https://www.wittenborg.eu/wittenborg-has-brand-new-student-career-counselor.htm

Sannne de Jong has been appointed as the new Student Career Counselor and Alumni Office Manager at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences. She will also be the facilitator between companies and students for internships. 

De Jong joined Wittenborg in 2016 as Human Resource Officer but her ties with the organisation go way back. Fresh out of high school in 2003, she started at Wittenborg as housing officer when it was still located in Deventer.

Next to Student Career Counselor, de Jong will henceforth also be the coordinator between students and companies with regards to internships, taking over from lecturer Bert Meeuwsen  as Work Placement Coordinator. 

De Jong said she is excited about her new role.  “We would like to take our alumni network to the next level – build up a solid network and put new energy in our current networ. Wittenborg has six entry dates per year, which also means six graduation opportunities so we have many new alumni every six weeks. We want to create one platform for all of them,” De Jong said. 

Wittenborg has taken the first steps in gaining accreditation from the Association of MBAs (AMBA) and according to De Jong, a solid alumni network is one of the pillars of AMBA accreditation. 

As far as career counseling goes, De Jong will dispense advice to international students on matters such as navigating the Dutch labour market and the necessary soft skills needed, whether in terms of internships or finding a job after graduation. “Many students are interested in staying in the Netherlands after graduating. Our external network can be a valuable resource for them.”

Excited to be a Student Again after Almost 20 Years

https://www.wittenborg.eu/mother-joins-two-children-students-wittenborg.htm

Most parents have a hard time saying goodbye when their children leave the nest and head off to university. This won’t be a problem for Hanna Abdelwahab, who is joining her two children, Amro and Heba, as students at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences. 

They are part of the latest group of new students who have started their studies at Wittenborg this week, after completing an intense orientation week with many fun and educational activities. 

'I have been teaching for 20 years'

While her offspring will be starting their bachelor's degrees, Hanna will be doing an MBA in Education. “I have been teaching for 20 years and wanted to do an MBA on top of my other qualifications, including a Bachelor in Accounting,” she explains. The family lived in Singapore for many years and for the last 5 years in Egypt. 

Amro will do an IBA in Information Management, while Heba will start her IBA in Economics & Management. For now though, the family is still looking for accommodation in Apeldoorn so they can be close to the Wittenborg campus. 

The last time Hanna was a student was in 2000, when she did her postgraduate diploma in education. How does it feel to be back in school? “Very exciting actually. You are a different student when you have had a bit of experience in life.”

She shrugs off any suggestions that it is heroic to take on studying again as a mother and after so many years have passed. "What can I say? I love learning."

WUP 14/12/2018
by Anesca Smith 
©Wittenborg University Press

Related Content
New Wittenborg Students

"I completely fell in love with Holland after a holiday here" - New international student

The last group of new students for the 2018 calendar year arrived in the Netherlands to start their studies at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences this week. Among them, the group boasts 15 different nationalities – Venezuela, Bangladesh, Italian Egypt, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Georgia, India, Vietnam, Iran, Pakistan, Rwanda, the Philippines, Libya and Indonesia.

Last Thursday, during Introduction Week, students were welcomed by Wittenborg’s chair of the executive board, Peter Birdsall, at an informal lunch where new students got to meet some members of staff.

Welcome to our international environment

“Welcome to our international environment - It is wonderful to see so many of you here,” Birdsall said. “You will find that at any given time at Wittenborg there are 70 – 80 different nationalities in school.” He encouraged them to take part in the many different student activities at Wittenborg, including the 2019 National Student Survey early next year. “Study hard and enjoy your life as a student.”

One of the new admissions is Elizabeth Flora, a top-up student from Rwanda, who transferred from Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences to Wittenborg where she will complete an IBA in Financial Services Management. “Initially I wanted to go to the UK but tuition fees are really expensive there compared to the Netherlands. And at Wittenborg you have the extra bonus of a flexible entry-date system.”

Ana Rodriguez Lobo from Venezuela said she came for a holiday to Holland and “completely fell in love” with the place. “I came in spring and everything was so beautiful. Who knows, maybe if I came in winter I would have stayed away – haha!” She will do an MBA in Hospitality.  

 

Game-changing Project Week Ahead for Wittenborg Students as they Delve into Climate Change as "UN Negotiators"

On 17 December, Wittenborg will become only the 3rd institute of higher education in the Netherlands to use the World Climate Simulation game – a role-playing exercise which simulates UN climate change negotiations – to raise awareness about this pressing issue among its students and help them understand the dynamics at play on a world stage like the UN. 

Climate Change Project Week

Students will do the exercise as part of their final Project Week for 2018 which will span 3 days. Participants play negotiators representing countries and regional blocs that work to create an agreement that limits climate change by reducing GHG emissions. Wittenborg currently has students from between 80 and 100 different countries, and they will be divided according to their country of origin into developed, developing and under-developed regions. 

Their proposals will be tested using a climate-policy-simulation model that provides participants science-based feedback on the implications of their proposals for atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, global mean surface temperature, sea level rise, and other impacts.

 

The World Climate game is one of several exciting activities on the agenda – including the acclaimed documentary Before the Flood, which features Oscar-winner and environmental activist Leonardo di Caprio. In the film he meets with scientists, activists and world leaders to discuss the dangers of climate change and possible solutions.

RECap Robotics Project Wittenborg was Involved with Draws to a Close

https://www.wittenborg.eu/recap-robotics-project-wittenborg-was-involved-draws-close.htm

 

Almost 30 MBA students from Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences were left in awe when they visited the Robotics Experience Centre (REC) in Almelo, in the Netherlands, this week as part of a Project Week company visit.

The university also used the opportunity to launch its new MBA in Smart Industry.

Harry Maatjes, Quality Manager at Wittenborg, said the purpose of the visit was to introduce students to the idea of robotics. “They have about 5 or 6 different types of robots at the centre and we got to see two in action: a robot, which basically moves stuff from one place to another, and the cobots, which are designed to work in harmony with humans. In other words, they will slow down if approached by a human and come to a complete standstill when that human is close by. The students were completely fascinated and were asking lots of interesting questions,” Maatjes said. 

The REC and Wittenborg are both partners in the Robotics Experience Centre Testing Ground Project (RECap), which has been running for the past two and a half years and draws to a close on 31 December. 

When the RECap-project started in June 2016, it set out to advance robotics technology in the eastern part of the Netherlands, thereby strengthening the country’s smart industry, which will eventually result in employment growth. 

The "Speed-Dating" Event for Recruiting

https://www.wittenborg.eu/hundreds-attend-amsterdam-tech-job-fair-wittenborg-amsterdam.htm

Wittenborg Amsterdam recently hosted the wildly popular Amsterdam Tech Job Fair, which brings together job-seekers and recruiters in the tech and business industry.  

It was attended by hundreds of people, including students from Wittenborg Amsterdam, which has recently moved to the Dali-building in the up-and-coming southeast Amsterdam area where many international companies are located, such as the EU headquarters of Adidas and the Dutch offices of Deutsche Bank.

Organisers calls the Amsterdam Tech Job Fair “the speed dating event for recruiting”.  

It targets local job seekers, such as developers, designers, marketers, sellers, financiers, managers, analysts, product managers and data scientists.  There were about 20 companies talking to students and other job seekers about vacancies and internships. The next Tech Job Fair is in spring, on 11 April 2019. Wittenborg Amsterdam is likely to host it again.

Wittenborg CEO, Maggie Feng, said as an educational institute Wittenborg must meet the needs of the market. “This year we have really focused on developing a multiple set of skills in our students and graduates. This includes their networking capabilities along with presentation skills and pitching either their ideas or themselves to future employers or clients.

Project Gave Birth to New MBA in Smart Industry - First of its Kind in the Netherlands

https://www.wittenborg.eu/wittenborgs-robotics-partnership-big-success.htm

In less than a month, Wittenborg will say goodbye to the Robotics Experience Centre Testing Ground Project (RECap) which it was part of for two and a half years – happy in the knowledge that it achieved all of its goals.

One of these goals was to set up a unique MBA in Smart Industry - the first of its kind in the Netherlands - which will be launched on Tuesday 4 December when Wittenborg students visit the Robotics Experience Centre in Almelo as part of the MBA Project Week.

When the RECap-project started in June 2016, it set out to advance robotics technology in the eastern part of the Netherlands, thereby strengthening the country’s smart industry, which will eventually result in employment growth. 

The project is a collaboration between ESPS – the manufacturer behind the Robotics Experience Centre and also a member of the WWINN Group – SMEs, Conway, as well as industrial-end users Vernay Europa B.V. and Wouter Witzel Eurovalve.  Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences was one of the knowledge partners along with the University of Twente.

Harry Maatjes, Quality Manager at Wittenborg, said that, besides the MBA, Wittenborg also delivered two papers to be presented later. One looks at the effects of introducing robotics on SMEs’ human resource management. It was penned by Dr Rauf Abdul, the Head of Wittenborg’s School of Business. 

The second, by Wittenborg senior lecturer Dr Saskia Harkema, concentrated on the innovation space of SMEs in relation to the introduction of robots in production.  

 

"We Need to Come up with Solutions for the World's Food Problems"

Wittenborg's Business Development Advisor, Ben Prins, recently wrote an opinion piece on preparing for robotisation in the trade journal Vakblad Voedingsindustrie. He focused specifically on issues facing the food industry. Here follows an on excerpt from his article.

We are getting more and more familiar with terms like industry 4.0, the internet of things, big data, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality. But do we know what they actually entail? Do you know how they impact your company? How you can use them in practice and how we keep these new systems up to date?

The global food chain is facing huge challenges: We need to come up with solutions for the world's food problems, respond to the energy transition, fight climate change, and make the right choices in today's capricious geopolitical situation. Competition is fierce, the margins often small. In order to face and cope with all these challenges, digitisation and robotisation of the food production are essential.

Nevertheless, the developments are succeeding each other rapidly and it is very hard for entrepreneurs to keep up with them. So first a word of reassurance: there is really no need to implement all the latest 'gadgets' and innovations into your company in order to be a frontrunner. The main thing is that you always make strategic and well-informed decisions. For that, you need knowledge.

"The American Dream – Think Big"

Following a recent presentation at the main campus in Apeldoorn by Ms. Rasheeda Butler, President of BSG interns, Wittenborg students will now have the possibility to live the "American Dream" by completing a 6 – 12 month internship in the United States of America.
BSG, a US recruitment company for Hospitality Interns, specialises in recruiting Hospitality Management students from all over Europe for internships at prestigious private clubs, luxurious hotels and resorts along the east coast.

Opportunity for Wittenborg Students?

Wittenborg students who are enrolled in Hospitality Management, Events Management and Tourism Management at both Bachelor and Master level are eligible to apply. However, applicants must already have at least 6 months work experience in the hospitality industry. Students have the option of interning for 6 months to 1 year, depending on their study agreement with Wittenborg, and when they plan to graduate.

What BSG offers and how it works

As part of the Block 2 Project Week, Wittenborg Amsterdam students were asked to team up and carry out a consultancy project for The F Company, a successful digital marketing agency that provides B2B services to clients of both business and consumer-oriented companies.   Mr. Joseph Fakayode, co-founder of the Finnish company, visited Wittenborg Amsterdam to present the background of the company and its plans to expand into the EU market. Initially looking at London for their EU Headquarters, Brexit developments have turned their heads toward Amsterdam.