March 22, 2010 - RSM University donates € 7,000 to Peduli Anak school for the education of street children in Indonesia. “The most important educational innovation of the past 100 years,” was how Prof Dr George Yip, Dean of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University described the Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA). Dean Yip was speaking at the recent graduation ceremony for more than 200 International MBA and Executive MBA graduates from 39 different nations, held at the Beurs-World Trade Center in Rotterdam. Of more than 200 students graduating from recent MBA programmes, 152 travelled back in Rotterdam to receive their degrees personally from Dean Yip. Eight students appeared on the Dean’s Honours List for consistently achieving high marks in their studies. For the first time in the history of RSM’s MBA graduation ceremonies, three of these eight students were recognised with distinction.

In the spirit of giving, the MBA/EMBA Class Gift (RSM Charity Foundation) of € 7,000 was presented to the Peduli Anak Foundation. Introduced by a short video, the Peduli Anak Foundation was co-founded by RSM alumnus Bjørn Dudok van Heel (MBA '07); its purpose is to enable the street children of Lombok, Indonesia to access the basics of a healthy life, including food, shelter, and medical attention and, more importantly, education. The ceremony was concluded by farewell speeches from the students – reminiscing moments of hard work but also of joy and friendship. One said “I will always be an RSM-er”, which was greeted with a big round of applause.

We hope RSM MBAs will keep on supporting our school for street children and following Peduli Anak for many years to come.
~ Bjørn Dudok van Heel, co-founder and Commissioner of the Peduli Anak Foundation ~