Brussels is famous for being the home of the European Union, NATO, sprouts, medieval architecture, delicious fruit beers and chocolate. Loads of chocolate. In fact, Brussels is a Chocoholic’s paradise, so there were plenty of reasons for students on the MA International Business and Management (MA IBM) course to visit the Belgium capital city at the beginning of November.
The MA IBM is now in its tenth year. Since the course opened in 2004, it has become one of the most popular post-graduate courses offered by Westminster Business School. This September, 65 students from nearly 30 countries joined the course – which also means it is probably one of the most culturally diverse programmes in the UK.
Here is a ‘bloggers’ account of what happened between Tuesday 29th October – Saturday 2nd November, when 60 MA IBM students went ‘on tour’ to Brussels (with Richard West, Rebecca Wang, Clive Helm and Magda Herchui).
Wednesday 30th October
Designing a course that engages so many different nationalities can be as tricky as writing a ‘Song for Europe’. But one thing that unites all people is a good story. So witnessing how a huge company like Audi designs and builds cars with such precision that rear-seats manufactured in Romania arrive at exactly the right moment on the Belgian production line (‘Just In Sequence’ is how the process is described), tells a story that brings ‘business studies’ to life.
The group enjoyed a fascinating visit to the Brussels factory where Audi manufacture the super sporty ‘A1’ model. The factory is huge – but it’s not the company’s largest – and seeing the robots perform like extras on a ‘Star Wars’ movie is both awe inspiring and a little scary (the Yellow ones were Japanese and the Orange ones German; that is something else we learned – which may be useful if there is ever a sci-fi war between humans and cyborgs).
Thursday 31st October and Friday November 1st
In contrast to the futuristic vision that created ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’, the DuVal chocolate factory visit on Friday was a small haven for the ancient craft of the chocolatier. After the previous night’s Halloween Celebrations (more about that later…), the chocolate made by this unique chocolatier, was enough to bring everybody back to life.
There are literally hundreds of chocolatiers in Belgium, so finding a profitable niche is vital. DuVal focuses on the corporate market and use only the highest quality chocolate ingredients – as students verified (frequently) during the presentation.
The previous night, October 31st, was of course ‘Halloween’ – an event which demonstrated there are some seriously creative (not to mention worrying) students on the course. Alina Martyanova and Vanessa Pfaff led the way with an interpretation of Alice in Wonderland not seen in many story books. Westminster students made a big impression on Brussels’ citizens – with plenty of requested photo opportunities in the Central Square that evening.
In between these trips, the party also visited the offices of the European Union. The recently opened Visitors Centre is an impressively furnished area which provides multi-media presentations and interactive facilities that give a historical and contemporary overview of the Union. Students also received an interesting 90 minute lecture about the EU and its workings.
Then it was off to sample some of Belgium’s finest fruit beers, a bowl of ‘Moulles et Frites’ and contemplate the long coach journey back to London. Overall, it had been a great experience and very successful trip. We will be back.
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