A year at TIAS: a lifetime of bonding

I started my journey from India with immense curiosity and excitement to be a part of TIAS Business School on 11th of September 2016. Unfortunately, I already missed part of the Prep course due to personal issues. Once I arrived Netherlands I received immense support from my program manager in rearranging my course and settling down in Netherlands.

TIAS organized a grand event for the welcome day. We played games, dined together, shared stories and enjoyed drinks. We found our group members through an interesting game and got to know each other more over drinks. It was like a big family outing.

The program kick started in the middle of September’16 and life was never as busy as it has been over the last year. The classes start at 9 am in the morning till 5 pm in the evening. Some evenings were busier as we stayed back after the class to work in groups for our assignments. The group work experiences gave me some of the greatest insights into life. We were a group of six people representing four different nationalities (India, South Korea, Vietnam, Dutch) working together towards a common goal. Each of us had their own expertise and work experience to bring to the group, as well as their own limitations. Our cultural backgrounds also meant our workstyles were different and as the common saying goes “no two people think the same”, which is why we had a lot of disagreements and agreements. We had our own share of disappointments too. With Phillipa’s Networking and Team building sessions we could work our way out through the differences and learned to embrace diversity.

An important thing to mention about TIAS is that all the lectures, classes, seminars and events are well planned and well organized. The schedule is available to the students on virtual campus and one can plan their schedule accordingly. The professors/lecturers, travelling from all parts of the world, at TIAS provide a unique mixture of Industry and academic exposure, as well as endorsing diversity through their different cultural backgrounds.

I also worked for TIAS student consultancy. We provided consulting services for an organization called Team Academy in Amsterdam. The experience of working in a live project is completely thrilling. We would visit their offices in Amsterdam every now and again to share the work we were doing. The project continued for almost five months. It also provided us with an extra task as we stayed back after class to meet the client’s deadline and continued working till late at night. We finally finished the project successfully in June with a presentation at the client’s office. This experience gave me the chance to work on a real life management problem. I communicated with clients, negotiated with them, built relationships, brainstormed whilst working on critical Marketing strategy issues and also had another chance to work in a diverse group.

We also visited Palermo, Italy for a Study trip in May. Learning through travel - a unique experience for me. I have never been part of any study trip during my bachelor, only industrial visits. The study trip was full of fun with loads to learn. We all returned super tired and exhausted but built memories to last a life time.

At TIAS we party hard. The Student association organize party for almost all events. We celebrated Halloween, Christmas, and lunar New Year and went on a ski trip. The last of the events was the gala dinner to mark the end of class and move on to the final part of the program, the Thesis.

In short this can be counted as one of the best years of my life. I had the opportunity to learn and to expose myself to a different culture and people. I have travelled around the country and networked with people. I have made new friends in life to comfort me and stand together. Thank you TIAS, after a one year love affair with you I am more evolved, culturally aware, confident and have gained deep understanding of the business world. It is a bond that I will carry with me and treasure for the rest of my life.


This blog was written by Full-time MScBa student Amrita Deb (30) from India.

Read more about the Full-time MScBA