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Vlerick Business School Academic Dean Dirk Buyens: Vlerick Business School and NSD Educating Outstanding Students Together

Sep 16-2014   



无标题_副本

Good morning dear colleagues of BiMBA, good morning students. It’s a great honor for me to be here again. I have done this a dozen times in Europe but it is only my second time in China. It’s always nice to come here.

I would like to reiterate what Dr. Lin has said and what students sometimes may not realize – as BiMBA students, you are lucky. I come from a world where the economy, if we do very well, will grow by 1%. In this world, it is very difficult to get motivated by getting good results. If you look at the history of the Chinese economy, and if you look at what the Chinese economy’s doing nowadays, it’s a fabulous world to live in as business people. I know people panic once the growth rate goes below 7%, but if we would have 7% growth rate, we would take a one-month vacation. That’s the difference between the two economies and that’s also makes it very interesting.

Introduction to Vlerick

Vlerick is a business school in Europe. We are number one in the Benelux and one of the top schools in Europe. We are only a graduate school, have a group of about 200 people who work in the school, and we do represent the two big universities in Belgium namely KU Leuven and the University of Ghent. KU Leuven is a university quite often been perceived as one of the oldest universities in Europe, dating back to 1425.  In terms of programs, we have MBA and Executive programs. In total, we have about 800 MBA students, 500 in Belgium and 300 internationally. We have 4 campuses in Europe, 3 of them in Belgium, one of them in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Our strategic alliance with BiMBA is one of only two, the other being Stellenbosch in South Africa, which is related to our common language and culture.

We represent the business activities of KU Leuven and the University of Ghent who comprise of about 100,000 university students, undergraduates and graduates.  In terms of reputation, we are triple-accredited with the AACSB, which is an American accreditation organization, the AMBA accreditation which is British, and the EQUIS accreditation which is European.

The History of Vlerick

Vlerick Business School is named after the professor, politician and banker, Baron André Vlerick who passed away about 25 years ago. Our school was founded in 1953, after World War II. At that time, Professor Vlerick was responsible for the so-called spread of the Marshall Plan. One of his brilliant insights was  not just to give money to entrepreneurs, but to educate them so that they could create value and create money. The first programs were not MBAs but programs for CEOs, largely at that very moment in Europe, of small and medium-sized firms. The so-called American investment came later, and of course we could profit from that in order to get rich and make the school grow.

Strategic Alliance with BiMBA

The alliance with BiMBA is a very important alliance for Vlerick, as it gives us the opportunity to build value from the strength of BiMBA, which adds to our dominant position in Europe. For students, this is the best place to get a better insight into the Chinese economy. At the same time, China is becoming more and more international and we are seeing huge investments by Chinese companies in Europe, who also need to get a better insight into the European economy. With a dual-degree from Vlerick this is an added bonus.

Prof. Zhang Li said, you become part of the BiMBA family. I would even go one step further, you’re really a part of the family, whether you like it or not. And the good news is that we try to treat our students like that. In that way, we have about 17,000 alumni. We have also an alumni chapter in China, any activities that have been organized by the Vlerick alumni are also always open to the BiMBA alumni.

One of the most important things of an MBA program is the classmates. If we selected the right people, then you might meet friends for life——friends both personally and professionally. Those who would like to be successful in work and life need to realize that relating to others is probably one of the most important skills one has to learn. Not only when things do go well, but also when you might have some difficulties. That’s what relationships are and that’s one of the things we are teaching in an MBA program. In other words, you get the best of both worlds.

Dynamic Learning

This is the biggest difference between a business school, like BiMBA or Vlerick and what you might have encountered at traditional universities. Whilst we start from the theory, we build on this and relate it to practice. This is so that you can recognize it and understand how to use it within your daily practices. This is our ultimate goal is and this is how we develop the knowledge, skills and insights. You need to face the challenge of the global business world. Having a model sometimes helps you to structure the practice. I think we also have expert faculty, recognized for their expertise in the fields with strong ties to both the academic and the corporate worlds. In other words, people who are not afraid of making their hands wet. Looking at the world, seeing what is happening there and engaging in that world.

Finally, I would like to pass on the wishes of the Dean of Vlerick who could not be here today. He hopes that you will all enjoy your experience at BiMBA. I know you will be studying on the campus here at BiMBA, by the same token I hope that you will visit us at the campus in Ghent, hopefully for the graduation party. For the full time students among you, that might be within a year; for the part time students that might be within two years. I hope we might meet one another over there. We will meet one another here at BiMBA in the future. I wish you all the best and I hope you all have a very inspiring MBA experience. Thank you very much.      

 

Vlerick Business School Academic Dean Dirk Buyens: Vlerick Business School and NSD Educating Outstanding Students Together

Sep 16-2014   



无标题_副本

Good morning dear colleagues of BiMBA, good morning students. It’s a great honor for me to be here again. I have done this a dozen times in Europe but it is only my second time in China. It’s always nice to come here.

I would like to reiterate what Dr. Lin has said and what students sometimes may not realize – as BiMBA students, you are lucky. I come from a world where the economy, if we do very well, will grow by 1%. In this world, it is very difficult to get motivated by getting good results. If you look at the history of the Chinese economy, and if you look at what the Chinese economy’s doing nowadays, it’s a fabulous world to live in as business people. I know people panic once the growth rate goes below 7%, but if we would have 7% growth rate, we would take a one-month vacation. That’s the difference between the two economies and that’s also makes it very interesting.

Introduction to Vlerick

Vlerick is a business school in Europe. We are number one in the Benelux and one of the top schools in Europe. We are only a graduate school, have a group of about 200 people who work in the school, and we do represent the two big universities in Belgium namely KU Leuven and the University of Ghent. KU Leuven is a university quite often been perceived as one of the oldest universities in Europe, dating back to 1425.  In terms of programs, we have MBA and Executive programs. In total, we have about 800 MBA students, 500 in Belgium and 300 internationally. We have 4 campuses in Europe, 3 of them in Belgium, one of them in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Our strategic alliance with BiMBA is one of only two, the other being Stellenbosch in South Africa, which is related to our common language and culture.

We represent the business activities of KU Leuven and the University of Ghent who comprise of about 100,000 university students, undergraduates and graduates.  In terms of reputation, we are triple-accredited with the AACSB, which is an American accreditation organization, the AMBA accreditation which is British, and the EQUIS accreditation which is European.

The History of Vlerick

Vlerick Business School is named after the professor, politician and banker, Baron André Vlerick who passed away about 25 years ago. Our school was founded in 1953, after World War II. At that time, Professor Vlerick was responsible for the so-called spread of the Marshall Plan. One of his brilliant insights was  not just to give money to entrepreneurs, but to educate them so that they could create value and create money. The first programs were not MBAs but programs for CEOs, largely at that very moment in Europe, of small and medium-sized firms. The so-called American investment came later, and of course we could profit from that in order to get rich and make the school grow.

Strategic Alliance with BiMBA

The alliance with BiMBA is a very important alliance for Vlerick, as it gives us the opportunity to build value from the strength of BiMBA, which adds to our dominant position in Europe. For students, this is the best place to get a better insight into the Chinese economy. At the same time, China is becoming more and more international and we are seeing huge investments by Chinese companies in Europe, who also need to get a better insight into the European economy. With a dual-degree from Vlerick this is an added bonus.

Prof. Zhang Li said, you become part of the BiMBA family. I would even go one step further, you’re really a part of the family, whether you like it or not. And the good news is that we try to treat our students like that. In that way, we have about 17,000 alumni. We have also an alumni chapter in China, any activities that have been organized by the Vlerick alumni are also always open to the BiMBA alumni.

One of the most important things of an MBA program is the classmates. If we selected the right people, then you might meet friends for life——friends both personally and professionally. Those who would like to be successful in work and life need to realize that relating to others is probably one of the most important skills one has to learn. Not only when things do go well, but also when you might have some difficulties. That’s what relationships are and that’s one of the things we are teaching in an MBA program. In other words, you get the best of both worlds.

Dynamic Learning

This is the biggest difference between a business school, like BiMBA or Vlerick and what you might have encountered at traditional universities. Whilst we start from the theory, we build on this and relate it to practice. This is so that you can recognize it and understand how to use it within your daily practices. This is our ultimate goal is and this is how we develop the knowledge, skills and insights. You need to face the challenge of the global business world. Having a model sometimes helps you to structure the practice. I think we also have expert faculty, recognized for their expertise in the fields with strong ties to both the academic and the corporate worlds. In other words, people who are not afraid of making their hands wet. Looking at the world, seeing what is happening there and engaging in that world.

Finally, I would like to pass on the wishes of the Dean of Vlerick who could not be here today. He hopes that you will all enjoy your experience at BiMBA. I know you will be studying on the campus here at BiMBA, by the same token I hope that you will visit us at the campus in Ghent, hopefully for the graduation party. For the full time students among you, that might be within a year; for the part time students that might be within two years. I hope we might meet one another over there. We will meet one another here at BiMBA in the future. I wish you all the best and I hope you all have a very inspiring MBA experience. Thank you very much.