10,000-line poem entitled: The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, more simply known as Night-Thoughts.  In the poem, Young muses on death and urges us to ‘be wise to-day’ as life and opportunities can slip away quickly.
 
Be wise to-day; ’tis madness to defer;
Next day the fatal precedent will plead;
Thus on, till wisdom is push’d out of life.
Procrastination is the thief of time;
Year after year it steals, till all are fled,
And to the mercies of a moment leaves
The vast concerns of an eternal scene.
 
A similar thought is found in Robert Greene’s Gwydonius (1584), in which he wrote that delaying breeds danger and that “procrastination in perils is but the mother of mishap.”

Italian Student Numbers Overtake Chinese Students in the Netherlands

https://www.wittenborg.eu/students-netherlands-now-represent-170-nationalities.htm

The share of international students in the Netherlands has risen from 10.5% to 11.5% the past year with Italy overtaking China as the 2nd biggest country of origin after Germany.

International students in the Netherlands now represent 170 different nationalities with their numbers standing at 85,955. For the third year in a row, Italy is the country of origin with the greatest absolute growth in student numbers, adding 731 students to total of 4,814 students enrolled in the Netherlands. Neighboring country Germany still supplies the highest number of international students (22,584) to the Netherlands, followed by Italy and China (4,547).

The latest statistics were recently published by Nuffic, the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in higher education.

More Students from Outside Europe

More students from countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) now come to the Netherlands. Over a two-year period, the share of non-EEA students among international students increased from 24.8% in 2016-2017, to 26.9% in 2018-2019.

Are You a Team Worker or a Free Rider?

“I’ll write down the questions for the interview,” said student A.
“I’ll do the interview,” said student B.  
“Well, in that case, I’ll do the PowerPoint presentation, but I need your input for the content part,” said student C as he looked at student D.  Student D looked at each of her team members, and without revealing the disappointment in her voice, said okay. And the story continued with Student D slogging through the days and nights trying to complete the whole of the project report before the deadline.

Sounds familiar?  Well, this is a very common scenario among students in high schools, colleges, universities and among employees in workplaces.  So, what’s wrong with this?  Everything, actually.  There is no teamwork, no collaboration, no cooperation and no focus.  Almost definitely, we can say that student D had done the majority of the work, sieving through books and journals and then piecing the information together to form the body of the report.  Is that teamwork?

What is Team Work?
Teamwork refers to a group of people working together towards a common goal.  Scarnati (2001, p.5) defines teamwork “as a cooperative process that allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results”. Extraordinary results because teamwork requires people to collaborate and work interdependently, and collectively the team can come up with a better solution than an individual can.  Arthur L. Costa, in his book ‘The School as a Home for the Mind: Creating Mindful Curriculum, Instruction, and Dialogue', on p.43 said, “Cooperative humans realise that all of us together are more powerful, intellectually and/or physically, than any one individual.”  

Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences has released its 'Code of Conduct for the Use of the English Language', as required by law, which is now enforced to counter 'anglicisation' of Dutch Higher Education

https://www.wittenborg.eu/seemingly-absurd-code-conduct-regarding-language-use-published.htm

Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences has released its 'Code of Conduct for the Use of the English Language', as required by law. This follows recent discussions in the media and in parliament about the anglicisation of Dutch Higher Education.

Dutch Purists and the International HE Money Thing

"According to some Dutch purists there are simply too many English-taught degree programmes at Dutch universities," Wittenborg's Chair, Peter Birdsall, states. He goes on to explain that the debate has reached the government and that there are measures lying in wait to curb the numbers of international students and international programmes at Dutch universities.

"It is simply a money thing - Dutch universities are keen to attract as many international students as possible, and to offer the programmes in two languages costs too much money. EU students bring substantial parts of the funding, as they are fully paid for by the Dutch tax-payer, and non-EU students are a lucrative business as they pay much higher fees. Especially Dutch research universities are attracting many non-EU students who are actually only qualified for degree programmes at applied sciences universities, which have lower entry requirements compared to these high-ranked universities. Financial incentive is encouraging these top universities to teach in English and recruit unqualified non-EU students through agents… and now we are all subject to scrutiny."

Wittenborg University continues its AACSB journey at ICAM 2019 in Edinburgh, meeting business school deans and leaders from around the world.

Wittenborg (WUAS) was represented earlier this month at the AACSB ICAM conference in Edinburgh, by Professor Dr Ron Tuninga, Vice President Academic Affairs, and Dr Rauf Abdul, Head of the WUAS School of Business. ICAM is AACSB's yearly gathering, and the event brings together business school dean and leaders from around the world.

AACSB membership

WUAS has been an AACSB member for two years, and has embarked upon the preparations for AACSB accreditation, an institutional award which is globally recognised. The originally American AACSB and the Dutch accreditation authority NVAO have a partnership that allows for some overlap in recognition.

Benchmarks for Business Schools of the future

According to Wittenborg's Chair and President, Peter Birdsall, "In order to gain AACSB accreditation, a process that could take up to 7 years, WUAS will need, among other things, to further develop its quality system, clearly showing assurance of learning, increase its research-active faculty and essentially that its vision and strategy are reflected throughout it's programmes and working methodology."

Birdsall is convinced that international recognitions are essential for business schools to compete on a global market. "Our slogan that we launched this year - 'Better Yourself, Better Our World' will now become a clear driver to eventually show that students and staff are achieving their potential"

"AACSB membership and eventual accreditation are quickly becoming benchmarks for business schools across the world."

Wittenborg's vice president, Dr Ron Tuninga summed it up by saying 'One day, it will have become an international standard and instead of people wondering why you did it, they will ask 'why don't you have it?'

Islamic Finance Has No Other Option Than to Embrace Financial Technology.

https://www.wittenborg.eu/islamic-finance-has-no-other-option-embrace-financial-technology.htm

Wittenborg lecturer, Dr Muhammad Ashfaq, recently participated in the 7th Global Forum on Islamic Finance organised by the COMSATS University Islamabad held at its Lahore campus in Pakistan.

Ashfaq gave a presentation which asked the question: “Can Financial Technology Play and Important Role in the Development of Islamic Finance?”

He also met with the director of the campus, Prof. Dr. Qaisar Abbas, to discuss mutual areas of interest between COMSATS University Islamabad and Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences. "I briefed him about the academic excellence at Wittenborg," Ashfaq said of the meeting.

One of the key points of his presentation was that though Islamic finance accepts financial technology, it does so at a slower speed compared to its conventional peers.  "There are already a few successful cases where Islamic banks have been involved in utilising fintech platforms. Examples include the Investment Account Platform (IAP) in Malaysia and the Emirates Digital Wallet, which is a joint venture of 16 UAE banks, 4 of which are Islamic.  Consequently, we see diverse response from traditional market players with respect to this new disruption."

He concluded that overall, existing market players do not have any option except to embrace fintech and work in cooperation with it.

WUP 22/4/2019
by James Wittenborg
©Wittenborg University Press

Related Content
COMSATS
Staff at Wittenborg

Bootstrapping and Raising Finance

https://www.wittenborg.eu/serial-entrepreneur-dr-melody-sauerborn-guest-lectures-wittenborg-amsterdam.htm

Students from Wittenborg Amsterdam recently had the opportunity to listen to Dr Melody Sauerborn, bio-pharmacy scientist and serial entrepreneur.

Sauerborn was invited as guest lecture as part of the "Bootstrapping & Raising Finance" module, usually taught by Wittenborg lecturer, Andreas Ooijer. At its Amsterdam location, Wittenborg offers BBA and MBA programmes specialised in Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Small Business.

One of Sauerborn's companies is a contract research company, ADA InVivo B.V., that aimed to consult pharmaceutical multinationals on drug safety. Due to market developments the company now provides training and certification programs for professionals in technology.

Ooijer said: “During her talk she shared with students her experiences of success and failure and provided key lessons learned regarding the relative value of business plans, formal planning and investor relations during the start-up phases of companies”.

WUP 20/4/2019
by James Wittenborg
©Wittenborg University Press

Related Content
Guest Lectures
Wittenborg Amsterdam

"Sport Talents Need to Realise They Need an Education Too"

https://www.wittenborg.eu/graduates-simple-idea-changes-lives-nigeria.htm

Wittenborg graduate Olumide Omotoso has proved that you can make a big difference in the world with a simple idea. While doing his master's degree in Apeldoorn, the Nigerian football player organised a shoe collection drive for disadvantaged children back in his own country.

Omotoso graduated this winter from Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences with a Master of Science in Sport Business Management. He arrived in the Netherlands in November 2017, and soon after joined a local football club in Apeldoorn, Victoria Club.

Using Sport to Change Lives

“I want to be involved with sports while changing lives,” he says of the motivation behind his idea. “Football is a much loved sport in Nigeria, but many children do not have the basic equipment to fulfil their dreams of playing football. Ask any footballer and he would tell you a good pair of shoes is the first thing you need. So, that is why I went for that.”

In the first phase of his collection efforts he managed to send 55 pairs of shoes to Nigeria. Starting with his own football club and then others in the Netherlands, he asked people to donate their old sport shoes that are still in a good condition. Word got around and more and more people came forward to donate.

KSG Apeldoorn High School Visits Wittenborg University with Cultural Diversity the Key Theme of Discussion.

During the presentation, staff focused on 3 different aspects: diversity, culture and cultural differences. To break the ice, the high-school pupils were tasked with guessing the origins of Wittenborg's facilitators. This exercise proved to be a little tricky, since it was hard to pinpoint the exact origins. However, in a second exercise and with the support of a world map, students immediately recognised the countries. Staff member Nadia commented: “I was positively surprised how quickly the students reacted once we showed them the map”. The facilitators then proceeded to take the students on a journey of their own personal lives.

Sinan, a Turkish staff member in the admissions department, mentioned a few culture shocks since he moved to Europe. For instance, he recalls how impressed he was, that cars stop at a zebra crossing. He argues “In Turkey this is impossible, cars don’t stop for you and you have to be very careful when crossing the street." Through a video, students could experience the different ways of tackling zebra crossings.  Sinan then explained how culture comes in every shape and form and can be seen in individual clothes, religion and food. Students were then asked about dinner times. Since most of the students were Dutch the answer was 6 or 5 PM, but when Sinan asked the Algerian and Malaysian staff members, the students were surprised that dinner would start at 8 or even 9 PM.

Dutch students were asked to explain the Dutch culture to the presenters - then there was silence in the room. What is culture and how do you define it? It is not easy to define one’s culture, since it usually involves routines that seem normal to the individual but could be interpreted as odd for an outsider.