Rankings: according to those who compile them, they represent expert opinions on quality. And nearly everyone else, it seems, has an opinion about those opinions: news media, employers, policymakers, taxpayers, prospective students and parents, and alumni looking back on their education and their alma mater.
Maastricht University School of Business and Economics (SBE) alumna Ireen Rempt says it was her personal passion for travel that first put the travel industry on her radar. “What I love about travelling is discovering the unknown and making connections with people from different backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities and beliefs,” she says.
From a very early age, SBE alumnus Jan Willem Kappes was interested in the aviation industry. “I think when I was a child it was more the fascination with flying and aircraft,” he says. “In the beginning, I wanted to become a pilot. But already during high school I realised that I was more intrigued and interested in the whole business side behind the curtain than actually flying.”
How do you combine a passion for photography with an international business degree? SBE alumnus Martijn Savenije explains.
Each month, we will include a column in our newsletter highlighting the activities of SCOPE, the official Study Association of the School of Business and Economics at Maastricht University.
“There are some academics who take the role of preachers when it comes to sustainability, who just reiterate that we must be sustainable,” SBE professor of real estate finance Piet Eichholtz observes. “We take a more pragmatic approach and say, well, let’s see if sustainability pays, in monetary terms. Because if it does that, you don’t need to be a preacher, you don’t need to have government rules – the market will provide incentives.”
Martin Wetzels, professor of marketing and supply chain research at Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics, is looking at the impact of “digital disruption” on the academic and business world alike. His findings are the subject of his 2018 UM Star Lecture in Cologne.
The art market, worth about $45 billion globally, is booming. Rachel Pownall, who holds the TEFAF Chair in Art Markets at Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics, is investigating how shifts in the trade and global economic developments can have an impact on the value of art. Her research is the subject of her 2018 UM Star Lecture.
Not long ago, artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots, computer programs that can simulate actual human conversations, were the stuff of science fiction. Today, however, companies such as Munich-based e-bot7, co-founded by SBE graduates Fabian Beringer (BSc in International Business) and Xaver Lehmann (MA in Finance) are using this technology to help customer service departments in companies to handel queries more efficiently.
Teaching children a moral code when it comes to their behaviour and treatment of others online is a challenge for teachers who don’t have experience with social media or understand young people’s usage of it, which in turn can lead to ineffective approaches to discussing the issue of cyberbullying in schools. This was the discovery of SBE graduate Joerie Nijhuis who, together with fellow SBE graduate Tom Peeters, developed the online educational programme “It’s up to you”.