Dear reader,
Welcome to this concise history of our School and its first 50 years – and what an impressive 50 years it has been! The business initiative that started in 1970 with just 30 students has evolved into a global community of over 40,000 alumni, with over 9,000 students in the academic year 2019-2020, and 600 staff. Now, in October 2020, we have a network of more than 170 partner schools worldwide, and we play an active role in important international networks and communities.
True to our mission to be a force for positive change in the world, our students want to pursue business with a purpose; they do not intend to forsake the principles of responsibility for the sake of profitability. Among our students and alumni, I see an enormous amount of creativity, drive and passion.
Over the past 50 years, RSM has been hugely successful, and we have much to be proud of – in particular, RSM has become a leading global player in terms of creating original knowledge in the field of business and management.
Alongside our knowledge creation, and as you can read in the following pages, RSM has continually developed and provided business education that reflected the needs of business, based in this international port city in a nation with a long trading history. The needs of business and society continue to change, and it remains so important that we continue to evolve with an eye for sustainable global development. We have much to build on, and we also have much to preserve.
In the years to come, our challenge will be to manage the transition towards becoming a fully impact-led institution, to ensure that the knowledge created at RSM transforms not only academia, but the world around us.
I am grateful that RSM continues to offer outstanding opportunities to make a positive difference; there is room for creativity, true thought leadership, and rich academic debate and learning in our School. It makes me proud to see that in education, as much as in research, in the coming years RSM will continue to be a force for positive change in the world.