The ECU’nomist
Janneke Plantenga: A Decade of USE Deloitte Explored- An interview with a former USE student Hong Kong: The New York of Asia Charles van Marrewijk on China
November 2013, YEAR 23, ISSUE 1
HAPPY LUSTRUM USE!
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ECU’92 ACTIVITIES AGENDA Freshmen Dinner + B.O.M.B + Pub quiz Date: Mon. 11th of November
Time: t.b.a.
Subscribe at the ECU’92 room!
Location: Dinner at Maartenshof, B.O.M.B at Nieuwe Dikke Dries
Economic Career Day Utrecht Date: Thu. 14th of November
Location: het Silverijn
Time: 10:00 - 17:30 Subscribe now at www.ecdu.nl!
Battle of the Committees + Party Date: Wed. 20th of November
Location: Club Lux
Time: 23:00 - late Subscribe at the ECU’92 room!
Buitex weekend trip Date: Fri. 29th of November - Sun. 1st of December
Location is still a secret!
Subscribe at the ECU’92 room!
DLC Lecture: Former Chairman Unilever Date: Mon 2nd of December
Location: Academic Building
B.O.M.B
Time: 19:45 - 22:00
Drinks after your midterms of period 2!
Date: Mon. 16th of December
Location: Nieuwe Dikke Dries
Time: 21:00
ECU’92 Ski trip Date: Wed. 29th of January - Sun. 2nd of February
Location: La Joue du Loup
Subscribe at the ECU’92 room!
Book sale for period 2: 11th, 12th and 13th of November at Spinoza!
For more information, check: www.ecu92.nl, visit the ECU’92 room or look for flyers of the event. 2
Contents 8-9
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Letter from the Editor 4 Letter from the Board 5 Meet the Editorial Committee 6 China: The Place To Be 8 Socializing via Social Media 10 Deloitte Explored 12 Making it Big in The Gaming Industry 14 Freedom to Grow 15 Internshipping 16 A Decade of USE 17 Come to Spain if You Can Do Without Rain 18 The New York of Asia 20 Lifehacks 22
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The ECU’nomist is published every quarter online, as well as printed in a circulation of 500 for members, patrons and external contacts of ECU’92. Thomas Huigen | Dea Tusha | Mithra Madhavan | Sofia Monshouwer | Lukas Molkentin | Annette Aprilana
Study Association ECU’92 Kriekenpitplein 18, Room 1.21 3584EC Utrecht T 030-2539680
www.ecu92.nl editorial2@ecu92.nl Printed by flyeralarm BV
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Letter from the Editor
Fellow rational beings, A new academic year is upon us. Our relaxed holiday brains will again have to become acquainted with exciting terms such as asymmetric information, indifference curves and interest rates. To ease your suffering I hope that the writing skills of the Editorial Committee will either awaken some interest in your studies, or inform you on some novel economic issue or practical USE information. Perhaps you are a confused first-year, wondering why this magazine in your hand seems to remind you of another more famous yet plain magazine, one which does not even contain study information or life-hacks (how one-dimensional!). Facing multi-million euro law-suites we decided to change our magazine’s title to make it seem less like our counterpart’s, hence it changed from The Ecunomist to The ECU’nomist. This drastic change has left its scars, but with a new name comes a new beginning. Some of the older students may have noticed a certain transformation which our magazine has undergone: two years ago it was the size of a pamphlet, with a font size which was toddler friendly. However, last year The ECU’nomist became professional. In any case it became professional looking. We have received many compliments about our front-covers and layout, but when asked if the complimenter had read the articles, most just nodded vaguely. We are grateful for the eye-candy remarks, but our magazine is not a child’s picture book. That is why this year we would like to further our magazine’s development in becoming qualitatively better. As a result, it is packed with valuable information about internships, exchanges and carriers. We also have an interview with a business analyst from Deloitte, an interview with a Game Developer, an article from our faculty Head Janneke Plantenga about the ten year existence of USE, a piece by the director of the TjallingKoopman’s institute, Charles van Marrewijk, about his imminent move to China, and of course interesting opinion pieces from our writers! With eight of our previous members having left the committee, it has come to four of the old guard to run a tight ship. To compensate this loss we have enlisted the services of our very own cartoonist Lukas Molkentin, who had already produced some fine freelance works last year. Together with our new member Annette Aprilana, I am sure that this year will build on the foundations that were set last year. To guarantee quality for the near future we have introduced strict criteria for our new members; no longer is it sufficient for them to only be able to read the alphabet and have a half-intelligent conversation with the Board to automatically gain access into the committee. They also have to be capable of stringing a few sentences together to form a coherent and interesting read, by writing a piece which was duly assessed by the committee. That is not to say that the older members are only proficient at reading the alphabet, check Dea’s experience with internships and Sofia’s article about media freedom for some entertaining reads. A special thanks to the external contributions from Janneke Plantenga, Charles van Marrewijk, Sander ten Hoedt, Kai Strohmeyer and Claudia van den Berg-Morelli. To aspiring writers, if you think you can hold your own with the pen and feel inspired to write an article, we always have an extra page or two for freelancers. In short: read, learn and enjoy! Sincerely,
Thomas Huigen 4
Letter from the Board
Dear all, Now that the academic year has officially started, the current ECU’92 board of 2013-2014 is also up and running. 450 new students started the first week of September with the introduction week. They came from all over the world: Groningen, Spain, Hungary and Maastricht, all with different backgrounds. However, they have one thing in common: an interest in economics. We, the ECU’92 Board, are happy that so many students have chosen this study in Utrecht. The first weeks have already passed, the first exams have been written, the first parties have been partied and the new committees have begun. However, a lot of new activities organized by the new committee members of ECU’92 will take place in the next few weeks. The second Relaxcie party, the B.O.M.B.s in the Nieuwe Dikke Dries, the Career Day and the Foreign Excursion. Did we mention that for the first time ECU’92 will organize a ski trip? Well, we are going to! Do not hesitate to join these activities. Besides, when you have nothing to do in the break during your lectures, drop by the ECU-room in the Spinoza building and drink a cup of coffee or tea with us! Kind regards,
Lisanne Hoekstra Chairman of the ECU’92 Board 2013-2014
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Meet the Editorial Committee! Thomas Huigen [Editor-in-Chief] Good day! I am a 24 year old 3rd year student hailing from the South of Africa. We South Africans are a confused bunch, as there as so many ethnic groups, the only things we all have in common are the love of sport, braaing kilos of meat (aka barbecuing) and drinking a beer or 5. A strange fact about South Africa is that only black African men are legally allowed to have more than one spouse, while white men of European descent and black African women are not. During play time I strum the guitar, watch and play sport, read and when I have money, travel, a past-time which I recently discovered while going to Russia during the past summer. Economics especially interests me when it focuses on why some countries are rich and others poor. Hence I’ll probably be doing a Research Master, after which I might end-up working at a research institute, or perhaps furthering my interest in journalism.
dea tusha
[secretary]
Pershendetje! I’m a 21-year-old Albanian student doing the research master Multidisciplinary Economics here at USE. That intricate word you probably had trouble reading is Albanian for “Hi”, which may already give a few hints about the language and the people that speak it (i.e. we’re complicated). Having just finished my Bachelor’s in Utrecht and having been part of the writing staff for the ECU’nomist for a couple of years, I feel like quite the veteran. My main fields of interest are International Economics and Macroeconomics. At the moment my future career prospects are focused on research, but a job at the Economist after my ECU’nomist experience wouldn’t be too bad either. I enjoy reading, cooking and the occasional addictive TV series. And like every other decent Albanian, I can never help being a little late…all the time.
Lukas Molkentin
[Cartoonist]
Hi! I’m 20 years old, from Switzerland, the country where every store closes at 7pm after having had a 2-hour lunch break. I’m currently in my 3rd year of Economics, but prefer drawing the cartoons for The ECU’nomist, hoping that one of these days I’ll snatch the job of Kal in The Economist. My hobbies include eating apples, knitting and Lego building...(YOLO) But I also have interests in Economics, such as Microeconomics and Innovation. I am terribly scared of being late. That’s what Swiss watches are for I guess. Where do I see myself in 10 years time? I hope to be working in the hospitality sector, whichever way possible.
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mithra madhavan
[layout editor]
I come from a land of complicated names: India! I’m 20 years old, a second year bachelor student at the USE, and of course a proud member of the Editorial Committee. I have lived in the Netherlands for the past 5 years, and before that spent about 3 years in China and the rest in my wonderful home country. My hobbies are dancing (I’m Indian, what do you expect?) and swimming. I recently discovered the Argentinian Tango, so it’s a new dance style that might be fun to pursue further. My idols include Jimmy Kimmel, Kelly Cutrone and Indira Gandhi. My favourite nationality, other than my fellow brown people, are Mexicans! Sombreros, Mexican food and some guitar- what’s not to like? The reason for my interest in Economics is because of my interest in International Relations and Political Science. Since Economics is such an essential part of these fields, I am hoping this will get me a ticket to the United Nations office (Geneva OR New York will do).
sofia monshouwer [PROMOTER] I’m from Spain with Dutch and Thai roots, I’m 19 years old and a second year student. My hobbies consist of a wide range of different activities from boxing to painting, from dancing to reading, but my favourite hobby now is planning and building my empire. I’m into business and earning money by buying and selling shares. My future job in 10 years will be being an entrepreneur and leading a big company (in what? I have no idea). I have a lot of issues with certain nationalities and I apologize for that. I can’t stand how Chineses “sink” too much, how Russians apologize when they bump into you (not), how Germans force you to learn their language even when they live abroad and how young Dutch society lives in a bubble where the only reason for the state of economies like Portugal and Spain is the laziness of their citizens. My favorite book is The Last Cato by Matilde Asensi. My favorite movie is The life of Pi and favorite series is Grey’s anatomy.
annette aprilana [SUB-EDITOR] Hello! I am an 18-year-old first year student from Indonesia. The country I come from is absolutely beautiful and full of diversity of all kinds. In my hometown, Jakarta, I could walk down a street where to my right I would have to look up at the towering skyscrapers, while on my left there are street vendors selling traditional snacks. Perhaps in ten year’s time during the early stages of my career, I will be working in this very city for the Provincial Government. There are many pressing issues of development in my country, which is why taking economics gives me the option to focus on development economics. I can use the knowledge I gain to contribute to my country’s growth by beginning from the capital city. If I’m not tackling the issues that the citizens of Jakarta have, then I’ll be happily burying my face in a novel like what I’ve always done since I was a child.
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China: The Place To Be By Charles van Marrewijk Charles van Marrewijk is a USE professor and the Director of the Tjalling Koopomans Institute. He writes about leaving Utrecht for Suzhou,China. to enjoy our unobstructed view to the bridges across the water right next to our garden. We were, in short, settling down and enjoying the good life. But then I was approached a little earlier this year by an English headhunting agency regarding a senior position at a university in ‌China. As before, I quickly glanced over the information provided. This time, however, I was more intrigued than usual. I started to realize when reading the attached booklet that this was a rather special university. Let me briefly summarize. Firstly, it is a new university. The first students arrived in 2006. Secondly, it is a rapidly growing university. There are now more than 10,000 students and there should be about 15,000 students in 2015. Thirdly, it is an international university. The founding universities are renowned institutes, namely Xi’an Jiaotong University (one of the best universities in China) and Liverpool University (one of the best universities in the UK). For lack of imagination, the new university is therefore called Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, XJTLU for short. After the first undergraduate year all courses are taught in English by an international staff. Fourthly, it is a unique university. It is the only university in China with both Chinese accreditation and English accreditation. Students who graduate therefore get two degrees: one from China and one from the UK. Finally, it is an ambitious university. Enormous funds are spent by the founding universities, local governments, and other authorities to construct high quality buildings, classrooms, and other equipment and to attract the best international staff in order to achieve its objective of becoming a research-led international university in China.
A lways expect the unexpected. My life was cruising along nicely. At the professional level, I enjoyed my new job at Utrecht
University School of Economics (since 2008) as professor of international macroeconomics and director of the Tjalling Charles Koopmans Institute. Student numbers have been rising rapidly (particularly since 2008). Our multidisciplinary economics research profile has been streamlined and the quality of our research output has been increasing and is recognized and appreciated internationally. Our research evaluation scored an average of 4.3 on a 5 point scale and the most recent QS international ranking placed our department at 151-200 globally in the area of economics & econometrics: to the global top 200 within 10 years, an achievement to be proud of. At the personal level, I got married to Mira, a lovely Filipina, in 2009. We moved from Capelle aan den IJssel to Amersfoort the next year, where she gave birth to our son Marco on May 20th 2011. He certainly brought life to the family, which we enjoy every day. It took a little while to finish the newly constructed house, but earlier this year we were finally able to complete the picture when our gardener created a wonderful surrounding
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XJTLU is part of the Higher Education District of Suzhou Industrial Park, jointly set up with Singapore, in the city of Suzhou. The map clarifies its location. Suzhou (10.5 million inhabitants) is located in Jiangsu province (80 million inhabitants), about 100 km west of Shanghai. It is about 11 hours flying to Amsterdam and 3 hours to Manila. Suzhou is more than 2500 years old and renowned for its beautiful gardens, part of the UN World Heritage. All of the above made me curious and I indicated to XJTLU that perhaps a part time position might be attractive both from their point of view and mine. By chance, I was invited as one of the speakers at an international conference in Shanghai not long after the agency contacted me. I informed XJTLU that I would be “in the neighborhood� and could drop by for a one-day visit. This happened in June. I had a long talk (two hours) with Youmin Xi, the Executive President of the university, who impressed me with his knowledge of universities and academic systems around the world, his excellent English, and his drive of making XJTLU one of the leading universities in China. I also talked to Sarah Dixon, dean of the International Business School Suzhou, and various international staff members, all with PhD degrees from
excellent universities, mainly in the UK. I looked at the new buildings and the plans for further development. The north campus is complete, the south campus will be developed in 2013-2018. In short, I was impressed. By the time my plane landed in Amsterdam I had a concrete (rather attractive) offer in my mailbox. All this time and during the negotiations they made it clear to me how much they wanted me to be part of the XJTLU developments. I talked it over with my wife and we went back together for a one-week visit in August to see what it would be like to actually live in Suzhou as a family. The outcome indicates what we found: we decided to go for a big change in our current comfortable life in order to be part of the bustling developments in China. It is hard to say goodbye to Utrecht, however, so I will maintain a part time position at USE. This will make it easier to collaborate together on joint projects, both regarding education and research. We do not know yet whether China is the place to be. But we will find out soon.
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Socialising via Social Media By Annette Aprilana
Iwitht wassoanmanyabsolute pleasure to meet up people during the first
week of orientation. There were just too many people whose names I can’t all remember at once. There were people whom I’ve just met fir the first time, as well as those I’ve known through various social media sites, most predictably, Facebook. Social media - what do these two words actually mean? According to three online dictionaries I looked up, social media is an online means of communication with the use of electronic devices that allow people to “socialise”. Still, people mostly associate it with that time-consuming entity called Facebook. Prior to the University’s official starting date, there were a few of us who “knew of each other” as a result of being in the same Facebook Group, groups along the lines of “Internationals Meet and Greet”, or “First Year Economics and Business Economics Class of 2016”. In these groups, some of us took notice of the other students coming from the same country and contacted them; others simply started up a spontaneous conversation because they wanted to get to know a new international student. Whatever the case, these interactions between people are all thanks to, in this case, Facebook, allowing us to be aware of each other’s presence. As soon as we see the person in real life during an orientation week, we feel more at ease and less awkward amongst so many strangers, because it is a comfort to finally meet the familiar faces we’ve only seen through pictures. However, it is not always the case that social media contains a positive aspect in life. Once, I went to a restaurant in Jakarta, Indonesia, and I saw a family with two teenage children sitting together at the dinner table. All four of them were holding their smart phones and burying their heads in whatever it was that was so important on their screens that they couldn’t look up for one second to have a proper conversation with each other.
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Dinners are meant to be a time where we gather and chat to physically present people, face to face. This family was interacting in a strange way, perhaps they were communicating to one another via their smart phones, who knows? There’s an Indonesian saying that goes like this: we get closer to those who are far away from us, but further away to those who are close to us. Maybe subconsciously we know that we are getting more addicted to the world of social media, even though we stubbornly deny it. However, we can’t help but still involve ourselves with these networks.
We have come to an era where social interaction is different from what was previously the common norm. It is difficult to judge as either better or worse, because as we’ve seen from the two examples above, social media has both its pros and cons. What we must keep in mind, though, is the balance we need to ensure between placing ourselves in the online world and allowing ourselves a normal life. With that said, let us not be the people that need to put an extreme amount of effort to stay away from social networks in order to fulfill our duties. Rather, make use and take advantage of the social media that is available to us,
Continue reading to see what some students from USE have to say about the impact of social media on their lives!
We asked some USE students whether Facebook had affected their social interactions. Here’s what they said: despina doneva “Being an international student for the past three years I’ve started to appreciate the value of social media more. Through virtual platforms such as Facebook and Twitter I have been able to stay up to date with major events in the lives of my friends and relatives although we are living in different countries, different continents, and time zones. Furthermore, these sites give me the possibility to stay informed about social events in the communities which I am of part in the different places of the world.”
TOM KOOLS “I believe Facebook does affect one’s social life because now we are more aware of what other people are doing, especially when you don’t see those people for a long time. However it seems that nowadays sharing things on social networks is always about broadcasting your good experiences and your nice feelings and I think that gives a bit of a biased image of our generation, which can affect people negatively.” Sher Ali Khan Hoti “Definitely it has! On Facebook we usually see ourselves through the eyes of others. We post our best pictures, statuses and quotes. We present the best versions of ourselves. Some people leave their profile relatively empty for some reason, resulting in them becoming victimized of being unsocial, “having no life” and being losers. It makes one judgmental and one starts judging by the amount of likes someone gets on a picture, the number of times someone has been wished a happy birthday and the number of friends they have. It has changed the way we communicate. We have watched emoticons replace words as a tool of expressing feelings. We value frequent conversation over meaningful conversation now. It affects our confidence levels of communicating in person, so now we’re the most confident person behind a laptop. Personally I’ve made a big transition from a focus on parents to a focus on my peers. Peers become increasingly important and painting one’s fancy image is meant to impress them.” 11
DELOITTE EXPLORED By Thomas Huigen Accounting, I had heard of the word before. It was something to do with adding and subtracting things, only I couldn’t be sure after the many times it had induced desk-sleeping while studying. An opportunity arose to meet an employee from one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, Deloitte, to better understand what people do there. On September 16, I interviewed the USE alumnus AnneMarieke Tjabbes, a 25 year-old Business Analyst in the Transaction Services at Deloitte. The interview took place at the Crystal Tower in Amsterdam, a lavishly decorated skyscraper. The employees were dressed impeccably, making my sneakers, jeans and jersey-look seem out of place. We settled for a coffee and started chatting. Q: Could you tell us a bit about your background? A: I was born in Haren, a small town near Groningen. When I was 18 I went to study Economics at Utrecht, and after that, I did a one year International Economics Master, choosing the Development track. After completing the Master I got a job at a small private asset management company called Keijser Capital. I learned a lot, but I didn’t feel like the work challenged me. So when someone I knew who worked at Deloitte told me about the work there (in the Financial Advisory Services department), it sounded like the right kind of job for me. So that’s how I ended up here. Q: There seems to be little connection between your Master degree specialising in Development and working at a company like Deloitte, how does that work? A: Working at the FAS (Financial Advisory Services) department, a study in finance would be better for my job. So I had some lack of knowledge, but I learned a lot on the job, and there were small courses which I could take which helped. During the year we also had some extra training for the new Business Analysts, and some self-study of course. Q: Back to your study; you must have had another idea for a job when you chose your Master? A: In my master, I chose the courses which I thought would suit me, and that’s why I chose the Development track. I advise students to think ahead of what they want to do! Go visit Inhousedays and case workshops, so students can take a look at what they might want to do later. While I was working at Keijser Capital I started to see and think more about what kind of work would suit me. I realised I wanted to learn about business financials, and
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that’s what you really get to learn at Deloitte. You have to understand how a business works. Q: Were there subjects from your Bachelor or Master which became very useful for your current work? A: The accounting and corporate finance courses were useful during my Bachelor. In my Master I mostly had macroeconomic and development economics courses which didn’t really have a link with my current work. Q: Were you a good student? A: I got a 7 average for my bachelor without much difficulty. Although I did go to the lectures and tutorials because then studying is much easier. Anything you didn’t understand you could ask at the tutorials, and then you were okay for the exams. I would advise USE students to work on their grades because they’re becoming more important, especially maths, econometrics and the advanced courses. Q: People often say that obtaining a Bachelor or a Master is more of a signal to employers that one is intellectually capable, while most useful knowledge is obtained from on-the-job training; is this so? A: I think you learn a lot during your Bachelor and Master, it’s just that you’re learning in a different way, it’s more theoretical while here it’s more applied knowledge. What I learn here I’ll use directly, while during your studies you learn something which doesn’t seem to have any direct application. Still, studies definitely help develop your analytical skills. Q: Were you part of any committees or did you do any internships during your studies?
A: I was part of the study-trip committee. We went to St. Petersburg which was a lot of fun. I did an internship for 2 and a half months at ABN AMRO during my third year, at the private banking department. Q: What was the transition like between being a student and working life? A: Well you have to get up every morning at a certain time, you can’t just snooze and bunk work. You also have to be able to focus the whole day, and you have less free time. Student life is fun, but now I have money to travel to where I want to, and there’s no more worrying about getting to the 23rd of the month when the study financing pays out! Q: Could you describe a typical working day at Deloitte? A: That’s a question I get a lot from students, but the thing is that there is no typical working day for someone at transaction services at Deloitte. Our department is mostly focused on the financial due diligence of a company: looking at balance sheets and income statements. Our job is mostly about fully understanding the business in a short period of time. We’re trying to find the ‘normal’ level of
the operational EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation), to give insight into the normal business operations. Our job deals with highly sensitive business information, so it’s usually rather confidential. I’d say expect the unexpected at Deloitte. Sometimes you get a call in the late afternoon that you have to fly to another country the next morning, it’s really fun. Q: So do your financial due diligence reports deal with ‘cooking the books’? A: No, because the financial due diligence we perform is mergers & acquisition related. Our client wants to know the financial insights of the target company and we provide them. Q: What makes one successful at a company like Deloitte? A: You have to be eager, a team-player,
have good-analytical skills as well as being flexible because each project is different. But that makes it interesting because you have to think on your feet. Q: So what are your goals and ambitions at Deloitte? A: For the next 5-10 years I’d like to stay at Deloitte, because here I can become an expert in a specific field. I have many colleagues who motivate me and want to help me grow. I think that in this working environment all your colleagues are really motivated, and everyone has a positive vibe. Everyone wants to make the best out of it because sometimes you have to work long hours, but with motivated colleagues it makes it easier. Q: How many hours are ‘long hours’? A: (Annemarieke chuckles). It really depends, sometimes I go home at 11pm, but I also have weeks where I go home
at 4pm. What I really like is that we have a policy called “time for time”: when I work overtime I receive these hours back in holiday hours, so we have a lot of holidays which is really great. When I’m working until 11 at night I know there’s a payoff. The last holiday I took lasted 4 weeks consecutively, and some colleagues had 5-6 weeks. Sometimes I work on a Friday night or a Saturday, but rarely. Q: I remember an accountant from KPMG during my first year who came to spread the word of accounting, and someone asked him what car he drove. Seeing as this is a typical USE question, what car do you drive? A: I don’t have one. I live and work in Amsterdam, so I go everywhere by bicycle and I can enjoy the fresh air of the city.
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Making it Big in the Gaming Industry an Interview with Abbey Games Inewn thecompany centre of Utrecht, a promising named Abbey Games is
venturing into the expanding world of games. Having an initial breakthrough with their game Reus, Abbey Games is ready to jump to the next level in the thriving games industry. Gaming has been the fastest growing entertainment industry for many years now, worth over US$80 billion worldwide in 2013, according to Reuters. Budgets for games have been steadily increasing, culminating with the recently released Grand Theft Auto 5. To put things into perspective, at US$ 137 million, the budget for GTAV eclipses that of many Hollywood blockbusters. However not all game developers have such a massive amount of capital available. The spectrum of businesses ranges from the smallest one man startups to the largest companies with millions at their disposal, and the games they make vary vastly in creativity and design. One thing remains constant, no matter how simple or complicated, in order to be successful a game must be fun to play and capture its audience. So how does Abbey Games aim to get a bigger slice of this appetizing pie? In comes Manuel Kerssemakers from Abbey Games. He has agreed to an interview in their new Neude office at the Dutch Game Garden in the centre of Utrecht. Walking up to the second floor he points towards a small 2x5 cubicle. This is where Abbey games started in 2012: four students studying computer science decided to make a game together. They ended up with Reus, a popular game available on Valve’s online retail network, Steam. “We now have a bigger office” says a grinning Kerssemakers, who is in his mid-twenties, and leads the way to his office. Manuel is one of the four co-founders of Abbey Games. Due to the success of Reus, which has been purchased some 250,000 times on steam, they have decided to expand and include another six people, bringing the total up to ten
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By Sander ten Hoedt employees. They currently have plans to make a new game and are brainstorming ideas to ensure their next release is just as successful as Reus. We sit down around what appears to be the meeting table. The new office is much bigger, and the rest of the team is enthusiastically hanging up one of their new Reus posters on the wall before getting to the real work of programming. Q: How did you get the idea for Reus? A: It all started with two people, Adriaan and Bas who decided to embark on this project of making a game. Soon thereafter two more people joined, including me. During this process the idea for Reus was first proposed. Q: How did you finance Reus? Were the costs significant? A: It actually wasn’t that much. We decided to set the company up as a partnership initially, and everyone provided €3000 making the total budget for Reus about €12000. In the end the biggest costs were the people, who are the most important to make a good game. Q: Many companies are looking towards micro-transactions as the way forward in terms of business models. Micro-transactions are characterized by small payments made by the player inside the game environment in order to ‘unlock’ cosmetic content that doesn’t directly influence gameplay. Is Abbey Games looking into micro-transactions in their next title? A: No, we are not looking towards microtransactions in our next releases, even though we have thought of the possibility. We have always found the single time payment a very charming system. Abbey Games likes to make high quality games which have depth and are challenging to the player. Some free-to-play games that include micro-transactions are focused
on making money, and one of the easiest ways to do that is to allow the player to pay to complete a level or offer other unfair advantages that players who haven’t paid don’t get. We really don’t like that and would rather focus on game design using the ‘all you can eat’ model we currently use. Q: Reus is a game that you buy once to get all content, while some of the most successful games on the market today like League of Legends are all about micro-transactions. Do you feel like buying the game once is an easier way for independent developers to monetize their games? A: Although micro-transactions haven’t penetrated the PC games market as much as they have the App and mobile markets, you still see it’s a very viable business model. Some independent developers have successfully integrated microtransactions into their games, but it’s a lot harder to get high volumes of players since we usually have small marketing budgets. So I think the ‘all you can eat’ model is generally a safer choice for these developers. Q: Is an online distribution system like Steam helpful with regards to selling independent games? A: Yes, it’s one of the reasons why Reus has become so successful. Q: Is the Dutch business climate a good place for new companies like yours? A: I think so, the Dutch Game Garden here in Utrecht not only gives us office space, but also free services and guidance with things like laws about hiring employees. We can also benefit from the experiences and expertise of many other new gaming companies in the building. (An interesting application of the spillover effect!)
Freedom to Grow “F
reedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion all have a double aspect - freedom of thought and freedom of action”- Frank Murphy-. Through decades, there has been a constant fight to materialize freedom of speech, which is still persistent in most developing countries. In these countries, the government has the ownership of media freedom. This article considers the question of whether a correlation between freedom of speech, media freedom and economic growth exists. First of all, a free media is shown to promote economic development by solving principal agent problems through the free flow of information. This is done by improving public policy implementation, increasing government accountability, promoting transparency, as well as by expanding citizens’ political consciousness. Through these actions, the free media sector therefore encourages economic growth and development. One of the main reasons for this behavior is that, without a complete oversight of the market and country, consumers/investors would feel insecure and lack trust in the transactions that they make. Moreover, since it is natural for a rational human being to be risk-averse, media that is not free will potentially lead to under-consumption and under-investments.
By Sofia Monshouwer dents during his previous reign as Prime Minister. This led to public distress. They started to become more rebellious and began to post messages talking negatively about the Government on online social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Last August, the incumbent party announced that any person with critical comments or opinions about the Government would be sent to jail. This example shows that media freedom has been denied and most national newspapers are being censored. Foreign investors will unfortunately decrease in number due to their awareness of this new situation. In order to tackle this issue on lack of media freedom, the existence of the Global Free Freedom index has become very useful as it provides a way to measure media freedom. It reflects the degree of freedom that journalists, news organizations, and citizens enjoy in each country, as well as the efforts made by the authorities to respect and ensure respect for this freedom. In a study based on media ownership and economic growth, a World Bank study ‘surprisingly’ showed how “government ownership of media is higher in countries that are poorer...”. These observations and findings reinforced the argument favoring the strong correlation between a free flow of information and the growth
of investments as revealed in several other studies. Developing countries need foreign investments to catch up technologically with the rest of the world. In this case, technology diffusion plays a central role in the process of economic development. Look for example at the graphs below. They show the level of freedom by nations. There are two extreme situations with Western Europe (no media restrictions) on one end, and Middle East and North Africa (no freedom) on the other end. Not to forget that there is of course also a middle-ground situation in Asia Pacific. Now suppose an investor wants to build a company, which location would he choose? Would he pick a Middle Eastern country where there are continuously social political disturbances and no media freedom? Or would he perhaps choose a country in Asia, where the flow of information is more feasible? With these scenarios taken into consideration, it can be said that Media Freedom promotes socio-political stability by urging the government to act in the interests of the people. It also promotes socio-political stability that provides a favorable business climate, which in turn promotes investment.
A good example of the current topic of discussion is the monarchic democratic country, Thailand, also known by its previous name, Siam. The Royal family has always been extremely protected, in the sense that if anyone publically expresses their negative opinions about them, they would be sent to jail. But lately, freedom of speech is not only violated when it comes to mentioning the monarchy, but it also applies to talks of the government. When the current Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra won the elections, a lot of government distortions within the party and the opposition were triggered. She is the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, a convicted international criminal responsible for the death of more than 100 dissi-
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INTERNSHIPPING By Dea Tusha
T here comes a point in everyone’s life where having the whole summer holidays
to yourself becomes a luxury that you simply cannot afford. We usually refer to this fundamentally defining moment with the very understated term “growing up”, which fails to capture the whole emotional trajectory students have to go through to come to terms with this fact. But grow up we must, and the next natural question we are faced with is just as important: So, what should you do? Being a student already limits the amount of time you can invest in a proper job, thus making part-time or summer jobs and internships the only really feasible alternatives. And although a job may seem more attractive simply because it usually pays better, students are always striving to find internship possibilities. So what is the fascination with usually unpaid work that in most cases will involve, but hopefully not be limited to menial tasks such as photocopying and filing? Firstly, it is the perfect epitome of a serious engagement during study years. Finding a good internship is usually an awe-inspiring event among peers, because it shows an achievement outside the academic sphere. If you are lucky enough to find something within your field of interest and expertise, an internship can be a helpful tool to get a practical view on many theoretical issues you have studied. After all, it is not easy to keep “real life” in mind with all the simplifying assumptions we are used to considering in most classes. Furthermore, your future employer will also appreciate your gained practical experience, so adding internships to your CV never hurts. And ultimately, if what you are doing really inspires you, the fact that you are not getting paid may not even be an issue, because the satisfaction you get from your own tangible achievements is most fulfilling. Thus, it is not surprising that demand for internships is so high, making it ever-harder to find one. There are however some starting points for serious internship hunting. As a first step, consider visiting and thoroughly browsing USE’s webpage on the matter. Frequent updates of internship offers make the search easier and more relevant. For those
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with greater patience, dedication and clear focus, visiting the websites of the companies or institutions themselves always ensures more specific up-to-date information. And as usual the best results are often yielded through information you receive from your connections (one should never underestimate the importance of meticulously building a network through the years). What you may end up with will eventually be the outcome of your skills, your persistence and certainly, a bit of luck. What you may expect from your internship and what it might require of you will vary a great deal, depending on the type of internship, the time you need to invest in it etc. My first experience as an intern was in the summer between the second and third year of my Bachelor’s studies. I had the chance to “work” at the Central Bank in Albania for a month and then went on to a commercial bank for another couple of weeks. The two experiences could not have been more different: while at the former I was mainly reading papers and reports on monetary policy (a downgrade from the level of abstraction in our studies, but quite theoretical nonetheless), in the latter a hands-on approach was required. I was running around from one department to another and helping with whatever was necessary (ranging from making copies to working with the files of big corporate clients). The clear dichotomy of that summer was helpful in and of itself. Besides learning how things really work in a central bank (which is fascinating) and how much goes on in a commercial bank on any random day, I just yearned for something that could combine the research work with tangible end-results.
A year later, I think I may have found just that. At the moment, I am part of a group of USE students led by Professor Stephanie Rosenkranz, engaging in a very interesting project. If you’ve never heard of it before, allow me to introduce you to FunkyJunk Recycled, a fun-named non-governmental organisation with a noble and sustainable goal: turning non-biodegradable plastic bag waste that currently suffocates the life out of thirdworld cities into colourful pieces of art. The organization’s production-base at the moment is situated in Cambodia, but it plans to expand to other countries as well. The idea behind it is simple, but brilliant: FunkyJunk employs locals to work on turning plastic bag waste that increasingly covers the countryside to everyday useful items, such as bags, purses and cushions, which are later sold. In this way, not only do they get rid of hazardous pollution in the country by creating sustainable products, but they also create jobs and income opportunities for the locals. Already counting on voluntary contributions of design and quality management expertise, the organization still needs some help to come up with feasible options for economic sustainability and further expansion. The group of students serving as interns will thus be researching and coming up with an implementable business plan and strategy. Although this is not my first internship, and we are still in our first steps, I am enthralled by the idea of giving a tangible contribution to an overall good cause. I wholeheartedly believe that the recipe for the perfect internship is to find something that truly inspires you. If you can find that, everything else should fall right into place.
A Decade of USE By Janneke Plantenga Prof. Dr. Janneke Plantenga is the Head of the Utrecht School of Economics.
I10thn September 2013 USE celebrated her anniversary. Over these 10 years,
USE has grown into a fully-fledged and mature economics department, with 1300 students, of whom more than 400 are first-year students. And with approximately 30% non –Dutch students, covering 50 nationalities, it is one of the most international studies as well. USE didn’t come out of thin air. Starting a new faculty is never an easy process and our history is a history of a few determined men, combined with sheer luck and a healthy bit of bluff. On the basis of these ingredients, the decision was made in the year 2000 to found a new economics faculty in Utrecht, more than 360 years after the start of Utrecht University. Of course, USE had to overcome the usual start-up problems regarding finance. Educational facilities and housing matters also had to be arranged. In fact, there have been times in which we housed as many mice as men! We also had to deal with the redesigning of Utrecht University in seven broad faculties as well as the introduction of the bachelor-master structure. Yet, despite all the changes and despite all the debates, the Utrecht University School of Economics was formally established on the 1st of January 2003 as a department of the faculty of Law, Economics and Governance.
Growth and profile Partly because of the fact that Utrecht was a latecomer in the economics discipline, it was clear from the very outset that Utrecht could not just copy or duplicate existing economics faculties. Rather, we had to distinguish ourselves by introducing a specific Utrecht approach. And from the very beginning this specific Utrecht approach was labelled as multidisciplinary economics. We start off from the economic discipline, but supplement this with knowledge from related disciplines. We are convinced that economic problems are better understood when the borders of the economics discipline are crossed. This has not been an easy journey, however.
tidisciplinary economics meant exporting economic knowledge to other disciplines (which others claimed had nothing to do with multidisciplinarity but rather with economic imperialism) or it meant importing insights from other fields of studies (which others claimed was simply watering down the true nature of the economics discipline and only advocated by people who did not understand maths). Over time, during this decade of USE, this debate has changed; nowadays there is less debate on the what and more focus on the why. Why do we teach maths in the first year for example? And why - as the only economics faculty in the Netherlands - do we not differentiate between economics and business economics in the bachelor phase? And why do we think multidisciplinary economics is important both in our educational curriculum and in our research? The answer boils down to this. Economics is about prosperity and welfare, and about the proper organisation of society. We firmly believe that economists should be able to contribute to the society we live in today. This requires that we as economists should broaden our analysis and have a more holistic view of the world around us. A full understanding of where we are today, how we got here and what the most likely developments are, will help us to make well-founded choices, and will enable us to discuss economic problems in a constructive manner. Economics in Utrecht is therefore not only about figures. People who want to con-
tribute to tackling economic problems should see and understand more than just models and figures. So we opted for multidisciplinary economics because we want to offer a kind of economics ‘plus’, which includes real world perspectives.
About the Future With 1300 students, USE seems to be approaching its ideal size. We do not intend to grow much bigger, as we cherish our relatively small scale and personal approach. But we are not yet finished. Our objective for the next ten years is to put USE firmly on the international map and create more publicity. We also have to become more ambitious in order to ensure an even higher place in all the rankings – a place in the top 3 bachelor programmes in 2016 is our goal. Again this will not be easy. We are the newest economics department in the Netherlands, there is less awareness of us and we cannot boast a glorious past as other faculties can. But the big advantage is that we can do things differently, walk new avenues more easily as well as anticipate and sympathise with changing student demands more easily. Setting up a new economics department in the Netherlands has been an extremely interesting and rewarding experience. I would like to thank every member of the academic and support staff for his or her contribution in making USE what it is today. Together with our students, we will make USE even better: an economics faculty/department that cannot be missed in the world of today!
Especially in the early days, there were fierce debates about the true nature of multidisciplinary economics. Either mul-
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Come to Spain if You Can Do Without Rain By Kai Strohmeyer Kai Strohmeyer is a USE alumnus who is currently studying his Masters in Economic Analysis at the Charles III University of Madrid. He writes about his experiences there.
A fter my Bachelor studies at USE, I got the travel bug. Spain became my
next destination, where I began my Master studies in Economic Analysis in September of this year. Now I study at the Charles III University of Madrid (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) and I would like to share some first-hand knowledge with you. As one of the partners of Utrecht University, this university could be the destination of your semester abroad. I never had any Erasmus experience during my own Bachelor studies, so consider this article complementary to the information you can get from USE and senior students. The School of Social Sciences and Law is located in Getafe, and with it the Economics Department. Getafe is a town of about 170,000 people to the south of Madrid. To satisfy the ranking-mania people are obsessed with nowadays, the Economics Department is ranked 2nd in Spain, 9th in the European Union and 52nd worldwide, according to some studies from the early to mid-2000s. A more recent ranking by Tilburg University shows that its contribution in research can be compared to that of the University of Rotterdam—but this is nothing for Bachelor students to worry about; for you, all that should count is the quality of teaching and the course selection. Moreover, as an Erasmus student, you
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should make sure that the place you choose is an exciting and interesting one for you, because such an exchange is not only about the studies. First, let’s look at the courses. The best thing to do is of course to check the department’s website and see for yourself which courses would be offered at the time of your stay abroad. In summary, I would say that the spectrum of undergraduate courses is as wide as it is in Utrecht—from Labour Economics to International Trade. Also for the minor people among you, it shouldn’t be a problem to find replacement courses for the ones you might miss. However, there are also opportunities to choose some courses not taught at USE. This is mostly true for the mathemaniacs among you, for whom the undergraduate course in Game Theory might be an attractive choice. Once you are here, you might also want to take advantage of the fact that the Economics Department is considered among the world‘s best in Econometrics. This is reflected in a considerable range of undergraduate courses in this area from which to choose. For those of you who are thinking about a research master, I can recommend taking undergrad courses of this kind in order to make sure that you are really fond of quantitative approaches and theoretic and abstract thinking. But before my audience becomes marginal, back to the mainstream:
Once you have chosen your courses, I believe that the system can pretty much be compared to what you are used to in Utrecht: a mix of lectures and tutorials, with exams at the end of the period. Second, what is life like in Getafe? In my own opinion, Getafe is by far not as pretty and gezellig as Utrecht is. What makes it attractive to live here is the proximity to the campus, and the proximity to Madrid, the latter even more so for Bachelor students, and probably most for Erasmus students; that is, those people with an enviable work-night balance. Let’s skip the nightlife in Getafe, I don’t want to elaborate on two disappointing tries to find a fun place to go out here. Dinner parties or pre-drinks with classmates are what I can recommend to do in this place. No worries though, Madrid is just a stone’s throw away; by that I mean a 20-minute trip by train to the very centre (Puerto del Sol), a €3.50 return ticket in monetary terms. Compare this to the €14.00 return ticket for the 29-minute train trip to Amsterdam, and we can also see a firsthand example of lower prices compared to the Netherlands. Another one: I share a flat with two classmates. We have a kitchen with a dining table, two bathrooms and a living room, for less than €300 per person—get ready for the value-for-money ratio of housing to skyrocket!
For the time between university and night, there are numerous possibilities to organize your free time. There are outdoor facilities for football and tennis near the campus (about €35 per semester), an on-campus gym as well as a swimming pool very close by (about €80 alone, and about €120 combined, both allowing you to use the outdoor facilities as well). There is also an ESN on campus which not only can be a place for meeting people and participating in trips and other events, but which might also help you out with things you have to organize regarding your stay. You may really need
the help of ESN here, because if you don’t know Spanish yourself, you will need a companion for administrative issues who does. I hope that no former Erasmus student feels offended that I extensively used the prejudice of going on a party exchange above, in which case I apologize. I also apologize to bursting the bubble for those who have planned an Ibiza-like life; you will face more work than you can expect from this article. Do not rely on me; I am no ex-Erasmus, I’m only prejudiced by those I know.
In any case, be it Madrid or not, I especially recommend the Dutch students to collect experience abroad. For sure, it will be enriching, in one way or another, but always approach it with an open mind. If Madrid is your destination, I will be happy to help out if you have further questions. Hasta pronto!
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The New York of Asia By Claudia van den Berg-Morelli Claudia van den Berg-Morelli is a third year economics student who is currently on a semester exchange in Hong Kong.
A fter a 22 hour journey, some jet lag and 3 hours of sleep on a bench in Hanoi
(courtesy of flying with Vietnam Airlines), the skyline of Hong Kong rose in front of me as we left the airport. With the taxi trunk open and the suitcases tied with a rope, we crossed the city and finally got to what has now become my new home: the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The University, with over 11,000 students, is surrounded by nature and spread over a hillside. My dorm is located on the very top, a 20 minute walk from the subway station. Except for this minor inconvenience, the University is well equipped with various libraries, canteens, gyms, a swimming pool, and even its own small supermarket (filled with exotic Chinese products). The city has a long and intricate history, and is still nowadays a special administrative region of China, meaning that it maintains a certain degree of autonomy. With its colonial past, Hong Kong can be considered more “emancipated” than the Mainland, but talking to local students
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it has become obvious that they are still not happy with today’s political situation. Moreover, many do not identify themselves as ‘Chinese’, and prefer to be called ‘Hong Kongers’. The first week of orientation was the perfect opportunity to get to know people and to start exploring the incredibly big campus. Exchange students come from all over the world, and surprisingly there is also a very large group of students from mainland China. This is a clear indication of how popular Hong Kong has become in Asia, and it is seen as the place for opportunities, especially in the business and finance sectors. The city is in fact often referred to as ‘Asia’s world city’ or ‘The New York of Asia’. After an all-exchange orientation week, the campus was filled with local students for the beginning of classes. All of a sudden it hit us: we were lost Westerners in a sea of Asians. At the end of the first week, we started to notice that there was always someone in the (24/7) library, even at 3 in the morning. It was never extremely full,
but also never completely empty. A local student explained to me that students here are graded on a curve, meaning that grades are given on the basis of relative performance. This enhances competitiveness among students, which is later translated in the working environment. This was a good wake-up call for us exchange students not to stay behind. I am currently taking two economics courses (Economy of China and Development Economics), one sociology course (Social problems and Issues in Contemporary China) and two Cantonese language courses. There are no periods like in Utrecht but rather semesters, however the format is still very similar to Utrecht, with lectures and occasional tutorials. The main difference is that some lectures can be up to 3 hours long (3 sessions of 45 minutes each), which are extremely exhausting. However, lecturers are very competent and speak good English. We have midterms, group projects, term papers, and end-terms, just like back at home. I believe the amount of studying is not more or less than in Utrecht; however the Hong Kongers in general do
grow up in a more competitive environment, as they think that there will always be someone better at their job, so they want to work hard. Also, there are some mainland Chinese full-time students, and they have even more pressure to do well (it is very hard for the Chinese to get Visas to Hong Kong). As for the exchange students, we simply have to find the right balance between partying, traveling, and studying. On partying there is a real difference between the student life in Utrecht and in Hong Kong. The local students’ idea of fun are board-games and drinking juice. There are dorm orientation events and the locals get very excited about these games: water fights, ball games, chants, etcetera. During these activities they are all having a blast and no one is necessarily thinking about studying. There is a small bar on campus, which is only open until 11pm, but the local students rarely frequent it. When we go to party in ‘Lan Kwai Fong’ (the main party centre) there are mostly Westerners and wealthy Hong Kongers, who are usually older. I haven’t heard of any student from our university who goes to this place. A month has passed since my arrival, and I must confess I am in love with this city. The stereotypical image of Victoria Harbour and the skyline is, of course breathtaking, but there is much more to it. There are lovely isolated beaches, hikes
and walks on more than 200 islands, local markets with wonderful authentic (and cheap) food and much more. I believe the aim of an exchange goes beyond that of being a simple tourist. It obviously includes sightseeing and traveling, but most importantly it means experiencing and learning about the people and their culture. It means adapting, confronting and accepting. Unfortunately it is not very easy to mix with the locals, and the language barrier is much greater than I expected. I am learning some (basic) Cantonese but somehow locals do not make the effort of understanding my (probably terrible) foreign accent, and often it is extremely difficult to communicate. Every now and then, one may encounter locals who are willing to help and who are fascinated by the opportunity to speak with a European. This situation is more common among students on campus, who can sometimes be extremely curious to get to know you and your roots. However, “The Netherlands” is largely unheard of, as are many other European countries. Another big challenge of this exchange is sharing a 15m2 (or less) room with a local student in a hostel (dormitory). This is not common in Europe, and it requires some flexibility, but I must admit it is better than I expected. It is a chance to get to know local students, and in the end each student has his/her own life so you are not spending every minute with your
roommate. However, living in a hostel is a very different lifestyle: there are visiting hours for guests, there is no alcohol allowed in the rooms, and the whole campus is ‘smoke-free’, both indoors and outdoors. The rules can be bent to some extent, but it depends a lot on the hostel that you are assigned to. Some hostels are mixed, some are only male or only female. The unisex ones are extremely strict, while the mixed ones are divided by floors (for example floors 1-3 are only for male students and 4-6 only for female ones). But in my hostel there are always guys walking around the female floors, even in the evening, while in other hostels opposite sex people have to sign in the reception and sign out before the end of visiting hours (mostly between 9 and 11pm). I am learning about the Chinese economy and culture, meeting new people (both foreign and local) and even having to spend a night locked in my room due to typhoon Usagi, which luckily decided to change its path at the last minute to spare Hong Kong. My quiet gezellige Utrecht home seems far away, yet the experiences I’ve already encountered make an exchange worth the culture shock. So organise the paperwork, otherwise you’ll be stuck with rain, wind and bicycles for a while.
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Lifehacks
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Students
Before grocery-shopping take a picture of your fridge on your phone, you’ll never struggle to remember what you need to buy.
If you want to buy the cheapest airline tickets online, use your browser’s incognito mode. Prices go up if you visit a site multiple times. Want to download a YouTube video as an mp3? Add “listento” after the “ www.” in the URL. When boiling water starts foaming over, pour in some olive oil. Just a bit. It’ll make the overflowing stop. Cycling in the rain can be hell. If you have a medium sizedumbrella and rain jacket, place the umbrella horizontally When heating leftovers, on your steering-wheel with your weak hand while cycling. clear a circle in the middle, Only your face will get wet as your legs are protected by the it will heat up the food umbrella, and your torso by the rain jacket. much more evenly.
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The Student Interest Body (StIB) is one body where all the different student representative organs of the Utrecht University School of Economics (USE) are united. The goal of StIB is to represent all the students of USE and to make student participation more united, transparent and cohesive. It aims to provide ground for student representatives to discuss matters at hand, pick up joint projects and handle complaints more intensively. But bear in mind: student representatives can make a difference only when they receive enough feedback. So if you, as a student, have a matter concerning your courses or
other educational matters; feel free to send an email to stib@ecu92.nl or drop by at the ECU’92 room.
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