BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Tamar Jincheveladze is 29 years old and from the Republic of Georgia. After completing her Bachelor's degree in Language Sciences and Business Administration, Tamar worked for various international non-profit organisations. She decided to augment her practical experience by following the Master's in Business Administration degree programme. This programme, and particularly the specialisation of Human Resource Management (HRM), offered Tamar many new insights in the area of HRM. "I was able to attend an international conference in Dresden with fellow Georgian student Felix Zschockelt. My supervisors Martijn van Velzen and Professor Jan Kees Looise encouraged me to give a presentation on the subject of human intellectual capital." Tamar also found writing her Master's dissertation a challenge. She carried out research commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Province of Overijssel regarding the role that knowledge management can play in an integrated relationship between HRM and different types of innovations. "The University of Twente has helped me to fulfil my career. I have been selected as head of a personnel department at the Ministry of Justice in Georgia."
Education Director Business Administration
Business Administration at the University of Twente
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Graduating and getting to work
Felix Zschockelt is 26 years old and is an alumna of the Human Resource Management programme. His final paper was about intellectual human capital and the type of people who contribute to innovation in organisations. "My Georgian colleague, Tamar Jinchveladze, and I worked on this project together and we both graduated on this research. We jointly developed measurements for intellectual capital which we implemented in several organisations in Twente. Our project was very challenging and that was appreciated, as our supervisor asked us to prepare our paper for an international conference. In the end, Tamar and I presented our paper in Dresden (Germany). It was absolutely the high point of my studies. Collaboration in an international setting together with foreign students; that is certainly a plus at the UT." In January, 2010 Felix started in his new position as a junior consultant. "In the future, my ambition is to have a leadership position, in which I can direct a group of colleagues."
Studying and Getting Down to Work
Fleur Lamers studied Business Administration and went on to attain a Master's degree in Business Administration, where she followed the innovation management track. Fleur is interested in how organisations work: "Different aspects in organisations come to the fore: economic, financial, organisational, social, legal and technical issues. Looking at complex problems from numerous perspectives appealed to me as an approach." Since February 2009, Fleur has been working at M4N, an affiliate marketing company in Amsterdam where she wrote her Master's thesis paper (affiliate marketing is a specific kind of online marketing). In addition to this work, she assisted in the writing of a paper by carrying out research one day a week for six months at the UT. "In 2009, I focused on online campaigns for, among others, Hotelspecials, Center Parcs, and Sunweb. One important project was the launch of Weekendjeweg.nl. In 2010 I am going to focus on the entertainment and the recreation sectors, in addition to travel companies. This market is not very familiar with online marketing, so it will be a nice challenge." In a couple of years Fleur would like to be working in an organisation at a strategic level, and to be exploiting opportunities in internet and online marketing channels. The study of Business Administration has given her a strong basis to do it.
New Member of the Advisory Board of Practitioners
These days she is Manager of Process Consumer Services at KPN and lives in Amsterdam, but she studied at Twente. Marianne Poot very recently renewed her connection the to UT by becoming a member of the Advisory Board of Practitioners. "The University was never really off the radar, but with the arrival of a new colleague from Enschede, I was once again put in mind of my student days. My colleague and I graduated with the same supervisor! I think contact between universities and the world of business is very important. In the case of KPN, there are certainly good interactions with the Industrial Engineering and Management programme. We can share the findings we gain from practical experience, and that enables the University to tune their research. And the University of Twente can offer me and KPN a great deal: insights, graduates, work experience students... . And of course students come to KPN for field trips and KPN's top personnel give seminars in Enschede. It's really a two-way street."