RSM staff member promotes “The business of giving back”
Rotterdam, May 2009 --- “I saw a lot of practical examples of giving back in a sustainable manner versus mere charity”, reflects Maryke Steenkamp, member of the MBA Recruitment and Admissions team of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. “I’m personally very passionate about this subject. In my home country, South Africa, I saw how important it is to empower others, and to plough back some of the results of the opportunities you’ve received. Moreover, it so rightly fits with what we teach at RSM - with looking to more than just the bottom line. Our school looks at empowerment, sustainability, giving back too.”
That is why Maryke this year immediately accepted when she was selected for a position as member of the Team MBA Advisory Group of the TeamMBA Award initiated by GMAC, the Graduate Management Association Council. The Advisory Group comprises select staff members from global business schools with Maryke being the only European school representative. The TeamMBA Award recognises and showcases a business school that exemplifies the highest ideals of giving back through community service and cause-related activities to its students. Since its creation in 2005, TeamMBA has evolved into a global initiative to celebrate and communicate the outstanding work of graduate business schools and their students in the community and beyond.
She reflects – “TeamMBA is about educating responsible future leaders. It is a vehicle to install this spirit in business students. What we want to see is motivation next to the project description. This award forces MBA students to think about giving back as it confronts them with the fact that there is more to business than just business. The good thing is that RSM is at the forefront of this approach. We have been teaching for numerous years now that there is more - we teach stakeholder value versus shareholder value, we teach context next to content. This was confirmed last year, when we proudly won this TeamMBA Award ourselves.”
Maryke is a member of the Selection Committee for the 2009 TeamMBA Award.. She is excited about the standard of the entries received so far. “I am very much looking forward to evaluating these outstanding projects. This Award goes a long way in ensuring that MBA’s really do learn about “the business of giving back,” she said. The 2009 Award winner will be announced at the annual GMAC Industry Conference taking place in Baltimore at the end of June. In accordance with the TeamMBA Award rules, as a previous year’s winner, RSM has not been allowed to participate this year.
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University is a top-ranked international business school renowned for its ground-breaking research in sustainable business practice and for the development of leaders in global business. Offering an array of bachelor, master, doctoral, MBA and executive education programmes, RSM is consistently ranked amongst the top 10 business schools in Europe.
www.rsm.nl
For more information on RSM or on this release, please contact Marianne Schouten, Media & Public Relations Manager for RSM, on +31 10 408 2877 or by email at
mschouten@rsm.nl.
