The RSM community is growing, not just with every joyful graduation ceremony and the start of the new academic year, but with the new realities of business that influence new programmes, and advanced areas of research that bring in new corporate partners. Young people are eager to invest in their future by studying at RSM, and we’re seeing a steady improvement in our rankings; studying with RSM is becoming increasingly valuable. But as public funding diminishes, we have a public duty to remain accessible.

When alumni stay connected with RSM, they contribute to our success and accessibility, as well as being able to access lifelong learning for themselves. Alumni have plenty of mentoring and recruitment opportunities. But there are also an increasing number of alumni-backed scholarships that make use of your networks to produce real results for beneficiaries, such as:

  • Hundreds of runners from RSM and other faculties and institutions within Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) aim to pay for three master scholarships with their €45,000 fundraising target for the Erasmus Charity Run on Sunday 9 April 2017 at the Rotterdam Marathon. It’s an event organised by RSM, Erasmus School of Economics and EUR.
     
  • The G&D Europe Scholarship for Chinese students was awarded for the second time this summer. It now supports two students: a third-year ESE student, and a second-year RSM IBA student. The recipient of the first scholarship completed a great internship and the honours class with high marks, and is now in their third year.
     
  • Alumni donations that made the first Entrepreneurial Spirit Scholarship possible have been matched by the employer of the donor alumnus, so the scholarship will be offered again next year. The first recipient, a first-year IBA student, receives tuition and book fees. Next year they’ll get mentoring to help set up a company.
     
  • The first two Erasmus Trustfonds Scholarships will be awarded to high-potential master students, one each at RSM and ESE, for the first time in April 2017.
     
  • The anonymous donor of one of our established awards, the MSc Exchange Scholarship, has increased the scholarships available from two awards of €1,500 to three awards of €2,500 for exchange programmes worldwide, including Brazil and India. The donor said they want current students to benefit from the same great exchange experiences as they did.
     
  • A student from Afghanistan who won one of the first two PMB UAF Scholarships this year cried tears of joy at the news that his dream of a university business degree would come true. An anonymous donor and RSM have provided two scholarships for students eligible through the Foundation for Refugee Students (UAF) in the Parttime Master Bedrijfskunde (PMB) programme. A new campaign to raise funds within the PMB alumni community started in the autumn.
     
  • The MBA1999 class is fundraising for the MBA1999 Scholarship and will give the first award to someone in the new MBA2019 class in October 2017. The class of 1999 aims to celebrate its 20th reunion in October 2019 with an annual €30,000 scholarship for talented students from countries with emerging economies.

To find out more about contributing to alumni-backed RSM scholarships, email us at rsmfund@rsm.nl or see our alumni scholarships webpage.

 

This article was first published in RSM Outlook winter 2016 – RSM’s alumni and corporate relations magazine. You can download RSM Outlook here.

Type
RSM Outlook