Afbeelding
“At first I was slightly in shock that I chose to do an English-taught programme. What had I done? But I enjoy it immensely. I’m dyslexic, so I’m not even that great at Dutch, so why not in English? And most Dutch companies are internationally orientated, so it makes sense to me that the programme is taught in English.
Practical projects
“The interesting thing about marketing is that you try to find out what people want. I like to talk and work with people. Working in teams is also something I enjoy; taking on projects together in a group and finding solutions, that really suits me well. And there are plenty of projects in this programme. They are always supported by theoretical subjects, which you can put into practice immediately. For instance, last year we did a project on marketing communication tools. We learned how to effectively set up social media channels, and how to make infographics and website designs. I learned a lot from this. We also did a project about a ‘travel experience’. This was linked to Project Management, which we needed to use in this project. The subject Sales was also represented, because we had to ‘sell’ our travel experience to our lecturers. We considered how to employ marketing for a trip aimed at Chinese and Vietnamese tourists. I think that many of us found this project the most fun.”
"You can immediately put subjects into practice"
Cultural differences
“This course has also given me a lot of insight into other cultures. Better yet: this is given a lot of attention in the first term. The Dutch, for instance, are rather direct communicators, but it doesn’t work like this in every culture. This is something you should consider. The same goes for certain hand gestures. For example, the Dutch gesture for ‘tasty’, waving your hand next to your head, has quite a different meaning in Italy. There it means ‘crazy’. This led to quite a funny situation when my mother had cooked dinner for my Italian friend. My mother kept making that gesture, haha!”
“I get a lot of insight into culture-based marketing”
Marketing internship
“I am looking forward to starting my internship next year. I’m looking for an international company in the Netherlands to get started. Preferably, I would focus on online marketing and social media. That’s in demand among companies right now, so I should be alright. I’d like to use the third and fourth-year internships to find out what I enjoy doing most. Who knows, maybe I will find a great internship in the fourth year that suits me, and where I can stick around. Maybe I will work abroad later on, Scandinavia or England appeal to me. All options are still on the table.”
To find out more about this programme, visit the programme’s website Marketing Management.