Shared achievement, pride and joy!

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The highest number of graduates since 1988
This year we count no fewer than 43 DBA and 475 MBA graduates, the highest number in the history of Business School Netherlands (BSN) since it was founded in 1988. A 187 of them and their guests attended the Kurhaus in Scheveningen on Saturday. Marcel van der Ham, Dean of Business School Netherlands, welcomed everyone present and gave the stage to Annette Nijs (chairman of BSN’s Global Executive Board). Annette spoke about the high quality of our programmes recognised by external parties and the increasing power of Action Learning fuelled by our growing number of students, teachers and alumni.

Honorary doctorate for Daifang Huang
Guest of honour Daifang Huang, a respected philanthropist and education expert, received an honorary doctorate degree. This is to recognise his track record in the field of social responsibility and philanthropic work, as well as his contribution to business in the digital economy. Daifang offered higher education opportunities to over 20,000 Chinese students by contributing 400 million euros to the establishment of two private non-profit colleges. In his speech, he stated that he plans to continue his contribution to the development of the world of education and to our business school.

Stay authentic!
Our second guest of honour was none other than Wouter van der Woerd, an experienced senior leader in Human Resource Management and a former lecturer (HRM) at Business School Nederland. After his last position as a member of the Board of Directors of SHV, he continues his advisory activities alongside various non-executive positions and charity work in Latin America.
In his inspiring speech, Wouter used an example of the “traffic jam” on Mount Everest. He emphasised the importance of staying authentic and unique in a world full of competitors; “Stand out in the crowd”. And that is what BSN graduates do thanks to the application of the Action Learning philosophy. They – according to Wouter – put knowledge into action.

Standing out in the crowd
This year’s title of “most outstanding student of the year” went to Sander Kos. He achieved an average of 87/100 points for all his assignments! But let’s not forget our 16 cum laude graduates:
Mike Fischer, Frodo Korff, Paul van Osch, Nathalie van Schayk, Janneke de Waal-Bogers, Daan Viergever, Winanda Buijserd-van Nifterik, Bjørn van Rumpt, Michiel Wisse, Marlein Aarts, Jeanette Jongeleen, Henk van den Berg, Erik ten Hove, Olaf Hildersom, Ron Rijkers and Eeuwke Wielinga. Chapeau!

Lere Baale appointed as Associate Professor
Not only our graduates were honoured. Lere Baale, director of BSN Nigeria, was appointed Associate Professor of Business School Netherlands. He was completely surprised by this and his supporters shouted with full enthusiasm when Marcel van der Ham handed the certificate to him. Lere’s appointment is well-deserved. For almost 15 years he has been the driving force behind BSN Nigeria branch. This year the number of Nigerian graduates was almost 100. Lere, congratulations!

Party!
After all the ceremonies, at 5 pm, it was time for the reception with traditional Dutch “bitterballen”. The party started at 8 p.m. We ate and danced till late hours under the inspiring tunes of our house band Three O’Four! What a party!
We are already looking forward to next year.

What our graduates say:

Mike Fischer MBA: “This journey has been an unexpected pleasure. On a flight from Nairobi to Johannesburg 10 years ago, I met a professor, and he made a point that I should consider this. I mould over it for five years, and eventually, I decided to do it. Once I started, I strove for a cum laude degree, and I’m very happy that I managed to achieve that objective.”

Davy Emans MBA: “What a great experience, what a great day! Yesterday, together with my two subset members, Robin van Verseveld MBA and Erik ten Hove MBA received the MBA diploma at the Kurhaus in Scheveningen. ”

Erik ten Hove MBA: “The whole ambiance emphasised how special the journey and performance have been. Unforgettable! ”