International MBA group N 75 looks back on its first meet & greet session in the Netherlands.
“The highlight of the week for students was discovering what the Action Learning methodology is all about and learning how to use it to solve real-time problems within their own organisations. As Confucius (551BC - 479 BC) put it "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” For MBA student, Peter Osei Addai from Ghana, this is the first thing that comes to mind when looking back on his very first visit to BSN’s business school in Buren, The Netherlands.
Peter works as a Project Co-ordinator for Nature Aid Ghana. Anticipating this, his first ever visit to the Netherlands, he expected to see ‘a very beautiful country with a rich culture, free, loving and friendly people’. Did it live up to his expectations? “Absolutely! The Netherlands is a very beautiful country. I was fascinated by the way they manage water considering how flat the land is and the fact that 50% of its area is less than one meter above sea level.”
Nothing but good memories
In terms of the workshops, expectations were met too. “The workshop topics were very insightful, thought provoking, action driven and they exceeded my expectations,” says Peter. Meeting his international, fellow students was also a highlight. “I loved the diversity and the chance to experience different perspectives from different backgrounds.” All in all, the trip delivered only good memories for Peter to take home. “I recall with nostalgia the exciting, interactive and impacting time that I had in the Netherlands. It gave me the opportunity to tap into the rich and varied knowledge base and experience of my facilitators and colleagues.”
Workshops consisted of Research Methodology, Marketing Management, Strategic Management, Operational Management and Action Learning. Tutors for the week were Dr. Bernie van Zijl (Prof), Prof. Paul Turken and Dr. Walther Hainzl (Prof).
A group with a purpose
Dr. Bernie van Zijl was extremely excited about spending time with the N 75 group, ‘a group with a purpose’, he calls them. “18 people from far and wide…always a great eye-opener meeting a group of students like this for the first time! We started the session with Action Learning, the flagship activity that makes Business School Netherlands “excitingly different. The first exercise was to determine the “green fields” opportunity as well as to answer the question: what are the uncertain factors faced when doing an MBA?”
All eagerly took part in the discussions which set the tone for the next question: The big “WHY” am I doing this “excitingly different” MBA? What a fantastic group of students…! Many friends were made… and all together with one purpose and all looking forward to positive results too, with great excitement!”
Fun and insightful
Student Hendra Susanto from Indonesia looks back on an inspiring trip. “My visit to the Netherlands has been a mind- broadening trip; a great opportunity to develop my knowledge and broaden my networking field,” says the 27-year old MBA student who works as an Industry Spatial Development Analyst for the Indonesian Ministry of Industry. “The workshops are tough, have an intensive schedule and involve vast amounts of information, but at the same time are fun and very insightful.”
When asked what the highlight was for Hendra, he recalls a moment on the last day of the week. “After a heavy schedule of workshops and very limited free time, the group was exhausted and impatient to go back home and put everything into practice, but then Dr. Hainzl presented us with a very interesting assignment: to consider business ideas regarding a specific case. The assignment was so appealing to the whole group that in the end it produced solid, out of the box business ideas and generated an amazingly lively debate.”
More information
Do you want more information about our International Action Learning MBA programme for 2016? Please contact us via international@bsn.eu.