Curriculum
Core Courses
View all core courses below:
Strategy of Innovation
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:
- How can organizations generate value?
- How can organizations capture the value that they generate?
- How can organizations and managers deliver value?
Taught by Dr H. Klapper
Organisation of Innovation
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.
Idea Management
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 P. Ananth.
Medical Innovation
Technology is a fundamental driver of medical innovation and is often the foundation of very lucrative firms in the biomedical arena. Development of viable, successful businesses therefore requires adequate skills to identify the most promising technologies, which hold concrete potential to evolve into valuable assets. The course will discuss representative examples of conceptual and technological advances that significantly innovated the biomedical landscape, often through disruptive transformation. The course will present the challenges intrinsic to medical innovation and the necessary frameworks to analyze and circumvent difficulties. Learners will examine case studies to analyze and discuss real-world examples - for instance gene editing, vaccine development tool, and e-health technologies.
Intellectual Property
The course will provide knowledge on the different tools available to protect intellectual property and will illustrate the mechanisms governing these legal instruments. The course will discuss intellectual properties issues that my rise in the context of industry, for instance in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as in academic, non-profit settings.
We will also examine the policy grounds that gave origin to the actual intellectual property laws and discuss how these regulations shape the strategy and the operations of major players in the healthcare sector. We will discuss how intellectual property laws regulate and resolve very complex issues in biomedical research, for instance ownership of genetic material and information and material.
During the course, students will explore and discuss exemplary case studies, in large companies as well as in successful small start-ups, which illustrate how intellectual property law has been instrumental to turn biomedical discoveries into highly profitable intangible assets.
Electives
- Entrepreneurial Lab
- Digital Transformation in Healthcare
- Healthcare Procurement & Value Chain Management
- Circular Economy: Strategies & Business Models
Digital Transformation in Healthcare
New digital technologies are changing the patient journey and healthcare processes. These changes force healthcare organizations to develop new strategies and organizational culture to breed innovations. Furthermore, the they require an ecosystem where different stakeholders can collaborate. Therefore, digitalization of healthcare entails not only the development of new digital technologies, but also the digital transformation of the healthcare ecosystem.
Digital transformation in healthcare requires convergence and cross-polinitation across people from different backgrounds and organizations working together. Achieving the transformation goals, calls for a common language for all stakeholders involved in healthcare. Accordingly, the course will bring together faculty and students from Erasmus MC, Rotterdam School of Management, and TU Delft.
This course includes several modules that can empower future researchers, physicians, data scientists, and engineers for multidisciplinary collaborations in the context of digital transformation in healthcare. Participants will have also the opportunity to broaden their network by getting to know the experts in from different fields.
Entrepreneurial Lab
If you want to know more about developing a business model for a startup and/or setting up your own venture, the Entrepreneurial Lab course is for you. Within an intense and hand-on experiential approach, the Entrepreneurial Lab course allows you exploring a business opportunity with your team and testing its potential value.
This course provides advanced master students with a practical, yet rigorous understanding of the role, the analytics, and the process of business planning that leads to the successful creation of new ventures. Above all, students will be responsible to develop their own professional networks. As it’s a hands-on course, you will learn about business modelling, how to refine opportunities, analyse feasibility, financial planning, and organisational implementation. You will write a weekly blog and a business report and pitch your idea to a jury of experts. In previous years our students launched successful new businesses, including Senz Umbrellas, Symbid and Yoursurprise.com.
Working with other MSc SE students as a team you will develop your own business; practical experience of the process means you gain a thorough understanding of the role played by planning in the successful creation of new ventures, and you’ll have personal experience of the analytical processes that take place.
Review the course guide for more details.
Taught by Dr L. Berchicci.
Healthcare Procurement & Value Chain Management
In this course we will focus on the procurement process and on value chain management in the healthcare sector. In many countries, healthcare represents one of the largest sectors of the economy; healthcare spend often amounts to 10% of a country’s GDP. This course builds on the key concepts as taught in the core course Purchasing & Supply Management (BM05SCM). This course expands into areas that are not only relevant in healthcare, but also in other sectors, such as services triads, performance-based contracting, best value procurement, European tendering, cooperative purchasing, and negotiation skills.
In healthcare value chains two types of purchasing can be distinguished: purchasing of healthcare and purchasing for healthcare. In purchasing of healthcare, which is done by for instance healthcare insurers, ‘healthcare’ is the service that is purchased. In purchasing for healthcare a diverse set of goods and services is purchased (e.g. catering, temporary labour and medical equipment).
A significant amount of money is spent in the healthcare industry on a yearly basis, which makes that there is a large potential for the purchasing profession to decrease spend, improve quality and increase innovation as well as efficiency. In this course we connect management theory about purchasing with specific characteristics of the healthcare industry.
Taught by Prof. E. van Raaij.
Circular Economy
Circular Economy has rapidly become a buzzword, but it is not always clear how it should affect corporations, organizations, or society as a whole.
This course aims to bring conceptual clarity and develop practical knowledge of circular solutions. The Circular Economy is then explored from both an applied and theoretical perspective while looking at strategies, foundational ideas, and business models. Several examples and case studies will illustrate different views on the Circular Economy, including barriers and enabling conditions.
The course consists of in-class lectures, some of which given by guest lecturers from the government or innovative companies, as well as three assignments: An in-class group presentation and short group report– both based on real business cases – and an individual report.
Taught by P. Moreseletto.
Research Methods & Thesis
- Research Fundamentals
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
International exchange
Your Future Career
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
Career Opportunities
Are you ready to accelerate technological advances and development towards personalised precision medicine? This one-year programme is an important steppingstone to pursue your career in the growing sector of medical business and innovation. After the master programme, you will be ready for various career options, for example as product manager in a life science or medical technology company, medical entrepreneur, R&D manager in the healthcare industry, technology transfer manager, laboratory manager, or medical industry consultant.
Studying at RSM
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.
More information
Explore the campus
Life in the city
Coming from abroad
Fees & Scholarships
The combination of affordable tuition fees and living costs together with quality education and an excellent global reputation make a Masters degree at RSM a clever investment.
Tuition fees
The 2023-2024 tuition fee for the MSc programmes is approximately €21,500 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 of €2,314 in 2023/2024.
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 €12,600.
The MSc International Management - CEMS (18 months) is a longer programme, for which the tuition fee will have to be paid for the duration of the programme. The expected tuition fee for the 18-month MSc International Management - CEMS programme is approximately €32,250 for non-EEA students and is approximately €3,471 for EEA students in 2023/2024.
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.
Scholarships offered by RSM
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.
Other scholarships
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.
- StuNed
- G&D Europe Scholarship
- NN Future Matters Scholarship
- Russia: The Global Education Programme
- LPDP
- OKP
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.
Student loan options
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.
Master Application Handling fee
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.
Additional programme related expenses
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
Living expenses
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:
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) |
Study and work - part-time jobs
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.
Admission & Application
Immigration
Immigration & visas
Find out everything you need to know about entry visas & residence permits for non-EU or EEA students at RSM.
Release date: October 2022
Housing
Housing
Finding housing in Rotterdam can be tricky. To help you in your search for housing, we have compiled some helpful resources.
