The Annual ESE Alumni Day is set for Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018. Charles Hermans is Director Alumni Affairs & Development at Erasmus School of Economics. He puts a lot of effort into making this Alumni Day entertaining and valuable for the attendants.
‘Alumni means enlightened,’ says Charles Hermans, proud owner of the Deux Chevaux in the picture. ‘It means: you made it.’ As a university, it is important to build up a relationship with your alumni. According to Hermans: ‘Alumni have a lot to offer, like their time, and trainee posts. They can share their networks and support students by mentoring or coaching them.’ During ESE Alumni Day – coinciding with the start of EFR Business Week – some prominent ESE alumni are keynote speakers. Hermans returns the favour by sharing his network, by inviting alumni for tours – ‘I know every corner of this campus, there are a lot of stories buried in the concrete’ – and inviting them for the ESE Alumni day and dinner every year. ‘I like to make people happy. Some of them haven’t been here for years, they have a real Aha Erlebnis, and remember stories their own student days. Next to that, it is a great opportunity to meet up with other alumni and academic staff and share knowledge. For young alumni, it’s great to meet each other and share first career stories; give each other advice. It’s nice that we get to share our vast wealth of knowledge. Together we can accomplish much more.’
'But economics is actually a very social study; it is about the whole world.'
World of Business commissioner Laura Bothmer
Star keynote speakers
‘Be The Change’ will be the theme of this year’s EFR Business Week and World of Business. Commissioner Laura Bothmer explains: ‘We would like to encourage students and alumni as well as other visitors to contemplate the subject, to really be the change. Today’s students are the political leaders and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. People often believe that a study of economics is about stock markets and people in grey suits. But economics is actually a very social study; it is about the whole world. The problem we would like to take a closer look at is, how can we solve big and urgent challenges from an economic point of view?’
Various prominent and world-renowned speakers, such as François Hollande, Former President of France and Karel Lannoo, CEO of the Centre for European Policy Studies will shed a light on topical changes happening in the world. François Hollande will be speaking about his foundation and how he wants to continue working on projects that originated during his presidency. Other speakers are Pim Kraan, director of Save the Children Netherlands, and Leen Zevenbergen, EUR-alumnus and co-founder of B Corp (B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency).
Inbetween lectures, visitors get to taste snacks and drinks at an innovative food market. Start-ups focusing on sustainable and innovative food will be offering their products. For example, products made out of seaweed.’ Laura Bothmer: ‘Inclusive prosperity and the issue of how we can make the world more fair and sustainable is an essential theme.’
- More information
The World of Business, open for everybody, at April 3rd will start at 13.45 and will take place in the C-hall of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. A ticket can be bought until April 1st.
Are you an ESE Alumnus yourself? You can now connect with fellow alumni and find more ESE Alumni information at our network EUR Connect.