PROGRAMS FOR PROFESSIONALS
Student
In 2010 Rob Bokdam is a professional student at the University of Twente where he is studying for his Master in Public Management (MPM) degree. In this two year part-time programme for professionals, MPM students learn how to respond to new managerial management conditions in governments and new conditions in public organizations. "The reason why I started with this master programme was that I wanted to work together with other professionals outside of my organization and for my own career development," says Rob, who's the cluster Chief of the Police of Twente. "My favorite masterclasss were change management and policy." In 2010 Rob wrote his Masterthesis about responsibilities of a Mayor. He spoke to fourteen Mayor's and four chiefs of Police. "In my thesis I did research about how Mayors in Twente deal with new governmental qualifications and how police departments can support and advise them. As a result of my thesis justifying within public government is very important and can be strongly improved."
Miriam Illiohan Marketing/Recruitment
Remco van Halen Senior Legal Advisor / Deputy Registrar of Provinciale Staten Zuid-Holland
Alumnus
"The main reason why I signed up for the programme, is the fact that it included improvement of my management skills as well as creating a 'helicopter view' of the main themes in the branch of Housing Corporations", says Maike Hetterscheid, alumni of the programme for management of Housing Corporations. She continues: "The developments in the branch are divers and complex; a decreasing number of inhabitants in our cities, the economic crisis, new financial and tax related restrictions by national and European government. It all changes the way Housing Corporations work and it has great consequences for the skills that are needed and attitude of employees, to face these developments. Working in this field needs me to be a well equipped professional and I can sincerely say that this management programme played an important role in achieving this." Maike Hetterscheid accepted a new job shortly before successfully ending the programme. "I moved from a position focusing on a consulting (being a Communications Advisor) to a position managing a department 'rent and sale' at Housing Corporation Sité Woondiensten in Doetinchem. A real estate company with a social character in the eastern part of the Netherlands that sets it's main goals on offering suitable and affordable houses to people, with an extra focus on people with lower incomes. Sité also feels responsible for the living environment. That's why we spend a lot of time creating safe and social neighborhoods together with our partners". Maike Hetterscheid doesn't hesitate being ready for the management position even though she's considered relatively young at age 30. "I am well prepared. My former employer Wonion facilitated me completely during the programme; the combination of business reality and the analytic point of view, created extra value for both the company and my personal development. My thesis, for example, focused on an analysis of future reorganization possibilities. My new found knowledge of commercial law and public administration, and off course the drive of professors at the University of Twente, resulted in a useful study for the management team at Wonion. And now my challenge is to successfully apply my management skills in my new job."
Advisory Board of Practitioners
For almost seven years now Annemieke Traag had the great pleasure of providing a day-module on regionalisation for the Master's of Public Management (MPM) programme. "I focus on inter-municipal collaboration and processes, illustrated with concrete examples of the content and form found in comparable collaborations between multiple municipalities. I find it inspiring and a challenge to continue to present recent developments, although it's not very difficult because local government is anything but a static entity; it is continually in motion. During the modules there is a lot of time for discussion and feedback and I use the experiences of the course participants to keep the module material relevant and timely. I also use my daily work as the Region of Twente's General-Secretary Director to help make the lesson material implementable. Additionally, as an extention of my work for this course, I guide students with their final papers. Subjects vary from 'neighbourhood-orientated working methods' and 'the development of safety regions' to 'learning and innovating' and 'social climbing in neighbourhoods', as well as 'implementation of new working in a municipal organisation'. In short, the course broaches a broad spectrum of topics, with the functioning of the (local) government and its impact on society, as their common theme. Last year I became a member of the MPM Advisory Board of Practitioners. At the Board's meetings we discuss the newest developments and their possible impacts on MPM with a view to making the programme as attractive as possible for potential students."