The spirit of collaboration

What does engagement mean to you?

“Engagement means collaborating and linking with external parties and people. And that means making connections not just outside of the school, but also outside of academia.

“And it’s not just about connecting with businesses. Engagement also involves institutions, NGOs, municipalities and individuals. And among those individuals are of course our alumni. In turn, alumni are typically part of the business and organisational sphere.

“Engagement highlights the importance of relationships and the notion that we need to collaborate. It is usually by working together that any problem of importance is resolved. It’s inherent in who we are – it’s what we do.”

The role of dean of engagement and partnerships is a new one for RSM. Where do you start?

“There are a number of areas where we already have engagement that we can build on. One of them is teaching, through which we bring the world to our students and take our students to the world. Guest lecturers, for example, come to RSM and talk about the latest developments and thinking in their organisation, sector, or in their particular area of expertise. Students get involved in consultancy projects and observational projects where they go out and participate in the world. We develop programmes, courses and materials that we co-build with others. In executive education, we create programmes for professionals, and develop massive open online courses. These are all elements of engaged teaching.

“Similarly, engaged research has a multitude of elements to it like translating research findings for non-academic audiences and spreading research through various media. Yet some of it also relates to developing research where, rather than just reaching out to peers, academics involve other stakeholders to collaborate in determining mutually interesting research topics and relevant research questions at the very start of the project.

“Research centres are a good example. Their centre of gravity can be inside RSM or external to it. The point is that a community is created – consisting of academics as well as non-academics – around a certain topic or field of knowledge. Knowledge is created and disseminated together, from which an informed narrative develops.

“This type of community building is integral to successful engagement. Expanding our collaborative efforts will specifically benefit our research centres, as they drive the creation of communities around topics that people can rally around, and through which engagement and impact efforts can be co-ordinated.”

Alumni – where do they fit in with your engagement strategy?

“Anything involving RSM and the outside world naturally includes our alumni. Alumni are a very specific and special audience when it comes to engagement. They are closely connected to the school and so invariably have an interest in what we do and what we’re striving to achieve. They are a natural first point of contact for engagement."

How does engagement create value?

“One of the main ways in which we add value – and it’s where we have the greatest impact – is through our students and through our research. We already create a lot of impact in this way, but by increasing our engagement we broaden that impact and benefit a wider range of people who are not necessarily stakeholders. Ultimately, engagement creates value by bringing people together in a spirit of collaboration.”

Are there specific areas of engagement you intend to focus on?

“To begin with I want to focus on monitoring engagement. The BSIS Report conducted by EFMB Global gave us, for the first time, insights into our impact and embeddedness in the Randstad region. We need to build on this to develop a complete picture of where, how and with whom we engage.

“Second, we need to co-ordinate and empower people: let them decide what they do, when they do it and how they do it and support them in the process. Faculty members, for example, should have the stimulus to want to do research in a way that is engaged. Likewise, if a new course or programme is under development, those involved should be encouraged to embed within it links to the outside world in ways they think best.

“Also, we need to better understand and differentiate between the types of engagement we can and want to do as a school, and those we cannot or do not want to do. We need to maximise the engagement and impact value – for us, for our stakeholders and for society.”