Internationalisation

Conservation specialist Joshua Wambugu recently shared his expertise with bachelor's degree students at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences, drawing their attention to the importance of community-based conservation as the road to sustainable tourism development. Even stronger, Wambugu argues for putting community involvement at the centre of conservation.

Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences' long-standing partnership with the University of Brighton in the UK is coming to an end. Wittenborg's President, Peter Birdsall, has indicated that the partnership, of joint programme delivery, has become unsustainable as a result of Brexit. The good news is that Wittenborg is now offering its own Master of Science (MSc) degree programme specialised in hospitality, tourism, events and sports business. The programme is accredited by the Dutch Flemish Accreditation Organisation (NVAO).

Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences has been awarded the task by the European Commission to head and coordinate research on 'Eco-Systems of Open Science Schooling'. The 2-year Erasmus+ project, which received an EU grant of more than EUR 250,000, started in October 2020 and is expected to be completed by September 2022.

How many CEOs do you know would swallow their pride and start selling cookies door-to-door when their thriving business takes a temporary hit due to COVID-19? This is exactly what Israeli entrepreneur Tal Zilberberg did the past year, and in the process learned many lessons which he recently shared with students from Wittenborg's Munich partner, New European College, as part of a Project Week guest lecture.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to breed uncertainty over consumer sentiment and behaviour, businesses need to find new ways to ensure their own survival. This was the essence of the keynote speech by Wittenborg Senior Lecturer Dr Alexander Bauer at the Finnish Turku Sales Week. The 4-day online event, held on 16-19 November 2020, was organised by Turku Sales Academy, part of the operations of Turku University of Applied Sciences, Finland. During the event, two sales competitions were organised and keynote speakers who are sales experts were invited to take the floor and share the latest trends in sales.

Wittenborg CEO Maggie Feng was invited this month to join an online event marking 75 years of the United Nations (UN). The event highlighted 75 years of peace and freedom as well as the sustainable development goals of the UN's 2030 Agenda. Fellow speakers included the mayor of Apeldoorn, Ton Heerts, and other dignitaries, including Director International Organizations & Human Rights of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gerard Steeghs and Climate Envoy for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Marcel Beukeboom.

In 2019, Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences was represented by over 100 different nationalities. Wittenborg’s three pillars of ‘Internationalisation, Diversity and Ethics’ have become ‘the global theme of 2020’, not just for Wittenborg, but for the whole planet. Whilst we are dealing with COVID-19 and Global Warming in 2020, racism has also again been pushed to the forefront by the Black Lives Matter protests, resulting from events in the USA. It has always been there, and everywhere, and has never gone away.

Recently, Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences hosted approximately 110 students from the Christelijk Lyceum Apeldoorn, whose purpose it was to learn about internationalism. And where better than at Wittenborg, which currently boasts almost 100 different nationalities in terms of its student population?