The 673 graduates who attended the graduation ceremony were cheered on by family members, friends and passers-by at they walked in caps and gowns from World Trade Center Rotterdam to convention centre De Doelen. The Coolsingel, one of Rotterdam’s best-known streets, was decorated with RSM flags and temporarily closed for traffic during the procession.
The journey ahead
The graduation ceremony took place in two theatres at convention centre De Doelen in Rotterdam. Students from RSM’s MSc in Business Information Management (BIM), MSc in Supply Chain Management (SCM) and MSc in Management of Innovation (MI) graduated in the Willem Burgerzaal.
After an inspiring speech about ‘the journey ahead’ by Marco van Kalleveen, chief operations officer at Leaseplan and member of RSM’s Advisory Board, the student speakers took the stage. Lizan Bakker (BIM), Tom Marshall (MI) and Anna Nikulina (SCM) told the audience about their highlights at RSM and their take-aways from their master programmes.
Thesis awards
In addition, the Jo van Nunen Awards were handed out, named after this late professor who is considered as one of RSM’s founding fathers. The awards recognise and honour the outstanding quality of master theses. This year’s winners are Lizan Bakker (BIM) for her thesis on personalised product recommendations, Emma Schootstra (MI) for her thesis which investigates the effect of mindfulness on creativity, and Pascal Kolb (SCM) for his thesis on tackling demand fluctuations in supply chains with lean management.
Award winners were selected by academic committees consisting of the academic directors and thesis co-ordinators of the master programmes.
Prof. Eric van Heck then handed the graduates their diplomas, making them part of RSM’s valuable alumni network of more than 30,000 members who work and live all over the world.
Mayor of Rotterdam
At the same time, graduates from the MSc in Accounting & Financial Management (AFM), MSc in Finance & Investments (FI), MSc in Global Business & Sustainability (GBS), MSc in Human Resource Management (HRM), MSc in Marketing Management (MM), MSc in Organisational Change & Consulting (OCC), MSc in Strategic Entrepreneurship (SE) and MSc in Strategic Management (SM) programmes attended their ceremony in the Grote Zaal at De Doelen.
Ahmed Aboutaleb, mayor of Rotterdam and also member of RSM’s Advisory Board, spoke to the graduates about the grand challenges for/of the world and invited the graduates to take an active part to help solve them. Graduate Peji Kanani from the MSc in Strategic Management held the student address, followed by the official presentation of diplomas by the research department chairs.
The event concluded with a festive cocktail reception in De Doelen’s grand foyer and was attended by proud family members, alumni, friends and RSM faculty and staff members.
