Can you give us a short introduction about yourself? I’m Timo, 24 years old, and I studied IBA at Tilburg University from 2013 to 2016. Originally, I am from the Netherlands, but I currently live in Geneva, Switzerland, where I work for Procter & Gamble.…
Hey all! I am Koen Salet, currently 22 years old and following the master’s in Accountancy. If you are a member of Asset | IB&M, you might know me from the committees I participated in during the last couple of years. I started in 2016…
What it is like to be an International Management Masters Student…
My name is Charlie Mhaitang. I am 24 years old. Born in Thailand, raised in the Netherlands. I am a master’s student studying “International Management” at Tilburg University.
In my professional career, I want to help firms expand their businesses to foreign countries. So, I chose this master for that purpose. Furthermore, I also like the fact that the coursework offers a variety of subjects from different fields such as finance and marketing. It is important for a manager to be able to think strategically on all divisions of a company.
“I like the fact that the coursework offers a variety of subjects from different fields such as finance and marketing”
The class size of the program is small, consisting of about 60 students. Which I find very pleasant as I can interact with my classmates and lecturers more easily. What had also led me to choose this program was that both the master and university are highly ranked in prominent ranking lists such as Times Higher Education and the Financial Times.
The program offers courses that teach the “why, how, and where” firms internationalize, along with other important management subjects such as international finance and international marketing. Next to those core subjects, there are also courses such as consulting skills and corporate social responsibility. The International Management course is the one I find the most interesting. It is theory-heavy, though the lecturer often discusses examples of real-world cases, making it easy to make the connection to practice. There is also a practical assignment for which we had to make an import or export plan for an existing company. And for next year, the lecturer is planning to add simulations to the course as well. Another subject I like is International Finance, which gave me a totally new perspective on how to manage financial risk internationally. It is a quantitative course for the greater part, which is also why I like it.
The main difference of this master to my bachelor “International Business Administration”, is that the subjects go more in-depth. I now study somewhat the same subjects, but the content is narrower.
Next semester I will start writing my thesis. The program allows you to choose from a wide range of topics. My thesis topic will most likely be about motivations on why firms internationalise. I expect it to be quite challenging, though very rewarding as you will become proficient in a topic that you really like and may come across in your future career.
Hi, I’m Julie and I’m 20 years old. For my exchange semester, I went to the University of Central Florida. An experience to never forget. What reasons did you have to choose the country/city you went on exchange on? I always wanted to go to…
The University elections are coming up! On April 21, 22 and 23, you can vote for who you would like to see as your representative in the University Council and Faculty Council.The University council decides on projects concerning the entire university, such as study places…
The University elections are coming up! On April 21, 22 and 23, you can vote for who you would like to see as your representative in the University Council and Faculty Council.
The University council decides on projects concerning the entire university, such as study places or international student housing.
The Faculty Council is working on the level of TiSEM. They can discuss faculty specific subjects like quality of education and career orientation.
In this article, you can read what drives Lars van Loenen, #2 on the list of Front, to participate in the elections for the University Council.
My name is Lars van Loenen and in my third year of the bachelor International Business Administration. Upcoming year I want to represent the Tilburg University students in the University Council on behalf of Front.
During my time at Tilburg University I have learned how important the personal development next to your studies is for students and that this needs to be stimulated. Since my return from my exchange last January, the idea has been to take on a new challenge. I therefore looked for myself in which I would see myself excelling but also gaining experience. In addition to managerial experience and practice-oriented work, I was looking for something where I could make an impact on the things I would be working on.
“During my time at Tilburg University I have learned how important the personal development next to your studies is for students and that this needs to be stimulated“
The University Council offers me this opportunity to the fullest. In the University Council students and employees have influence on policy decisions and the state of affairs of the university. As a student representative, I will be one of the eighteen representatives who obtained a chair during the elections. Students vote for a representative from either Front or SAM.
The student representatives are the ones who address university-related concerns of students to the rest of the University Council. The representatives can then submit propositions for solutions of problems encountered by students. Therefore, as a representative of all the Tilburg University students you have the responsibility to listen to input from students and act accordingly in the University Council in the interest of these students.
This is the type of challenge I would like to fulfil in the interest of all students. Politics has always had my interest and being in a managerial role suits perfectly with my study IBA. In addition, the University Council forms the basis of a large social network and stimulates involvement with a large group of students with different interests that you will represent.
One of my objectives is to achieve more audio and video lectures this upcoming year. This will also affect the IBA students. The amount of recorded lectures is increasing rapidly due to the current situation with COVID-19, but I would like to strive for a permanent expansion of the IT services so that more courses can be recorded in the future. Furthermore, I want every student to be able to find and use a personal workplace at the university as this is considered to be difficult during examination periods.
The elections will take place from April 21st– 23rd this year, so vote to be represented!
Over the course of the past 9 months, I have had the opportunity to be the External Affairs Officer of the Board of Asset | International Business & Management. In this blogpost, I will tell you more about what has made this such a great…
Over the course of the past 9 months, I have had the amazing opportunity to be the Secretary of the Board of Asset | International Business & Management. In this blogpost, I will tell you more about why I decided to do a board year…
For the past 9 months, I have had the pleasure of being the treasurer of the board of Asset | International Business & Management.
Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Myrthe Heuer, I am 22 years old and am originally from Kaatsheuvel, a town close to Tilburg, which you might know from the Efteling. I started studying IBA at Tilburg University in 2016 and graduated in July 2019. I became active at IB&M in my second year and started off with the IBA committee and later on the Manager for a Day committee. In the fall semester of 2018, I went on Exchange to Victoria, located on Vancouver Island, Canada. While being abroad, I started to think about what I wanted to do after my bachelor and the idea of doing a board year at IB&M started to be an option that I seriously thought about. I wanted to develop myself both professionally as well as personally and saw a board year at Asset | IB&M as the perfect way to do this.
After receiving the message that I was chosen to be the new treasurer of the board of Asset | IB&M, everything happened really fast. In the summer break, you already start with your first big challenge: developing the budget of the whole association. This implies that over the course of the summer you are busy with making careful estimations of future costs and revenues. While some of the other board members can easily transit in their new function, as treasurer you immediately start with a big responsibility. While developing the budget you are faced with a lot of uncertainties, since the future cash flows are still unknown. It requires a great deal of precision. You have to focus on the details while keeping the bigger picture in mind. As a result, you already start developing new skills right from the get-go. It also already gives you a taste of all the activities that will be organized during your board year. You will immediately feel involved with the association and can already get pumped about all the nice activities coming up. Next to that, the summer break also gives you the opportunity to get to know your fellow board members better. This period really helped us all to get close and allowed us to start our board year as a close group of friends.
It does not stop there, once you have developed the budget of Asset | IB&M for the upcoming year, it is very important that the budget is updated regularly to keep a clear overview. With 27 committees you can imagine that there are a lot of cash flows going in and out of the association. It is your task as treasurer to keep a close eye on all these expenses and revenues and update the budget accordingly. You will do this by updating the expectations and realizations on a regular basis. Other treasurer tasks include, but are not limited to: booking and paying incoming invoices, sending outgoing invoices and making incasso’s. Next to that, it is crucial that the budgets of the committees are regularly checked to see if they are still performing according to their budget. You will, therefore, be the main contact person for committees concerning all their financial matters.
Next to the function-specific tasks, I coordinate 4 committees: the Activities committee, the IB&More committee, the Intercontinental Travel Committee (ITC) and the Women Event committee. These committees range from formal to informal. All committees will be divided over the different board members so everyone can coordinate committees he or she likes.
In addition to my tasks related to Asset | IB&M I also take part in the weekly treasurer meeting with all the other treasurers of the departments of Asset | Tilburg. In this meeting, we discuss the financial affairs of Asset | Tilburg. Together we assist the Asset General Treasurer in his tasks and we are all responsible for a specific portfolio. My general portfolio consists of booking invoices and making cash withdrawals. I approximately spend 10% of my time on Asset General Tasks.
Below you can find an example of what a week of the treasurer of Asset | IB&M can look like.
Monday
Morning: Board Meeting
Afternoon: Meeting with Women Event committee, checking the financial status of committees
Evening: Free time
Tuesday:
Morning: Book and pay incoming invoices
Afternoon: Meeting with ITC, sending outgoing invoices
Evening: IBA Cantus
Wednesday:
Morning: Meeting with the Activities Committee, updating the balance sheet
Afternoon: Updating the budget sheet
Evening: Date Dinner
Thursday:
Morning: Treasurer’s Meeting
Afternoon: Bookkeeping of invoices at Asset General, meeting with the IB&More committee
Evening: Monthly Drink
Friday:
Morning: Check outstanding debtors and contact them
Afternoon: Prepare a withdrawal for the events of the past month, weekly board lunch, fill in the agenda for the next board meeting
Evening: Going home to my parents
To conclude, I am really happy that I decided to do a board year as treasurer of Asset | IB&M. It has taught me a lot of things including coordinating a group of people and working closely together in a team.Besides, it helped me to gain the practical financial experience I was missing during my bachelor. Even though being present at all the activities, both formal and informal, might seem a bit exhausting, you get so much energy from the 150 active members our association currently has. You meet so many new and wonderful people, that even if you are maybe a little bit tired you always go to work with a smile on your face and enjoy every little minute of it.
I hope this article has given you somewhat of an insight into what it entails to be the treasurer of the board of Asset | International Business & Management. If you ever have any questions about my function, Asset | IB&M in general or anything I wrote in this article, do not hesitate to contact me via treasurer@asset-ibm.nl
Are you possibly interested in becoming my successor? Subscribe for our virtual board information session on Monday March 30 at 13:00 ‘o clock via: https://www.asset-ibm.nl/event/board_info_session/. Moreover, you can always shoot me a message to plan a (virtual) coffee to discuss my experiences in more detail and/or answer all questions you might have!
Over the course of the past 9 months, I have had the amazing opportunity to be the Chairman of the Board of Asset | International Business & Management. In this blogpost, I will tell you more about what has made this such a great experience…
During my internship at Heineken I was able to evolve both my work experience as well as myself. I expected to learn what it is like working a job with colleagues, standardized times and responsibilities as well as discovering what it is like working in…
Hi everyone, my name is Sven Promper. I studied IBA from 2013 to 2016 and I am currently working as a consultant at Rembrandt Mergers & Acquisitions. After graduating IBA I did a full-time board year at the study association (Asset IB&M) and in 2018 I graduated from the master finance at TiU.
The highlight of my time as a student is definitely my exchange to Montreal as part of the IBA program. Next to having a ton of fun, I took advantage of the opportunity to choose your own courses to orientate on my master’s program. I took a variety of courses among which 2 finance courses which convinced me to pursue a master and career in finance.
Rembrandt M&A specialises in buy and sell-side advisory to small and midsized companies. As a consultant, I am usually the first point of contact with our clients. My daily tasks vary from making valuations and (financial) analyses to finding and approaching potential buyers/sellers or supporting contract negotiations. The job requires a broad skill set (both quantitative and qualitative) and allows me to apply many of the aspects that I have learned in IBA on a daily basis.
I first got in touch with my employer during a case day in the second year of IBA. While I was immediately convinced that it would be a good place to work I still visited many career events during the remainder of my studies. I found that this was a great way to get an impression of the type of work you will be doing in the future. It really helped me in deciding what master I wanted to do as well as finding my perfect starter’s job.
I would recommend every student to start orientating early. Attending a career event is always without obligation and it can really help you in choosing the right master program.
As a consultant for Capgemini Invent for over two years now, looking back on my student life brings back fun memories. I started IBA in 2011 and was extremely active in terms of doing committees. Eventually I did a board year at Asset, where I…
Being the External Affairs Officer of Asset | International Business & Management, what does that mean? Besides your main task, keeping in contact with companies, there are many other tasks you have to fulfill. But let’s not skip ahead, and start from the beginning. My…
Introduction
First, let me introduce myself! My name is Wesley Romijn and I am currently 21 years of age. Before I moved to Tilburg for my Bachelor IBA, I lived in a small village called Raamsdonksveer. I started studying here at Tilburg University in September 2016, however I only started doing a committee in my second year at Tilburg University. My first committee at IB&M was the IBA committee. We had an amazing group of people in this committee and I immediately felt at home at our association. I joined the IBA Week committee in my second year at IB&M. In this committee I really developed myself in a formal way.
After this, I decided I wanted to contribute even more to IB&M to make the association even better and to make sure other members also feel at home here, so I decided to apply for a board year! Fast forward to now, I am the Vice-Chairman of the board for 10 months. In this blog article, I would like to share my experiences of my board year!
Tasks of a Vice-Chairman
So, what do you do during your board year and why did you choose for this function?
Let me explain! As the Vice-Chairman of the board of Asset IB&M you are responsible for a whole lot of different tasks. The most important one is the active member policy. As the Vice, you are responsible for the recruitment of our members. With our big amount of committees, you want to have a great diversity of people to get the most out of the committee and each other. You will have talks with new/current active members to decide in which group they fit the best. Making the division of the committees is a really nice challenge from which you learn a lot! The best thing about the active member policy is seeing members having a nice time and really developing themselves within our association.
Next to the active member policy, the vice is also responsible for making the entire year planning of the association. With 100+ events every year, it is quite challenging to make a perfect year planning since you already make it in February for the next academic year. However I really improved my planning skills while making the year planning., since you had to keep the planning of other departments and the university in mind while making choices for your own planning.
One of the tasks I liked the most during my board year was being responsible for the promotion of the entire association. I had a lot of opportunities to give my creative touch to our promotion channels. At the beginning of my board year I made a “social media plan” to improve our social media presence. It is great to see some of these ideas work in real life. Next to that, I massively improved my designing skills which was fun to do and can be of added value later on in your career.
You also have the freedom to choose your own projects within the board, for example being responsible for the exchange project, socials or internationalization. In the second semester of the board year I was primarily responsible for the internationalization of our association. Together with my committee, I am currently busy to bring our international buddy program to an even higher level. The goal of this program is to help the international students to better integrate within their new environment.
Lastly, you are also the representative of IB&M within the faculty wide organ “Asset Academy”. In this organ you are busy with organizing events for Asset General like the COdE and the TOP Week. Next to that you are also making promotional content for Asset General. Within AA you also have a lot of freedom for you own project. For example, this year I really put effort to organize the Asset Thirsty Thursdays together with the other vices and the Polly., hopefully this will stay a great success even way after my board year.
Board year at IB&M in general
Why did you actually decide to do a board year?
This is a question that I got asked a lot over the past 10 months, especially since they don’t really understand what a study association does back home. I can say one thing for sure, joining the board of Asset | IB&M has been one of the best choices of my life so far. You will develop yourself in a lot of different ways. I really developed myself formally. For example, I got way better in leading groups, discussions and setting up projects. Doing a board year is also a good way to explore different aspects of businesses, in this way I can now orientate myself better on which master I want to follow in the next academic year. Coordinating various committees of IB&M was also really valuable. I found it really important that there was a good atmosphere within my committees so in the end we can get the best results possible! Lastly, it is amazing to work together with five other motivated board members for a year. You work towards a lot of projects and activities together as one team and it is a great feeling if these turn out to be successful.
I already want to thank everyone that helped to make this year special for me! Specifically the other boardies of IB&M and of course all active members. I really had a great time and I hope my last couple of months will be as good as the first 10! If you have any other questions or just want to have a cup of coffee with me? Don’t hesitate to contact me. You can find more information about how to apply for a board year on our website.