CEMS Student Board Newsletter

NEWSLETTER Warsaw meeting

April 2010

CEMS – THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

Despite volcanic ash paralyzing many businesses, the Student Board (SB) continued its work at the recent Student Board Meeting in Warsaw. The dedication and motivation for improving and strengthening the CEMS Community is continual and the SB proceeds with unrelenting efforts. This mid‐year newsletter will provide a short overview of the most important projects within the Student Board which include: Internship analysis, CEMS Club Best Practices, CEMS Merchandising and the CEMS Global Values Initiative, to mention but a few. The Global Values Initiative is amongst the most extensive and ambitious projects ever carried out by the Student Board. The goal is a declaration towards responsible leadership and towards global values that are integral to the CEMS Community. Read on..

You may wonder how these projects are defined, the answer is simple, you make this possible! Student Board members actively gather information from their peers in areas where attention is needed. Thus, the SB brings your ideas to life. Therefore it is crucial to underline that the Student Board could not achieve success and fulfillment during their mandate without the involvement and input from each student. You do this by answering our surveys and taking an interest in the CEMS Experience, and for that we are duly grateful and thankful. The projects that are carried out by the Student Board are relevant to the entire community, and should you therefore have any comments, ideas or questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Student Board at [email protected], or via your local representative. I strongly encourage you to continue reading this newsletter which contains valuable information on CEMS experience. Enjoy reading, and have a CEMSational summer!

Thomas Smith President, CEMS Student Board

SB Meeting

A word from the SB President

SB President

SB Vice President

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The communications & PR update at the April Warsaw meeting came from Communications Manager Kevin Titman, on Friday 16th with the Student Board and on Saturday 17th with the CEMS Club Presidents. Information on existing internal communications tools and operations was delivered (including mailing systems, survey activity and CEMS Magazine), with the rest of the time dedicated to external communications and branding issues. Of particular relevance to the student community was discussion on the immediate future of the Student Book. There was general consensus on retaining the publication and the need to develop content beyond a mere directory of students. However, opinion was more divided on the rights and wrongs of producing a print version at great financial and environmental cost. The Student Book may well go down the electronic-only

route in the future but will remain in its traditional format for 2010-11. Next up was an exclusive presentation of the some of the initial designs for the new CEMS website, due to be unveiled at the beginning of September but work on which is already well underway. Last but certainly not least came an open forum on the state of the CEMS brand in 2010, including comparison with its previous European positioning. Discussions high up within the CEMS alliance have already raised the issue of how effectively the new global brand is operating, now that CEMS has gone from being an acronym with a specific meaning to a brand name that exists “without” meaning but accompanied by a strategic baseline. The Student Board meeting and CEMS Club Conference provided a vital opportunity to get the perspective of students who arrived on the programme following the re-branding of CEMS, but aware of the previous positioning and therefore the challenge of making such a switch. The debate will continue for some time but the Warsaw meeting heard contributors from all around the world considering the brand from all angles: possible global marketing methods, potential new meanings for “CEMS”, the need (or otherwise) of removing Europe from the identity of the alliance, the difficulties of selling the Master’s model in certain regions… Raising awareness remains key, by what means remains open to healthy debate.

The CEMS brand becomes a

hot topic in Warsaw

WHAT’S NEXT?

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER

Start of the CEMS experience for many students. Don’t forget that you can apply for a blocked seminar in any of the CEMS academic partners. More information on www.cems.org

within your personal section

OCTOBER

Launch of the Student Board

merchandises sales

NOVEMBER

Career Forum in Budapest.

It is expected to have even more corporate partners, more interviews, more job opportunities than ever before!

DECEMBER

CEMS MIM Graduation Ceremony 2010 in Rotterdam. Don’t miss out on this event which promises to be unforgettable!

This year, students will be given the opportunity to formalise their ethical commitment by adhering to the CEMS Global Value Statement. More information about this

statement on the next page.

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Since Cologne, the CSR team has come a long way:

The Global Value Statement began to take shape as

a declaration of CEMS’ values that students will be

able to commit to during graduation. Wording was

finalized, work began on bringing stakeholders on

board and preliminary implementation plans were

made.

The Social Partner initiative began, with the ultimate goal of incorporating social organizations on a similar level as corporate partners. Criteria were agreed upon with the Head Office and a shortlist of potential partners was complied.

The Schools for Africa project continued to be a success, with events around the world raising approximately 42,000 EUR to date.

CEMS’ first Humanitarian Week took place at many schools throughout the network. On the whole, the initiative was successful in raising money for Schools for Africa, raising awareness for CSR and improving CSR capabilities within local CEMS Clubs.

Now after a successful meeting in Warsaw, new objectives have been set:

The Global Value Statement received unanimous approval and continues to move closer to its implementation in Rotterdam. Over the coming months, the CSR team will finalize logistics considerations for Rotterdam and continue to work with the Alumni Association, Head Office, Executive

SB goes socially responsible

Board and Academic Directors on its refining its scope and role within the CEMS community.

Progress has also been made in contacting Social Partners. Negotiations are currently under way and we hope to unveil CEMS’ official Social Partners as well as a series of collaborative initiatives by the Annual Event in Rotterdam.

To add to the list of things happening in Rotterdam, Schools for Africa is ending with a bang! We thank you for your ongoing support of the initiative, and with only 6 months left we hope you’ll help us in a final fundraising drive to reach our 65,000 EUR goal.

With regards to Humanitarian Week, we are looking to compile best practices in order to build on the success of last year and make next year’s event even better. Please send us any and all feedback related to your school’s events this year. Also, if you still have any money that was raised but not yet passed along, please contact us.

“As a lifelong member of the CEMS community, I hereby commit to uphold and be guided by the following principles: - The pursuit of excellence with the highest ethical standards, integrity, and humility. - Professional responsibility and accountability in relation to society and the environment - Drawing upon the value of cultural diversity with respect and empathy My decisions and actions, both now and in the future, will reflect this Commitment to Global Citizenship that I make here today.”

This is the statement that CEMSies will have the opportunity to formally commit to on the day of their graduation. These values are at the very core of CEMS and it is hoped that the act of signing the Global Values Statement will strengthen these values, encourage reflection and challenge graduands to uphold them in the future as responsible leaders and ambassadors of CEMS. More information on the Global Values Statement will be communicated to the CEMS community soon and the Student Board would like to sincerely thank the contributions of all the students, alumni, Executive Board members and Head Office staff that

made the drafting of the statement possible.

The CEMS Global Values Statement

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Working with CEMS Clubs Three of six newly elected Schools’ Representatives joined the CC Support Team: Natalia Velikodnaya (AALTO), Nicola Romano (LNL) and Maciek Sewerski (SGH, new CCS Team Leader). They reinforced the team formed previously by: Miguel Costa Freire (NOVA), Alessandro Curti (UB), Elias Lieberich (UoC), Ondrej Sabata (VSE) and Marie Kruse (CBS). As the majority of current team members are leaving the Student Board after Warsaw, we’ll be waiting for the successors to continue their great work. During the Student Board Meeting in Warsaw, the CEMS Club Support Team was occupied with the following initiatives: • The second CEMS Club Conference took place on the 15th-18th April 2010 and was hosted by Deloitte and Warsaw School of Economics. The event constituted a great opportunity to exchange experience, share best practices and ideas of CEMS Clubs’ Presidents and Vice-Presidents from many Member Schools of the Global Alliance. •Best Practices Guide has been published, containing over 30 project descriptions of most successful events prepared by CEMS Clubs all around the world. The Guide was created in collaboration with SB Executive Team, CEMS Head Office, and the Alumni Association. Thanks to hints and recommendations included in the guide, the next generations of CEMSies will have a strategic tool at their disposal to prepare even more professional projects based on social, corporate, humanitarian and academic background. • Furthermore, the CC Support Team together with SB Treasurer, decided to donate a sum of 3000 € to three potential Regional Events to be organized jointly by neighbouring CEMS Clubs. The guidelines for submitting applications will be developed by Nicola, who will announce a call of proposals. • Corporate Partner Package is a new initiative coordinated by Natalia and developed together with Mr. Stefano Gnes from the CEMS Head Office. Its aim is to deliver a complex list of events planned by CEMS Clubs at the beginning of each year to stimulate effective cooperation between companies and MIM students. • During this year’s Annual Events to be held in Rotterdam in December, the second edition of the CEMS Club Award competition will be conducted by CCS Team and coordinated by Maciek. The detailed formula of election, to be decided on soon, will be composed of two stages: voting via Internet and a decision taken by a special committee consisting of representatives of different CEMS stakeholder groups. • Finally, to link all the initiatives mentioned above, we encourage CEMS Clubs to use CEMSshare as a perfect tool to exchange information, experience, ideas and views and to contribute to the coherence and effectiveness of the cooperation among these units of the Global Alliance.

The organization of the Student Board

Meeting & CEMS Club Conference in

Warsaw was supposed to be a cool

challenge for our Club. Unexpectedly, it

turned out to be a real exam of crisis

management that we had to pass. As

facing exceptionally difficult Polish

national circumstances were not enough,

the Islandic Eyjafjallajokull volcano

raised the difficulty level and erupted at

the most inconvenient time. Despite many

unpredicted hurdles, Maciek and his

team did their job perfectly!

Karol, Vice-President , CEMS Club Warsaw

CEMS Club Warsaw

During the CEMS Club conference, I met

plenty of amazing people, successfully

established many relations and learned

a lot about CEMS and its principles. The

Alliance turned out to beeven more

attractive and internally diverse that I’ve

ever supposed. Itwas valuable to notice

many interesting differences between

several CEMS Clubs in the matter of

their functioning and structure. Surely,

we presented our Club from its best side,

however, now I am much more aware of

what we have to improve in Warsaw.

Thanks to everyone for this wonderful

time and I am looking forward to seeing

you again in Rotterdam. Rafał , coorganizer of the conference, CC Warsaw

CCC – participant’s view…

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The MIM Affairs team looks back to some successful and productive days in Warsaw. Not only did we finalize the internship survey, which all of you received in the last couple of days, but we also launched two new projects, namely the Skills Seminars and CCM Course projects. The first one aims to improve the quality of skills seminars by developing standards regarding the offer and the content of the seminars at each school. The latter will identify essential elements to improve the core course Cross-Cultural Management (CCM). In addition, we continue to push the internship project further. Following the valuable and important input from the student body, to which we are greatful, our next step is to evaluate the data and draw conclusions from your responses. Let me say here that this project is very important to us. Internships add so much value to our education and are a really important part of the CEMS curriculum. Therefore we take your problems you encountered and experiences you had during the search and the actual internship very serious. At this stage it is too early to make any promises, but we will inform you about our findings in the next newsletter! Given the challenging hours of work ahead of us, I want to end with welcome two new team members on board: Fredrik and Miriam! Together we are looking forward to some productive months till the next SB meeting in Istanbul.

MiM Affairs

Career Forum 2010

We are delighted to invite you to the CEMS Career Forum 2010 that will take place in Budapest on 12

th-13

th November. This two-

day event represents an ideal opportunity for you to meet and interact with many leading global companies, learn more about the opportunities for internships and permanent employment and enhance your network. On Day One, accredited half-day skill seminars will take place. On the Day Two, the organisation of pre-scheduled interviews and company presentations will complement the traditional company stand area. Students with one or more interviews may be eligible for a financial subsidy. Also, further networking and career development activities will be organised in conjunction with the event. Student registration to the Career Forum begins on 20

th July!

For more information on the event and important deadlines, please consult the CF website at http://cems.org/cf To gain a better understanding of what the Career Forum is, please view the CF 2009 film that was produced during last year’s edition http://www.vimeo.com/10438377

We hope the Career Forum will meet your expectations and will be a fruitful and enjoyable experience for you. Looking forward to seeing you in Budapest!

Denisa Zichackova CEMS Corporate Services Manager

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Adventure on the way from Warsaw

Student view

Student Relations

Magazine

Check your mailbox this summer! Collaboration between the Head Office, the Alumni Association and the Student Board, the CEMS magazine is gaining in importance and visibility within the community. The central theme for next issue will be “The new age of Branding” with topics such as “how do students brand themselves as global citizen” or “how do recent graduates brand themselves when entering the job market”.

Merchandise Big success! 300 merchandises ordered, 300 euros donated to School for Africa. Delivery took quite a time in some countries but now everyone should be enjoying their products. Thanks for all your feedback, which will help us re-structure the catalogue and the website. The high quality was really appreciated so we’ll keep with these standards for next year! If you missed the train this time, don’t miss our next sales in October! The same payment options will be offered: either online or directly through your CEMS Club.

The SBies and CC president surely did not expect the Icelandic volcano to close down all European airports! Deadlines, reports and exams pushed all of us to travel through Europe “road trip style”, alternating between train, car and plane when we could find some. Special congratulations to Vera who handled a 3kg statue during her whole trip and to Miguel Freirasmus who finally found his way back to Lisbon.

Eyjafjalla Volcano

Student Alumni Mentorship Program

Input from several stakeholders has been gathered in order to shape the SAMP programme in the most efficient way possible. It has been decided to create a specific SAMP database where students would be able to easily find alumni willing to be part of the program. Implementation is ongoing and you should be able to see the new SAMP online database within the next few months!

Student Book & ISIC International Student Card These two products will be provided to all incoming students in September, along with the welcome package. The student book gathers information about all the 2010-2011 CEMS students and the ISIC student card will allow you to prove your student status in more than 120 countries. Please upload your photos within your personal section on www.cems.org. This is essential for the success of these two exciting products.

The student relations group is here to manage communication and projects affecting students on a global level. Since our last meeting in Cologne in December, the student relations group worked on the following

projects.

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The CEMS Annual Events 2010, hosted by Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University will be held from Thursday, 2 December to Saturday, 4 December.

The Annual Events are the highlight of the CEMS year. They represent an exceptional opportunity to bring together the entire community for discussions, decision-making, formal announcements, the graduation of CEMS MIM students. And fun & networking for all.

Festivities will include the 40th

anniversary of the Erasmus University, the 20

th Anniversary of the first CEMS

Graduates, the 10th

Anniversary of the CEMS Student Board and the ongoing success of the CEMS global community!

The official website, which will include the full Programme, information on registration, accommodation, logistics and of course, more about the dazzling city of Rotterdam, will open shortly.

So don’t miss out on this great event. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Who is your Rep? Annual Events 2010

In the meantime, check out the whereabouts of Erasmus, the travelling statuette of Desiderius Erasmus. Have a look around and keep updated regularly. http://erasmus2010.com/

If you want to help him on his journey contact us!

Who’s your rep’?

Any comment or suggestion concerning the newsletter? Please do not hesitate to contact [email protected]

AALTO Natalia Velikodnaya

CBS Fredrik Ahlberg

CUB Kornelia Bodnar

EAESP Eduardo Caimbro

EGADE Jose Cruz

ESADE Ludovic Manjot

GSOM Evgenia Popova

HEC Youssef Iraqui

HSG Andri Hinnen

Ivey Matthew Zajac

LSE Cleo Biron

LSM Nicola Romano

NOVA Carlota Cabral

NHH Marco Proto

NUS Jia Jun Zhang

RSM Tanmayi Gummaraju

SGH Maciej Sewerski

SSE Filip Goldmann

UB Marina Marchese

UCD Gwilym Williams

UoC Miriam Olivia Scharmach

USYD Wei-Chieh Chuang

VSE Robert Hnauck

WU Nina Poxleitner

President: Thomas Smith Vice President: Tom Zacharski

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AALTO Natalia Velikodnaya

CBS Fredrik Ahlberg

CUB Kornelia Bodnar

EAESP Eduardo Caimbro

EGADE Jose Cruz

ESADE Ludovic Manjot

GSOM Evgenia Popova

HEC Youssef Iraqui

HSG Andri Hinnen

Ivey Matthew Zajac

LSE Cleo Biron

LSM Nicola Romano

NOVA Carlota Cabral

NUS Jia Jun Zhang

RSM Tanmayi Gummaraju

SGH Maciej Sewerski

SSE Filip Goldmann

UB Marina Marchese

UCD Gwilym Williams

UoC Miriam Olivia Scharmach

USYD Wei-Chieh Chuang

VSE Robert Hnauck

WU Nina Poxleitner