Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University

The Rotterdam MBA: What You Need To Know

Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University is in northern Europe’s business heartland, a city that is home to the largest port in Europe, just a stone’s throw from Amsterdam, Brussels, and Frankfurt. RSM accepts MBAs who they consider movers and shakers, trailblazers – and most of all, change-makers who are a force for positive change.

Rotterdam’s 12-month MBA is taught in English, and of the 100 students in the program, 99% of them are international, bringing diversity and a broad range of perspectives from an array of roles and functions. Their faculty is top-notch – RSM is proud to say they have one of the world’s largest and most-cited business school faculty, with 237 senior researchers and 112 PhD students.

The curriculum is taught over five modules, beginning with laying the foundations for effective management – which includes covering critical decision-making, using an analytical approach, understanding data, and working with and managing diverse teams. In the second module, core business areas are explored through case studies and discussions.

In module three, a few layers are added to what MBAs have learned, going over the role of the economic environment, how to facilitate and nurture innovation, and how to manage organizations and processes sustainably. In this module, MBA’s also encounter the Impact Experience, where in teams, they address a challenge and formulate creative impactful solutions in a very short space of time.

In Module 4, MBAs deep-dive into a concentration in either Advanced Finance, Strategy, Marketing, Supply Chain Management, or Sustainability, and undertake one of the major highlights of the MBA – the Living Management Project, an intensive, four-week project that requires them to work in teams to devise solutions to real problems with real companies. They experience the typical challenges of a consultancy project, like inadequate information and resources, tight deadlines, and cultural differences. Every year, the partner companies leave with innovative new solutions developed by MBA students at RSM.

Not only did 93% of the Class find a job within 3 months after graduation, but many of the employed, 73%, stayed in the area and landed a job in the Netherlands.

“The Rotterdam MBA has opened my eyes to the wider business world and exposed me to the diverse cultures in the cohort. Boskalis is an international firm, so I have worked with many cultures already. But there are around 40 nationalities in the MBA, and everyone has diverse professional backgrounds too. This helped me broaden my perspectives and see problems from different angles. This is really useful when I work with people with different opinions in the future,” says MBA Irena Doets on Rotterdam’s website.

Ansgar Richter, Dean

RSM’s mission is “to be a force for positive change in the world,” and we use the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals framework in our education and research. We want executives to be aware of their responsibility to promote the greater good, not just to make money. We help them to understand how they can contribute to solving the world’s biggest problems, for instance in designing business models that do well, but also do good at the same time. This idea is embedded in our MBA and especially in the personal leadership development courses. Our aim is to build character, values, and attitudes in our MBA students.

Katsiaryna Pakhomava, MBA 2020

I managed art gallery auctions on cruise ships for 10 years. It’s an addictive job: it’s well-paid and I traveled a lot. It’s also very hard work, and a very specific niche. Then I took a sabbatical. I was literally climbing a mountain in Nepal when I decided I wanted to upgrade my skills to prepare for the next step. I knew how to reach revenue goals, but wanted to sharpen up my management and leadership skills such as public speaking, finance, and negotiating so I can offer more to my next employer and teams. The MBA gives you all of that. The next step is to find a job that is on land, not sea, and more “normal.” I want to try out marketing.

Yuta Taniguchi, MBA 2020

I’m the successor of a family business, a traditional 120-year-old Japanese hotel. I can learn by doing, but wanted to learn from international and academic perspectives how to manage inter-cultural employees and the growing tourism when I’m the CEO. RSM also has a sustainability focus. I want to learn how to combine what guests want and what’s good for the environment. And I can’t predict the future of the company and of tourism, but I wanted to prepare to learn how to deal with it.

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