Organisations and businesses crave leaders who can generate innovative ideas and implement them. In this programme, you will learn how to develop an innovation strategy, create an innovation culture, foster creative ideas, and lead innovation projects. You will explore scientific theories and case studies, and address business challenges so you can apply your learning to real business situations. You will join other students with diverse backgrounds as you learn management skills for leading innovation activities.

  • 91 average number of students in cohort
  • 37% international students in programme
  • 74% of graduates employed within 3 months after graduation
  • Examples of industries where graduates work: Consulting, Information Technology, Telecommunication
  • Examples of graduates’ job titles: Business Developer, Product Manager, Innovation Strategist

What you will learn

Graduates from this programme stand out from other job candidates by their capabilities for exploring creative soltutions to current and future problems, and for seizing new business opportunities. They often find jobs in the big technology-driven organisations or consultancy firms. You will find career opportunities in leading digital transformation, new business development, and innovation project management across a broad range of industries.

In this programme you can learn more about specialist areas of business such as circular economy, open innovation, and intellectual property law. There are opportunities for those with technical experience, programming skills, and knowledge about AI, as described in the report written by McKinsey about the future of work and what it means for jobs, skills and wages.

Strategic thinking

Think strategically about organisations

Overcoming resistance

Overcome resistance to new ideas and implement innovations

Changes and innovations

Lead successful and meaningful changes and innovations in products, services, technologies, and business models

Innovation in organisations and yourself

Innovate in organisations and, perhaps more importantly, continuously innovate yourself

Programme highlights

  • Top location

    RSM is a top business school located in Rotterdam; the city is highly international and a gateway to Europe.

  • Top-ranked

    RSM’s MSc Management of Innovation ranks first in the top 10 master programmes dedicated to innovation management worldwide, according to the prominent online learning platform InnovationManagement.se. 

  • Interactive and international classroom

    Students work in small group environments; you’ll get to know your professors well in such a highly interactive – and highly international – classroom.

  • Courses drawing on research evidence

    You learn it directly from the world-renowned international faculty members who are developing new knowledge of innovation management and are actively contributing to academic research and practice in innovation management.

  • Highly practical programme

    The programme is research-based and experience-driven. You will work on innovation processes and challenges in companies to put your theoretical knowledge into practice.

  • Real and current innovation challenge

    For example, in the course that teaches you about implementing innovations, you will team up with fellow students to prepare a business model proposal for a company so it can cope with a real and current innovation challenge.

  • Broad range of elective courses

    You can choose from a broad range of elective courses that include subjects such as new business development and innovation networks.

  • Active involvement with your subject

    You’ll become actively involved with your subject in lectures too, digging deep into the research and methodology of innovations research.

More about the programme

Curriculum

The RSM MSc in Management of Innovation programme is one academic year’s duration. Core courses are compulsory and will be offered during the autumn semester (22 EC). Master electives (18 EC) are offered during the spring semester, of which one elective can be chosen from another MSc programme. It is also possible to replace one elective with an internship or business project. During the year, students work on a master thesis project (20 EC).

Please note that certain electives may be very popular. Although we can place most students in the elective(s) of their choice, there are no guaranteed places.

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A teacher's story

  View all core courses below:

Whether an organization innovates determines whether it survives. It does not take a world-wide crisis for an organization to realize that the status quo will not be sufficient. And it is not only the multi-national corporations like Amazon that need to innovate, it is the restaurant at the corner, the local charity, and even national governments see the need for innovation. The question is not whether to innovate, but how.

In this course you learn why organizations struggle to innovate and what to do about it. The course is organized around three broad questions such that each question will be addressed in a specific module:

1.       How can organizations generate value?

2.       How can organizations capture the value that they generate?

3.       How can organizations and managers deliver value?

Taught by Dr H. Klapper.

Generation, recognition, adoption and sharing of innovation is certainly a challenge for every organization, but creating an organizational structure that enables an organization to continuously innovate is also an equally, or even more, daunting task. This course will introduce the central challenges and available solutions to organize innovation activities.

Central topics encompass the processes by which innovation is generated, idea generation, theories of organization of innovation, organizing in service organizations, innovation networks, and organizational design in start-ups also through prototypes. The theoretical knowledge will be supported with case studies, skill development activities and guest speakers with whom the student will have the unique opportunity to discuss and share their opinion.

Taught by Dr S. Tasselli

New products, services and business models are generally implemented through projects. In this course students will have a “hands-on” experience in which they will plan and execute one of such projects. The goal of the course project is to transform an innovative idea into a tangible product. During the class sessions and through the course activities, students will be able to discuss concepts and theories that will allow reflecting on their work and help them improve their team’s project.

The course is divided in four different modules. The first module focuses on providing students with the basic tools for setting up and starting the execution of the project. The second module focuses on the management of the parties involved in a project, the project team and other stakeholders. The third module focuses on the discussion of risk management and project governance as mechanisms of project control. Lastly, in the fourth module, the course discussion assumes a critical perspective on project management practices and explores why projects fail and how to overcome those failures.

Taught by Dr J.P. Madiedo.

In a knowledge-based and innovation-driven business environment, managing ideas is an essential capability if an organization is to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. All innovations begin with ideas and managing these ideas is needed during the entire innovation process. Employees in any job and at any level of the organization can contribute to innovation with creative ideas. Thus idea management is important for everyone and at any moment.

This course takes place as part of the master in Management of Innovation. After general courses concerning innovation strategy and organization of innovation it is the first of a series of two courses that follow the temporal order innovation in the innovation funnel: Fuzzy front end (this course: problem analysis, idea generation, selection and communication), and Implementation (course 2: Innovation Implementation).

The course consists of a series of lectures, 2 assignments and an exam. Assignment 1 is an individual assignment which involves a reflection of a real world individual creative process. Assignment 2 is a group assignment which involves identifying a problem, generating, selecting, and communicating a creative solution to the problem and reflecting on the group process. Assignment 1 is worth 30% of the grade, assignment 2 is worth 40% of the grade, and the exam is worth 30% of the grade.

Taught by Dr D. Deichmann

The aim of ‘Your Future Career’ is to prepare RSM students at an early stage in their master's for their careers.

The online modules will help you make crucial steps towards the most suitable career step, whether an internship or a job.

To pass the course, you need to gain a minimum number of points within a few months. You can decide if you want to reflect on your interests and motivations, develop knowledge of the job market, receive peer feedback on application materials, learn to love networking, or attend an interactive alumni career panel or workshop.

See this page for more details.

This course is overseen and guided by Dr Maciej Szymanowski and Lisanne Keir.

This is an Honours class. Students will need to apply with a motivation statement and will be selected based on their motivation and grades.

MSc Management of Innovation program provides world-class and state-of-art knowledge in innovation management. The Innovation clinic course offers a unique opportunity to translate that knowledge into practice, building valuable personal experience of innovation in the field. You will pro-actively use the knowledge you gain during the MSc program to deliver innovation hands-on that is to the benefit of society particularly in relation to sustainability. You will generate, develop and implement ideas to meet business, societal and environmental needs. This goal is also in line with the RSM mission statement – a force for positive change. 

The Innovation clinic is a great opportunity to put theoretical knowledge into practice of your own initiative. Design thinking and lean start-up methods are provided to help. Short clinics / workshops and focused discussions provide students with check-ins, tools and expert coaching as they creatively work through challenge definition, ideation, ideas selection and implementation phases.

Taught by Dr G. Cross.

All electives are listed below:

In modern organizations, employees are continuously expected to learn and improve themselves. One of the core aspects employees are expected to develop in order to advance in a company are their leadership skills. The aim of this course is to establish a solid foundation of the key principles of leadership development based in the state of the science. The focus will be on both developing your own leadership potential and your ability to develop other’s leadership.

Together we will explore different approaches to leadership development such as 360 degree  feedback,coaching, mentoring, and learning from experience. The basis of the course will be an understanding of leadership development based in the scientific literature. You are expected to actively participate during the lectures both in discussions and through in-class exercises. In addition to active in-class participation, you are expected to complete a number of assignments outside of the classroom, both individually and in small groups.

Taught by Dr T. Davidson.

What do Internet of Things (IoT), 5th generation networks, service platforms, the circular economy, energy transition and fair-trade products have in common? These are all drastically changing the way firms are innovating because products and services offered by different companies get integrated in complex systems. Therefore, not only these products and services but also the interfaces between them and the entire system are to be innovated. In their innovation process, companies have to cooperate with other firms because products and services offered by different companies get integrated in complex systems. This provides managerial challenges. Even more, these innovative systems have societal implications. Negative externalities should be mitigated. Or even better: companies and other stakeholders can become a force of positive change by seeking positive societal impacts. Modern innovation management is responsible: ‘success’ includes both commercial and societal impacts. These relate to multiple stakeholders, with deviating stakes. Therefore, this elective is a necessary extension of the core courses to prepare for a next generation of innovation management.

 

Within complex systems, system elements are interconnected by means of interfaces. In general, such interface specifications should remain stable during a certain period in order to enable innovation at the level of the products, services or system elements they interconnect, so standards are essential. Though change is inherent to innovation, such stability via standards is needed as well, until this interface itself needs to be replaced by a substantially better one. Other standards set requirements for system elements or systems as a whole. Therefore, standardisation is a core element of this module. It includes negotiation and decision-making processes within different cooperative and competitive settings.

Taught by Prof. Dr Ir H.J. de Vries.

For several years, firms have embraced the idea that innovation activities should reflect an open system instead of following the typical vertically integrated model. In nearly every sector, the ideas and technologies that generate products and services emerge from an increasing number of firms that participate in the value chain. Getting multiple partners to collaborate in innovation projects, thus, seems to offer benefits that are difficult to achieve by a single firm. While this “open” approach to innovation appears promising, its adoption entails challenges. To reap the benefits of such approach, organizations need to understand whether and how “open innovation” initiatives fit their strategy and culture. Furthermore, organizations need to recognize whether they are already part of or are able to develop an ecosystem that supports collaboration and what the best tools to solve their specific “innovation problems” are. Finally, organizations need to understand how to overcome the challenges that result of trying to put it all together. This course provides the opportunity to study these issues and to develop a skill set that allows navigating through typical open innovation challenges.

This course is taught by Dr J.P. Madiedo Montanez.

“But why can’t I patent in Europe just because I talked about the invention at a conference?” “But I thought the claims in my patent would stop my competitor marketing that!” “I invented an improvement! So why do I have to get a licence from them before I can market my own invention?” “So I would have been better off just keeping this process secret rather than patenting it?”

Intellectual property is a vital asset for firms today, and patent portfolios can be extremely valuable. Yet all too often managers know little about patent law and patent strategies. This ignorance can be costly, because a naïve manager is like a lamb going to the slaughter-house. Skilful competitors will slice and dice a poorly worded patent that is in their way, or use a variety of other patent strategies to hinder the goals of their less knowledgeable and less experienced counterparts.

The course will commence with an overview of all forms of IP, as managers need to be able to identify all the different sorts of IP that can attach to one product. After a short, basic introduction to US and European patent law, we will look at how patents have increasingly become a strategic weapon rather than just a means of protecting an invention from imitation. With Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of war’ as a guide, we will look at the different strategies businesses use. Patenting is not, however, always the best option. Alternatives to patenting will also be examined.

Taught by Dr H. Gubby, barrister. 

With the Circular Economy elective, you are taking the next step in sustainability strategies.

Where most sustainability strategies today still focus on reducing a company’s negative footprint, in this course we will also look at making a pósitive footprint.
Academically, this can be referred to as ‘regenerative sustainable development’. For business it means: instead of adding a burden to doing business as usual, we’re implementing a positive agenda to company strategies, business partnerships and customer relationships.

An exiting and existing example is paint that cleans the air (produced by AkzoNobel), and during this course, we will look at several other examples in the market today and discuss concepts for the future. We will look into the business benefits ánd obstacles of implementing these alternative project and/or company strategies.

Would you prefer to make a great business out of contributing to society and the environment, rather than just postponing the damage a company has on the environment or people? Then you are welcome to step into the Triple Top Line paradigm; the core of our theories and practice.

You are happily invited to step forward with a daring proposal for your roadmap assignment, fiery debates in the lectures and bold ideas during the exercises.

Taught by D. den Held

Social entrepreneurship is an emerging field of academic study and real-world practice. At its core, social entrepreneurship pertains the combination of market-based and nonprofit approaches to solve social issues, a feat social entrepreneurs achieve by combining the knowledge and skills used in traditional business with a passionate commitment to having a meaningful and sustainable social impact. By combining insights from the academic literature with real cases and scenarios, the course will introduce students to both theory and practice of social entrepreneurship.

Each week, the course will focus on one important aspect or theme of social entrepreneurship, through two types of lectures: a “theoretical” lecture and a “workshop”.

  • “Theoretical” lectures will compose the first appointment of each one of the six weeks of the course. These lectures will take the form of traditional frontal lectures where the lecturer will cover the material related to the week’s topic.
  • “Workshop” lectures will instead compose the second appointment of each week and will focus on interweaving the theoretical content covered in previous lectures with real case scenarios and practical exercises. Such lectures will be interactive in nature, with in-class exercises (both individual and in groups), case-studies, and contributions from guest practitioners.

The six weeks of the course will cover the following topics

  • Week 1. Social Entrepreneurship: definition and characteristics
  • Week 2. Social entrepreneurs and opportunities recognition
  • Week 3. Hybrid business models for social enterprises
  • Week 4. Scaling impact in social entrepreneurship
  • Week 5. Evaluating social impact
  • Week 6. Group projects final presentations

Taught by Dr P. Versari.

Social networks and relationships play a key role in the generation, implementation, and diffusion of innovations. They are not only critical to access and exchange information and resources but also imperative to organize support and to market innovative ideas. In this elective, you will learn where to source good ideas in online and offline social networks and how to take advantage of the relationships and interactions that spur breakthrough innovations.

The learnings of this elective are especially relevant for prospective consultants and innovation managers who need to analyse and shape change processes and intra- or inter-organizational collaboration projects. For students interested in examining, understanding, and optimizing their network position and structure, the learnings are of equal use.

Taught by Dr S. Tasselli

Organizations are in a continuous hunt for the next blockbuster design, product, or service to gain or sustain their competitive edge. Throughout the management of innovation program, you have learned scientific theories, models, and frameworks. However, the reality is likely to be different than the stylized case studies and academic studies. The innovation journey is full of roadblocks for ambitious and visionary innovators. This course will provide you a unique opportunity to see the rollercoaster journey of innovation management in real life.

This course will be co-taught by Ivo Rutten and Murat Tarakci. Ivo was Vice President and Head of Global Strategic Alliances at Signify (previously known as Philips Lighting). Ivo will walk you through his innovation journey spanning six countries and several executive positions. We will zoom in a particular innovation project he initiated and developed. Murat Tarakci is Associate Professor of Innovation Management. Murat will complement the practical insights with a theoretical understanding. Thereby, this course will offer you to combine and excel in both theoretical and practical knowledge of innovation management.

Taught by Dr M. Tarakci and I. Rutten.

People often prepare long and detailed business plans when they want to implement new ideas. This takes a lot of time and resources and since customer preferences can change pretty quickly, a business plan might be obsolete by the time it is done. How can you approach innovation in a more flexible and agile way and develop innovations that are truly customer-centric?

During this course, you will learn how to shift your mindset and embrace a different approach to developing new products, services and processes. Using design thinking to develop innovations will help you to see the value of an offering from a customer’s perspective. This structured approach means empathizing with the user to match their real needs, and stimulates creativity and innovation. You will learn to define, interpret, and reframe problems, and how to involve others in your project. You will focus on iterative solutions to get to a final product through prototyping and trial and error.

Taught by Dr D. Deichmann.

Coaching is a key factor for successful innovation. At the same time, the innovation context places unique as well as challenging demands on leaders and coaches. For example, different innovation contexts require specific behaviors and techniques. To prepare you to successfully lead innovation during your career, how to lead and coach innovation teams is one of the central themes of this course.

 

This hands-on course will equip you with the necessary knowledge and skills to become a successful innovation leader and coach. The course learnings will be delivered in an interactive way, with a focus on experiential learning. You will be able to take note of relevant theories and understand how these may work in practice, through exercises and role-plays. Moreover, the course will include multiple sessions of coaching training. The objective of these sessions is to equip you with the necessary skills to coach and manage multidisciplinary project teams. After the weekly lectures and the coaching training in Block 3, you will apply your new coaching skills in Blocks 4 and 5, by coaching multidisciplinary teams of Bachelor students (BSc BA/IBA and BSc Applied Physics) who follow the course Technology Management. By taking part in this unique opportunity, you will be able to practice leading teams for innovation in a safe learning environment.

Taught by L. Gross.

Most students from RSM will be confronted with new business development at some stage in their careers. This course aims to serve as a pilot test for you, assessing your strength and weakness in entrepreneurial practices. To do so, this course will collaborate with multiple companies and provide tangible business projects for you, with the aim to address real business challenges related to new business development. As a result, you will face the full complexity of new business development. To assist you navigate the project, a reference contact from the company will actively work with you during the six weeks of the course.

Taught by Dr Z. Wu.

Students that would like to gain some practical experience during the Master program, can do so by means of an internship. Students can use one of the elective blocks to do a full time internship.

Instead of an elective a so-called business project can be carried out. This business project will be shorter than a regular internship. The advantage is that such a project can be carried out during one of the three elective blocks. A student can come up with a business project at a company of his or her choice. At the end of the internship the student will hand in a report.

The business project can be related to the thesis. However, this is not a requirement. Please not that even the two are linked, the business project will be assessed separately from the thesis itself and should contain another focus than the thesis. Please consult your thesis coach in case you want to combine your internship with you thesis.

THIS ELECTIVE COUNTS AS A FREE ELECTIVE FOR MI STUDENTS ONLY. IN OTHER WORDS: in order to graduate you MUST complete at least two MI programme electives!

Taught by S. Langeveld, MSc.

Innovation management is chasing a moving target in a world continuously in motion. To illustrate, the internet, finance, and media industries are experiencing tectonic shifts toward decentralized ownership, permissionless access, tokenization, and trustless mechanisms—giving rise to a new iteration of the World Wide Web. Proponents call it the future of the internet as a natural evolution of web1 (read), web2 (read-write), and web3 (read-write-own). Building on our accumulated theoretical foundations, we will evaluate how multiple lenses are needed to explain fast-changing socio-technical phenomena.

Web3 introduces actors to participate in decentralized autonomous organizations that utilize smart contracts built on blockchain protocols. First, we examine the behavioral foundations that underpin an individual’s inclination towards tokenized networks enabling transparency, ownership, and freedom. Second, we investigate how social and algorithmic forms of organizing aim to solve the universal problems of task division, task allocation, reward distribution, and information provision. Third, these novel forms of organizing rely on an underlying blockchain architecture supporting the development of layer 1-2 platforms, cross-chain bridges, and oracles.

Theoretical and practical examples illustrate the possibilities for innovation that arise from Web3 developments. Finally, students can apply their knowledge by working on an advisory report and leading in-class debates regarding the controversial issues surrounding the future of the internet.

Taught by M. van Haaren.

  

The research fundamentals course is designed to support the individual master thesis project. The course focuses on the study of the various thesis research methodologies that are available for conducting research in Innovation Management. These include qualitative research (case studies or grounded theory), surveys and archival data analyses, and experiments.

The course main components are the Research Fundamentals I & II courses. Research Fundamentals I comprises a set of introductory lectures. The goal of these lectures is to discuss the basic concepts of research and for students to get a better understanding of how to design a research project. Students will work on topics that go from developing a research question to making a preliminary selection of a research method for their study. Research Fundamentals II comprises group sessions and workshops, specific to a certain research method. These sessions will provide students with in-depth knowledge and skills that can be applied on their own thesis.

This course works according to the flipped classroom principle, which means that the student needs to prepare before class following the suggested material. The lectures are used for interactive feedback, gamification, and in-class discussion, to deepen the student’s knowledge of the methodology and to provide specific feedback on her/his work. Meanwhile, through the assignments, the student will work on the method section for the thesis, integrating what has been learnt through the course.

Taught by Dr J.P. MadiedoL. Gross MSc, M. Hoseinpour MScM. van Haaren, S. Langeveld MSc

Your master thesis is an opportunity to show your capabilities and your potential as a future manager. During this part of your studies, you will interact with internationally-recognised companies and well-known researchers in the innovation industry.

Your master thesis takes you through a structured trajectory which starts in September during the core courses. You will familiarise yourself with research into innovation taking place at RSM, and the relevant academic literature and topics available. You’ll be offered a list of potential thesis topics by staff involved in this MSc. Suggestions will include a general research question and core literature research. In October you will meet staff at a thesis ‘bazaar’ to discuss topics that interest you. You will make a final decision on your topic before the end of the year and be assigned a coach who is an expert in your chosen subject area. Early in January you will study research methodology so you are up to date with best practice in research, and have the foundation for successful completion of your thesis. In early spring you will deliver your final research proposal, before implementing your research question. Your thesis will be finished before the summer. RSM staff and researchers will assist with coaching you through the entire master thesis process.

Most students choose a master thesis on the subject of innovation management, but you are free to write a master thesis research project in any complementary discipline.

Review the course guide​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ for more details.

Note regarding taking courses if you are not an RSM master student: RSM does not offer the possibility for non-RSM students (master or otherwise) to take RSM MSc courses outside of official exchange partnerships or other inter-faculty agreements. If you are interested in learning more about corporate social responsibility, sustainability, or business ethics, please refer to our Open Programmes section.

For more information on all international opportunities offered at RSM, visit the website of our International Office.

Learn more

Why this programme?

Factsheet

Internship

International exchange

Faculty

Career opportunities

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An alumnus' story

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A recruiter's story

More and more firms are becoming aware that they need to innovate in order to survive. But innovation doesn’t come from automated systems. The creative process of generating ideas for new products, services and new business models is a human skill and the future for innovation leaders looks bright.

Our graduates find jobs in new business development, innovation project management and innovation consultancy. They work in product and service contexts across a broad range of industries. Their daily jobs involve supporting development teams when new products are being developed, and they devise and initiate new products and services themselves, becoming new business developers. They also act as consultants to small and medium-sized enterprises, advising on organising businesses for innovation.

According to the latest RSM Graduate Placement Survey, the majority of our recent graduates found a job within two months of starting their job search. All of them had a job within six months. Many found jobs in companies such as Unilever, Shell, Philips, ABNAmro, DSM, Deloitte, Accenture, PwC, Cap Gemini, Rabobank, KPN, ING, and Randstad. Others work in small or medium-sized enterprises. Some of them have founded their own companies.

Non-EEA nationals who have earned a diploma from a higher education institute in the Netherlands can apply for a special residence permit called the orientation year after completing their studies. The 'Orientation Year for Graduates Seeking Employment' is a residence permit aimed at retaining foreign talent for the Dutch labour market. During this orientation year you are free to work without a work permit. Participants who find a job during this period can change their orientation year into a residence permit for Highly Skilled Migrants under more favourable terms.

For the most up-to-date information please visit the following website.

You and your MSc classmates will always stay connected through a valuable global professional network which generates lifelong business and career opportunities. With more than 29,000 alumni across about 100 countries, the RSM alumni network is truly global. Many alumni are in top positions in some of the world’s largest companies – and keen to help you follow in their footsteps. RSM’s Alumni Office organises events worldwide, and you will be provided with an online platform, an e-newsletter, and a business magazine distributed twice yearly.

Staying connected

After graduation, many alumni stay involved with RSM, using its opportunities for networking, lifelong learning, and often contribute to the development and success of current students and recent graduates. As a member of the network, you can benefit from:

Alumni regularly attend seminars, social gatherings and other events organised by the RSM Alumni Office or by RSM alumni all over the world. Many also return to Rotterdam for events, such as alumni reunions and the RSM Leadership Summit. The Leadership Summit is RSM's flagship event that takes place every year on the first Friday of October.

Through seminars, masterclasses, executive education programmes and Alumni Affinity Groups, you can benefit from lifelong learning opportunities to stay up to date with the latest knowledge and developments in business and research.

RSM Local Chapters expand, strengthen and build upon RSM’s extensive global network. Whether you stay in the Netherlands, return to your country of origin, or travel around the world after your RSM studies, you can find a Local Chapter to make you feel at home.

RSM alumni often contribute to the education of current students by providing guest lectures or business cases, or by mentoring students. Many also recruit talented RSM students for internships and job opportunities for their companies.

Career progress

Find the Employment Factsheet for your MSc programme here.

View LinkedIn profiles of our graduates

You can read more about our graduates and their career progress from their LinkedIn profiles.

Tip: you can see more of our graduates’ profile information if you are not signed in to your LinkedIn account. Sign out of LinkedIn, then click the links.

Good to know

Career Centre

MSc employment report

Vacancies for BIM students

Studying at RSM

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A student on the RSM MSc in Management of Innovation

The RSM Experience

Education for life

Studying at RSM will be a life-changing experience. Your master degree will prepare you for a fulfilling professional life as a capable, self-assured individual. It will make you valuable to business and attractive to employers because it teaches you skills that make the most of your innovative mind. You will be challenged in and outside of the classroom, and you will gain an education based on the latest developments in business. Your master degree from RSM will include RSM’s promise of life-long learning, and membership of the more than 40,000-strong alumni network that is present in more than 110 countries which hosts activities and events all over the world.

Open intellectual culture

Your education at RSM is valuable. You will learn from academics who produce the highest quality research and the most innovative management thinking. In the classroom, sharing and questioning opinions is encouraged – yours and those of your fellow students, as well as the professors’. Many of RSM’s faculty members are young and passionate professors and researchers with outstanding academic credentials. Their work is published in top international management journals.

Engaging environment

Professors’ doors are always open for students who have questions, projects or ideas. Depending on the study programme, students have different opportunities to tailor their programme. This can, for example, take the form of a minors course, an internship, an exchange at one of over 160 partner schools worldwide, elective choices, the participation in a consulting project with a company or public sector organisation, or a thesis project in their specific area of interest. RSM’s strong links with local and international businesses and organisations offer opportunities for practical projects and real-life collaborations.

What is your ‘I WILL’?

RSM’s I WILL movement allows you to define your goals, your ambition, your drive. It’s our forward-thinking community that asks you to say something about your future. Your I WILL statement becomes part of the spirit of RSM’s diverse community of students, researchers, staff, professors, alumni and others related to the school. Making a public commitment to your goal will allow you to achieve it faster and better. What is your goal?

Rotterdam, a future-oriented city

Living and studying in Rotterdam has never been better. Rotterdam is home to one of the largest and busiest ports in the world and many multinational companies have their headquarters here. The city is famous for its stunning modern architecture, such as the Centraal Station or its covered food market, the Markthal. At the same time, the city authorities are forward-thinking in improving its liveability. There’s no shortage of restaurants, museums and theatres, yet Rotterdam is still an extremely student-friendly city with plenty of affordable student housing, and a bustling nightlife that includes events organised by students associations.

Find out more about life in the city of Rotterdam.

RSM Master Students

Talk to a student ambassador!

Learn more about student life

More information

Explore the campus

Life in the city

Coming from abroad

Fees & scholarships

The 2024-2025 tuition fee for the MSc programmes is approximately €22,500 for non-EEA students. The Dutch government contributes towards this cost for students who hold a nationality from a country belonging to the European Economic Area(EEA). These students therefore only pay the statutory fee €2,530 in 2024-2025.

For EEA nationals who have already completed a master in the Netherlands (and obtained the diploma) the tuition fee for a 2nd master is approximately €13,200.

Please note that all these tuition fee tariffs are subject to change.

Scholarships

The number of scholarships is limited and mainly merit based. If a scholarship covers only the tuition fees, be aware that you need to finance your own living expenses (rent, food and insurances) for the duration of your studies. RSM does not offer scholarships for the pre-master programme. We do however offer a maximum of 2 scholarships per academic year to RSM pre-master students enrolling in an MSc programme.

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) offers multiple scholarships to prospective students from non-EEA countries who are not entitled to pay the EEA tuition fee, provided their grades are considered ‘excellent’. RSM also offers one scholarship, the Erasmus Trustfonds Scholarship, to students from EEA countries. 

Besides scholarships awarded by RSM, there are also scholarships awarded by the Dutch government or other organisations that are available if you meet certain criteria such as nationality, age, etc We have listed some of them below but we encourage you to use resources such as Grantfinder or the Scholarship Portal to find additional scholarships.

Scholarship tips

  • Contact the Ministry for Higher Education in your home country to see whether there are scholarship options.
  • We have virtual information session covering all you need to know about scholarships and financial aid. Watch it here.

For students from the Netherlands or the EU/EEA, it may be possible to apply for limited funding towards payment of your tuition fees. Find out whether you meet the nationality and age requirements and read more information about the application process here.

Other expenses

After having filled in all of the necessary application information on the Online Application Form (OLAF) and uploaded the required documents, applicants with a degree obtained outside the Netherlands will be asked to pay a non-refundable €100 handling fee. This fee can be paid online via the Erasmus Payment System which uses either iDEAL (for those with a Dutch bank account) or PayPal (which can be linked to any bank account or credit card worldwide). It is important that applicants complete the payment process as indicated, otherwise the system cannot register the payment.

The additional expenses in addition to tuition and general living costs (see below) vary per programme and may include:

  • Study materials such as books, readers and business cases
  • Costs involved in kick-off meetings
  • Costs related to travel, international excursions and compulsory exchange semesters or internships abroad

For a reasonable standard of living in the Netherlands, you should have an income of between €1,000-€1,600 per month depending on your lifestyle. Further information about the costs of living in the Netherlands and related subjects can be found on this website. Below is an example of monthly expenditures:

Furnished accommodation, including gas and electricity  €   500-900
Medical insurance  €   50
Telephone/internet €   15-25
Food €   200 - 300
Books, recreation, clothing €   200 - 300
Public Transportation €   50
Total €  average 1000 - 1625
Other potential expenses:  
Buying or renting a bike €  100 - 250 (for the full 3 years)
In private residence (not student housing) yearly municipal and water taxes €  100 - 300 (per year)

Please ensure, prior to your arrival at RSM, that you have or will have sufficient funding available to finance your stay at RSM. Finding a part-time job, may be an option, but can not be guaranteed. You should therefore not rely on finding other ways to supplement your income during your studies. For additional information on obtaining a part-time job, visit the website of the Nuffic.

For EEA students there are no formal restrictions in finding work in the Netherlands, but students with a lack of Dutch language skills will find it difficult to secure employment. Non-EEA students are subject to labour regulations, which makes the likelihood of obtaining a work permit very small. We therefore ask students not to rely on this possibility. We do not encourage students to combine studies with the heavy workload from a part-time job.

Immigration & housing

Immigration & visas

Find out everything you need to know about entry visas & residence permits for non-EU or EEA students at RSM.

Housing

Finding housing in Rotterdam can be tricky. To help you in your search for housing, we have compiled some helpful resources

thumbnail for HRM promotion video with students and academic director

Being a student of the MSc Management of Innovation has taught me a lot of practical skills, and pushed my hands-on mentality. I especially liked the balance between academic knowledge and practical applications in the courses. It gave me space to combine creativity and business knowledge, which now I am eager to share in my future career because I know I will stand out with my skills. Every instructor encourages you to share not just your opinion but also your knowledge. This feeling of sharing and collaborating to generate the most innovative ideas, concepts, strategies, or cultures was a unique part of my study. I think that this master program suits anyone that is a bit more open-minded and eager to change business environments into a better one. With every student joining from a different field, the knowledge generated in class will rise tremendously. This is a study which is not seeking homogeneity, but which profits from heterogeneity. Everyone is welcome, every opinion is appreciated as long as you respect and help one another.

Sarah Ripke (MSc Management of Innovation 2020)

Sarah Ripke

Is it right for me?

This programme is for those who want to help organisations move forward by creating new ideas, services, technologies and business models.

It develops your practical skills, and you learn how to be a catalyst for innovation throughout your career.

This is a one-year, full-time programme for recent bachelor graduates who have the ambition to create societal and organisational impact through innovation.

Are you still in doubt?

Would you like extra information or support? We are here to help!

More to explore

28 September 2023

Webinar hosted by the Academic Director

Take a virtual tour across our campus

RSM campus

Will you lead or will you follow?

I Will