EFR-Business Week
The EFR-Business Week is one of the most professional and prestigious student organized conferences in Europe. Every year around April, the EFR-Business Week takes place at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and other locations around the Netherlands and Europe. Organized by a committee of six students from EFR, the EFR-Business Week has proven to be the highlight of the year at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and continues to bring in the most prominent global citizens. The 26th EDition of the EFR-Business Week will be held between the 30th March and the 7th April 2010, and will celebrate the 85th anniversary of EFR.
EFR
The Economic Faculty Association Rotterdam (EFR) is, with around 4000 members, one of the most ACTIVE and professional faculty associations of the Netherlands. . It is related to the Erasmus School of Economics, of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Its aim is to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Over a hundred committee members of EFR organise various activities for all economic oriented students throughout the academic year, in order to contribute to the extracurricular self-development of the students.
The largest of these activities are the Erasmus Recruitment Days and the EFR-Business Week. The EFR-Business Week is amongst the most professional and prestigious student-organized conference in Europe.
EFR-Business Week
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Previous Themes
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During the EFR-Business Week different aspects of a central theme are treated by the means of lectures, master classes, workshops and panel discussions. Internationally renowned speakers from the business world, politics and science put forward their ideas to discover and discuss issues around the central theme. The main strength of the EFR-Business Week is the integration of theory and practice by means of making contact between students and inspiring individuals of their future working environment. In addition, the EFR-Business Week has a distinguished international reputation, making sure that it is able to offer the best speakers and attract a very large audience each year. In the past the EFR-Business Week has had the honour of welcoming, amongst others, the following speakers:
- Mr. Wim Kok, Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg
- Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the WTO
- Mr. Shimon Peres, President of Israel
- Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
- The Rt. Hon. The Lord George Robertson, Former Secretary-General of the NATO
- Mr. Romano Prodi, Former President of the European Commission
- Mr. José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission
- Mr. Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- Mr. Josef Ackerman, CEO Deutsche Bank
- Mr. Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank
- Mr. Gerhard Schröder, Former Bundeskanzler of Germany
- Mr. Rex Tillerson, Chief Executive Officer Exxon Mobil
- Mr. Morris Tabaksblat, Former CEO Unilever and Chairman of the Committee Corporate Governance,
- Mr. Jeroen van der Veer, Chief Executive Officer Royal Dutch Shell
- Prof. John Forbes Nash, Jr., Nobel Prize Winner in Economics 1994
- Prof. Franco Modigliani, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics 1985
- Mr. Frederik Willem de Klerk, Nobel Peace Prize Winner 1993, Former President of the Republic of South-Africa,
- Mr. Michail Gorbatsjov, Former President of the Soviet Union
- Prof. Eric Maskin, Nobel Prize Winner in Economics 2007
Layout of the EFR-Business Week
The EFR-Business week generally consists of the following events:
Opening day
The grand opening of the EFR-Business Week takes place during the Opening Day. The Opening Day has developed into one of the largest and most significant academic events in the Netherlands. The most prominent and internationally renowned speakers will present their views and experiences through key-note speeches, interviews and panel discussions for an audience of 900 students, professors, businessmen and politicians. By using audio/visual aids, speakers are given a spectacular setting in which they are able to present themselves. Furthermore, the prestigious World Leader Cycle Award and the EFR-Business Week Award are granted to its recipients during this day. Both speakers and the audience are therefore treated with an afternoon filled with inspiring speeches and discussions in a grand environment.
Company Days
The Company Days (formerly known as the External Congress) will offer students and companies a 3 day series of recruitment events. These events will range from formal in-house days, where students are given an opportunity to witness the work environment and participate in a variety of workshops; to informal dinners and activities, to become acquainted with the company employees. In order to maintain the exclusivity of the recruitment event, only the hundred best students will be selected to participate. The outstanding quality of these days enables participants the opportunity to interact with companies and future employers.
Conference Day
The Conference Day is an opportunity for students to interact on a one to one level with notable global citizens. It will give students a more specific perspective of the EFR-Business Week theme. The programme will provide students the chance to discuss the central theme with representatives of multinationals, politicians and other people of interest. During the day there will be an informal debate between a large group of students and a group of knowledgeable speakers who will discuss the theme from both political, cultural and the business perspective. The Conference Day will build upon its past with speakers as Prime-Minister of the Netherlands, Mr. Balkenende; former Minister of Financial Affairs of the Netherlands, Mr. Zalm and former Prime-Minister of Spain, Mr. Aznar Lopez.
Business Week on Location
This event of the EFR-Business Week is intended to give students the chance to engage in activities they would otherwise never have the opportunity to. The day is filled with activities on an external location at either one of the more exciting firms or organizations of the Netherlands and Europe. In previous years the Business Week on Location has taken students behind the scenes of Schiphol Airport, one of the largest airports in Europe; the port of Rotterdam and the European Space Agency. Students get a glimpse of what the business world has to offer with the intention to motivate them for their academic and professional career.
Eclaire Special
A month before the EFR-Business week is held the Eclaire special edition is published. The Elaire is EFR’s full-colour faculty publication, and is circulated to students of the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. The Eclaire Special is a unique edition solely focused on the EFR-Business Week, and is received by 35,000 students around the Netherlands.
The EFR-Business Week 2010 will take place between the 30th March and 7 April 2010.
EFR-Business Week Committee
Every year, EFR selects six students from the Erasmus University Rotterdam to organize the EFR-Business Week. The committee is a full time position from August until April, and provides the members an opportunity to organize one of the most prestigious student conferences in Western Europe.
The EFR-Business Week Committee 2010
Casper de Leeuw - Chairman
John Derks - Commercial Officer
Max Wegener - Marketing Officer
Mark van der Maas - Commissioner Opening Day
David Stolker - Commissioner Company Days
Pieter Bosch - Commissioner Conference Day
External links
- EFR-Business Week 2010
- Economic Faculty association Rotterdam (EFR)
- EFR-Business Week's Twitter Page
References
nl:EFR-Business Week