Supporting the Chinese Embassy with COVID-19-Related Matters

https://www.wittenborg.eu/supporting-chinese-embassy-covid-19-related-matters.htm

Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences IBA student Shanfeng Lu represented Chinese students in Apeldoorn by joining a webinar organised by the Chinese Embassy in the Netherlands about the prevention of COVID-19. More than 20 Chinese student representatives from all over the Netherlands joined the webinar recently.

Lu briefed the Chinese Ambassador about the situation of Chinese students at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences. There have been no positive cases of COVID-19 and the students are both in great mental and physical states. He is now working together with the Chinese Embassy to mobilise local medical care assistance, distribute epidemic-prevention supplies and resources to help Chinese students for the area of Apeldoorn and Deventer.

Lu and his friends are running a WhatsApp support group to assist Wittenborg's Chinese students with questions, news updates and general inquiries, such as where to buy medical supplies or how to keep up with the crisis. He also welcomes other Chinese students from neighbouring universities to contact him when help is needed. Contact should be made to the Chinese Student Union of Apeldoorn via apeldoorncn@yahoo.com.

WUP 8/4/2020
by Dadi Chen and Sylvia Effendi
©Wittenborg University Press

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Corona Virus
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Unique Introduction Days for new students starting at Wittenborg in Block 6

https://www.wittenborg.eu/unique-introduction-days-new-students-starting-block-6.htm

At the end of March, Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences had its introduction days for block 6 of the 2019-2020 academic year. The introduction days were quite unique this block as they took place online. The Dutch government decided that all schools and universities should close on the 13th of March forcing WUAS to move all its activities online. WUAS staff adapted the introduction day activities that usually happen at the WUAS campuses into online sessions detailing information such as how to navigate Wittenborg Online, the role of a WUAS process tutor and adapting to life in the Netherlands.

How were the introduction days conducted?

The sessions were delivered through ClickMeeting by staff members who were involved in the planning and execution of these sessions. 22 students participated in the online sessions, 17 of whom are here in the Netherlands while the other 5 were in their home countries. The new students had several questions about the delivery of education online owing to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. The most pressing concern for the students was about how they will work in study groups at a time of social distancing.

Technology Essential

Students were also curious about how long the online learning will continue for and while no one can say for sure, the success of these online introduction days is encouraging for both students and staff. One of the new students commented during one session, “Thank you very much for the introduction. I am thoroughly satisfied at the moment by this online class. Have a good day.” While these introduction days were a new experience for both the students and staff, both parties were satisfied with the outcome as students felt they received enough information and comprehensive answers to their questions. These introduction days served as a reminder of just how important technology has become to society today and WUAS is committed to doing its best to facilitate online teaching in order to support its students during this time.  

WUP 6/4/2020
by Olivia Kawuma
©Wittenborg University Press

Message from Wittenborg's President to Students and Staff - Stay Home Stay Safe!

https://www.wittenborg.eu/message-wittenborgs-president-students-and-staff.htm

Congratulations to Wittenborg students for completing the first full week of online delivery of their bachelor's or master's degrees. Congratulations to Wittenborg teachers for doing something they weren’t prepared for, and making it happen. Congratulations to Wittenborg staff teams who have been working around the clock this past week.

 

 

Stay Home Stay Safe

We are living in surreal times - we have gone from a busy and lively life, where we travelled and socialised and spent time with friends and colleagues, in school, at the sport club, in bars and restaurants, to a life that’s eerie, strange and maybe even frightening.

Almost none of us have ever experienced a global crisis like this, on such a scale, with such an effect on our daily lives and our well-being.

Schools and universities all over the world, in almost every single country are affected by the spread of this disease, and are closed, and are having to cope as best they can, trying if possible to offer a continued education through online support. Not all have succeeded, and many students are left with worries about their study progress and their careers.

As a university, we too have been confronted with a very sudden change from classroom teaching to supporting all of you online. Most of our locations are closed, and empty and feeling sad. Many of you are here in the Netherlands but some of you, students and staff, are at home, in your own country, far away, not being able to return at this time.

Wittenborg’s primary aim is to ensure that our students don’t experience any study delay through this crisis, and also that our staff members are best equipped to manage in this unprecedented situation.

Getting us all online has been a major challenge - even though we had all the tools running, such as the Wittenborg Online Moodle system, our Microsoft Office365 Groups and Teams, we could never have been fully prepared for the task we are now carrying out. Students are having to get used to systems that they are less familiar with, and we are all missing the interaction. Teachers are being asked to support learning in a way that they have never been asked to do, and their learning experience is as much as any of ours.  

Our support staff are also working in uncharted territory, with the operations management, finance, HR, student housing, communication and events teams, marketing teams, registry and admissions all working from home remotely. Hats off to the small group of registry and front desk staff who are maintaining a presence at the main Aventus building.

There are all sorts of things going on during these first weeks of supporting you all online - our IT team, more used to working remotely, is working tirelessly around the clock helping students and staff. They deserve a round of applause.

We have a video-editing team to assist our teachers, we are launching an English language support team, we have virtual coffee mornings and online fitness, students are interacting and have their own ways of sticking together, and we will see more of these morale-building events.

We are also working hard to solve new challenges, such as the study workload that students are experiencing in this strange time - something that even our children at secondary school are experiencing. It’s not easy getting the balance of homework right when you are not directly in face-to-face contact with students!

Wittenborg is a teaching and experience-based university of applied sciences, and our key characteristic is bringing young people together from every corner of the planet, to live, work and enjoy life together for a period of their lives, experiencing new environments and meeting stimulating people, and changing their lives.

We will go back to that way of living. This time will pass; however, it will take some time. I can’t predict if we will be back in classrooms before the summer, and even if we are back, what restrictions there will be. What I do know is that we will be back, stronger and more robust, and full of eagerness and willingness to succeed, and live our lives to the fullest.

Thank you,

Peter Birdsall
President, Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences

WUP 4/4/2020

by Peter Birdsall
© Wittenborg University Press

Students Get Good Insight on What Drives Consumers from IBM 2020 Report

https://www.wittenborg.eu/ibm-partner-unpacks-changing-consumer-behaviour-wittenborg-students.htm

Undergraduates at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences recently had the privilege to listen to Jerry J Stam, associate partner of IBM Global Business Services, who gave a fascinating guest lecture on IBM's 2020 report on consumers driving change.

At IBM Stam is responsible for innovation, business development and project delivery for (international) retail and wholesale clients, in particular around omnichannel. He has over two decades of (consulting) experience in retail. He has been working for retailers the world over, including household names like Sainsbury's Hema and Jumbo Supermarkets.

At Wittenborg his lecture took place within the context of the final-year bachelor's module, Advanced Corporate Strategy. In this module students develop for instance an additional understanding on internal and external factors influencing organisations' strategy.

Consumers Now Shop "Whenever the Mood Strikes"

One of the key findings of the report is that there has been a fundamental change in consumer shopping behaviour. Rather than being a planned, discrete activity, shopping occurs whenever and wherever the mood strikes today’s always-online consumers - and this is increasingly while they are doing something else. Seven in 10 consumers surveyed say they shop in these so-called “micro-moments,” and 35 percent do so at least once weekly.

Modern Consumer All about Sustainability

Sustainability has also reached a tipping point. As consumers increasingly embrace social causes, they seek products and brands that align with their values. Nearly 6 out of 10 consumers surveyed are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact. Nearly 8 out of 10 respondents indicate sustainability is important for them. And for those who say it is very/extremely important, over 70 percent would pay a premium of 35 percent, on average, for brands that are sustainable and environmentally responsible.

What Drives Consumers?

Furthermore, most consumers fall into one of two segments: value-driven consumers, who are primarily concerned with getting their money’s worth and select brands based on price and convenience, and Purpose-driven consumers, who select brands based on how well they align with their personal values and who are willing to “walk the talk” when it comes to sustainability, changing their behaviour, and even paying more for brands that get it right.

How to Drive Consumers

The report also suggests some action plans. This includes earning consumers’ confidence through transparency and traceability. "Consumers’ brand loyalty and purchasing decisions are highly contingent on detailed product information. Employ the latest technologies to provide transparency of production methods and traceability of source materials. Demonstrate your commitments to sustainability and environmental responsibility by offering details about operations, as well as how you manage your sustainability agenda."

• Consumers' willingness to contribute to a cause must also be factored in. "If consumers are willing to pay a premium or change to reduce environmental impact, then offer options that provide trade-offs between supply chain cost, service, and environmental impact. In the “last mile” delivery from fulfilment centre to home, trade-offs can reduce variable logistics cost while enabling the consumer to participate in initiatives that reduce emission or otherwise help maintain a healthy planet."
• Align sustainability initiatives to core competency. "Brands and retailers need to know which specific traits rank highly so they can factor that valuable information into product design and development. Consumer goods manufacturers are not only good at producing high-quality finished goods, they are experts at reducing waste. For example, in the food and beverage industry, discarded food can be given a second life by partnering with farms and kitchens to turn work-in-progress and semi-finished goods, that would normally be discarded, into nutrient-rich by-products, such as animal feed, protein flour or even beer. The circular economy is gaining momentum. Brands and retailers are actively looking to participate in this new economy in various ways, like recycling textiles, fabrics, and plastics. Others are forging new ways consumers shop. Look for ways your organisation can harness the zeitgeist to find innovations to reduce waste and fulfil customers’ sustainability demands with new products and processes."
• Deliver value by using technology for the right assortment. Leverage external data to make better assortment decisions and more accurately forecast demand patterns - to have the right product available at the right place and the right time. The abundance of non-historical, non-linear external information available can help brands and retailers make more relevant merchandising and assortment decisions. For example, let consumers search via visual and voice technologies to enable brands and retailers to gather more context about consumer habits.
• Be omnipresent, and fulfil anywhere, anyway and anytime. "As shopping continues to splinter, retailers must eliminate channel silos and become omnipresent wherever, whenever, and however consumers demand. Despite expectations around the omnichannel experience, ecommerce and supply chain often operate under two separate functions within an organisation. Beyond just technology, brands require a tighter integration between the two functions to effectively address consumer expectations of buying and receiving goods anytime, anywhere, and any way. Fulfilment is often challenged by inventory availability and logistics constraints, but complexity is compounded further with omnichannel distribution, be it distribution centre (DC) to store, store to home, or DC to home. Through prescriptive analytics and machine learning, shipments can be optimised for delivery across all nodes. The ability to optimise fulfilment using multiple variables (shipping cost, transit time, margin impact, and weather, to name a few) can be the difference between a profitable and unprofitable business."

Stam has been working for retailers the world over including household names as Carrefour, Tesco and Sainsbury’s. He holds a dual law degree, an MSc in management, as well as an MBA. At IBM he focuses on realising digital solutions for retailers.

WUP 3/4/2020
by James Wittenborg
©Wittenborg University Press

Wittenborg Seeking Approval to Provide Transnational Education in Munich

https://www.wittenborg.eu/wittenborg-last-stop-nvao-it-suspends-procedures-due-coronavirus.htm

Two weeks ago, the Dutch accreditation and quality assurance body NVAO postponed all its site visits in light of the coronavirus COVID-19 – Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences (WUAS) was its last visit to an institution of higher education last month.  Its assessment procedures in the Netherlands will be suspended until at least 28 April. In Flanders all activities are suspended until further notice.

Wittenborg is applying for Transnational Education (TNE) approval for the full delivery of its programmes in Munich, Germany at the New European College (NEC) and seeking re-accreditation for its Master of Business Administration (MBA) as well as Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) programmes. In October 2019,  Wittenborg formed a partnership with NEC to deliver Wittenborg's bachelor's and master's programmes at their location in Munich. Student numbers there are eventually expected to grow to around 150. The terms of the delivery are set out in a Memorandum of Cooperation between the two institutions.

NVAO said in a statement: "In consultation with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, NVAO has established some guidelines to try to ensure that in the coming months the preparation of the accreditation procedures and site visits are postponed. So the institutions can focus their attention on the organisation and the progress of education.

In general, we follow the developments with regard to the virus closely. We use the guidelines of the Flemish and Belgian governments and the Dutch government and RIVM."

WUAS gained re-accreditation of its MBA from the German ‘Foundation of International Business Administration Accreditation’ (FIBAA) in 2019. The accreditation was carried out by an FIBAA panel that was NVAO approved, and the NVAO part of this re-accreditation was supposed to take place in July 2020, however may be postponed. WUAS bachelor's programmes were re-accredited by NVA) and FIBAA in 2018.

It is important for the Dutch ministry of education that the quality of the education provided by Wittenborg in Munich is the same as that in the Netherlands.

WUP 2/4/2020
by Anesca Smith
©Wittenborg University Press

How did you get stuck at home?

https://www.wittenborg.eu/keeping-wittenborg-staff-stuck-abroad.htm

Nadia: I planned my trip back to Kuala Lumpur (KL) for my brother's wedding. However, due to the escalating situation with Covid19 after my arrival, a week before the wedding, my family decided to postpone the ceremony to a much later date. I was scheduled to leave KL on Monday, March 23, but on March 17, the Malaysian Government announced a Movement Restriction Order (MCO) which is basically a "lockdown". The MCO will last for 14 days until March 31. My flight back to NL was also cancelled shortly after the announcement. I am uncertain about when I can leave the country at this point.

Sanjay: I am stuck because of a countrywide lock down in Nepal and the cancellation of my flight. I am not sure when the airline company will re-schedule my flight. It has been re-scheduled 3 times already.

How are you adapting to your new reality?

Nadia: Because of my recent travel history, I am required to self-quarantine for 14 days. I have not left the guest room (unless absolutely necessary) at my parents' house for a week now. It is definitely very strange not to be able to go out and see other people, even family members in the same house. As an introvert, I do appreciate the solace and quiet time, but it can be mentally challenging at times. To adapt to this new reality, I occupy my time with work, video calling friends, play computer games and Netflix parties! I do have to say that I am grateful for how the government is managing the pandemic. They have taken necessary actions by involving armed forces to ensure citizens stay home. I have also seen first-hand how the doctors and nurses at the government clinics are operating. It is very humbling, and I am confident I am in safe hands.

Sanjay: I am working from home and there are both positive and negative aspects of that. Firstly, and most importantly in this current critical situation is to be safe from COVID-19. Secondly, working from home is interesting as it saves time spent on the commute and I am working in a homely environment with family. On the other hand, I miss the ICT speed that I have in the office. I am using my 6-year-old laptop with limited internet speed and yet logging into remote desktop is necessary to run the timetable and Osiris software which are both resource hungry.

What changes have you had to make to your way of work and lifestyle?

Nadia: Since I am confined to a room, I try to spread doing work throughout the day to make my time in isolation more bearable. I do step onto the rooftop once a day for some sun and fresh air. I can only do this when my family members are not around, of course. A major lifestyle change is also having to eat meals in the room. My mother sends a tray of food to my door a few times a day and I bring the tray in once she steps away. I then make sure I wash the used cutlery before returning the tray. I am taking these extreme measures to not only protect myself, but more importantly to protect my parents and grandmother living in the house.

Sanjay: One of the more interesting factors is the time difference between countries. I have had to adjust my daily timetable according to Dutch working hours. Therefore, my day starts and finishes late in my home country (14:00-22:00).

How are you keeping yourself sane?

Nadia: Eating good food, video calls and playing The Sims! On a more serious note, talking about the situation with close friends really helps. Looking outside and seeing empty roads is also comforting. It keeps me calm to know that people are staying home.

Sanjay: In my opinion, working from home is not a big deal in this era of ICT development. Our work is not interrupted by any communication and technology gaps, rather we are able to save time while also having access to the moral support of family.

What do you see outside your window?

Nadia: I can see parts of the Malaysian National Palace, trees and the city centre. I am blessed that I have a great view!

Sanjay: There are few people outside and the roads are almost empty. There are only ambulances and government vehicles moving in the streets. Government officials are continuously making announcements about how to stay safe in this critical situation and reminding people not to go outside of their homes. We are being extremely precautious so that there will be no situation similar to Italy.

What word or two of encouragement do you have for everyone?

Nadia: Keep calm and take it day by day. It is also important to realise that this is a serious situation and staying home means saving lives.

Sanjay: Everybody is doing their job, living the life and enjoying their own way. We are in this difficult situation now because of COVID-19 so our routine or daily life may be slightly changed but this will not last forever. We should try to accept and adapt to the situation as much as we can. Don’t panic hearing the news around the world but try to learn from them how to save ourselves and how to fight against this virus. One day soon, we will be back to our normal lives again.

WUP 30/3/2020
by Olivia Kawuma
© Wittenborg University Press

Students Staying Positive as They Switch to Online Studying and Living with Corona Restrictions

https://www.wittenborg.eu/students-stay-positive-they-adjust-corona-restrictions.htm

Keeping fit, discovering new hobbies, baking cakes, making music – these are some of the fun, interesting activities students have been using to cope with stricter social distancing measures necessitated by the Dutch government to curb the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19.  And of course, keeping up with their studies with the help of Wittenborg's new and improved online resources.

We spoke to some Wittenborg students about what they are up to during these trying times.

Lauretta Nyamutswa from Zimbabwe has been baking cakes and sharing them since students started studying online. Her hobby is to "bring positivity'' to herself, but also to those near her through the kitchen. She does not enjoy seeing people anxious and wanted to drive their attention to something that might bring them joy.

For Cynthia Acevedo from Guatemala, writing has become her new hobby. She was inspired by the fact that she is expecting her first child. Instead of taking COVID-19 as a source of negativity in her pregnancy, she chose to be thankful for her health and from the support she has from her loved ones.

Besides acing his classes and his internship at a venture capital firm in Amsterdam, Oluwafisayo Olajide from Nigeria is also making the most of his time by keeping fit with these exercise routines at his home.

WUP 28/3/2020
by Sylvia Effendi and Anesca Smith
©Wittenborg University Press

And Why you Should Join as a Student Volunteer

https://www.wittenborg.eu/wittenborg-student-sets-apeldoorns-first-unicef-student-team.htm

Iranian student Niloufar Abouheidari has barely been in the Netherlands for 6 months, yet she has already set up a student team for UNICEF  in Apeldoorn. UNICEF is the United Nations Children's Fund responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide.

The children's activist is now campaigning for more students to join the Apeldoorn team, regardless of which institution they are studying at. Its aim will be to involve students from Apeldoorn to further UNICEF's mission, namely, to help children so that their basic needs are met and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potentials. Those who are interested can email Niloufar at s1124137@student.wittenborg.eu.

"Our activities might be delayed because of the coronavirus, but we fully intend to go ahead once it is possible." She foresees that most of the volunteer work for those who join will involve spreading awareness and creating fundraising and other events under the auspices of the Dutch branch of UNICEF.

Dream Job

Niloufar joined Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences in August 2019 as a direct-entry student, initially signing up for its IBA (Bachelor) programme in Logistics and International Trade, but quickly switched to an HBA in Event Management. "In Iran I did a degree in Agricultural Engineering, and plan to combine that knowledge with event management and create my dream job."

According to Niloufar, she has always loved working with children and contacted UNICEF in January. "They explained the process of setting up a team - you need at least five people and there is also plenty of guidance from the organisation. In Iran I also did charity work."

Why should students join the organisation? "When you help a child, you have the capacity to influence his or her life in a positive way that could have major implications. At the same time you enrich yourself, develop a heart for others and - bonus - it will look good on your résumé one day!"

WUP 27/3/2020
by Anesca Smith
©Wittenborg University Press