This week the School of Business hosted 22 students and 2 faculty from the Rotterdam Business School of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. This student visit is a result of a one week faculty exchange in 2016 where 3 faculty from the Rotterdam Business School visited UFV and 3 UFV Faculty visited Rotterdam. RUAS became an international partner with UFV in 2015 however the relationship between Holland and Canada is a significant one as a great number of Dutch people immigrated to Canada after World War 2, a large number settling in the Fraser Valley.
During their visit, students sat in on 3 different half classes in the first week of summer session – BUS 120, 249 and 403. A small group also planned a “Holland Promotion Event” at the same time for UFV students to drop in discover Rotterdam and Holland.
As the visiting students were also quite interested in sustainability issues, the School of Business re-ran the Sustainability Case Competition to give them an opportunity to apply their knowledge to sustainability issues here locally in Abbotsford, allowing them to connect with the Fraser Valley in a unique way.
As this is a new community to them there was some additional challenge to the competition as they had to learn the local context. However, they also learned that sustainability issues at their core are rather universal.
The students also had an opportunity to visit the Gleaners to learn about how they operate as a non-profit with volunteer work force and distribute food aid to countries in need. The Gleaners specifically chosen due to their sustainability link in using produce not suitable for market and community of volunteers. Visits to Cascade Aerospace and Phantom Screens were also arranged to provide a diverse selection of topics and businesses.
They also went to CEP where they participated in the KAIROS blanket exercise followed by an excursion out to Fort Langley to learn about indigenous culture and history.
