Tobin Postma's Report - Our Ambasadorial Scholar
Posted by Russell McMurchie
It is 6:30pm on a chilly Friday evening. I have just completed 10 hours of class, finishing with three hours of Business Economics where we put Game Theory into practice for modern market situations. I have the weekend to look forward to as I will be spending most of it in front of my computer writing two major research papers for Management Information Systems and Business Economics and, if I am really lucky, I may even get to the library to search for journal articles. The life of a Nottingham MBA student, particularly one studying Corporate Social Responsibility (the `good kind` of Business student I was told by a Psychology graduate student), is not filled with champagne breakfasts and caviar dinners but rather double espressos and microwaveable curries.
I have lived in England before, spent many summers in the south of England with my grandparents but I had never been to Middle England before. Luckily my sponsor, Paul Gill from the Rotary Club of Port Coquitlam Centennial, grew up in Derby which is very close to Nottingham. He was able to inform me about the local cuisine â?" curry and chips â?" and also at which bar I could find an East Asian Elvis impersonator although I have yet to put on my blue suede shoes. Needless to say, my adaptation time was quick and largely painless â?" except after eating the curry and chips.
Studying in Nottingham, I have endured an endless number of Robin Hood jokes â?" and just for the record: I do not own a bow and arrow and I will not wear green tights when picking people up at the train station. But there is a symbolic connection between this fabled thief and my specialization. Corporate Social Responsibility does not so much look at how money can be taken -from the rich and given to poor, but rather how the actions of the rich affect the poor and ways to alter these actions so that everyone benefits. The International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ICCSR) is known around the world as a leader in this field and I am fortunate to benefit from the knowledge and experience that is found within it.
Rotary is an international organization and so too is my class. We are 62 students who together represent 22 different nationalities. This results in an amazing array of views and opinions on almost any topic or issues and is most evident in our regular worldly debates. Rotary is built on the concepts of trust, fairness and friendship, all of which are present in our class. I expected the MBA class to be cut-throat and dog-eat-dog but it is not. We have all bonded and become friends, a six hour Accounting and Finance group meeting on Saturday morning will do that, and the competition that I expected/dreaded has been replaced by cooperation. I was also elected to the position of President of the MBA Society where it is my main duty to organize events for the students, events where we can get to know each other better and strengthen the bonds that have begun to form. Our first major event was an International Night, where each student brought with them a dish from their home country. We ended up with an amazing assortment of food ranging from German pretzels to Korean Drunken Chicken, and were treated to an acoustic performance by TJ â?" our official Taiwanese rocker.
Studying in Nottingham, I have endured an endless number of Robin Hood jokes â?" and just for the record: I do not own a bow and arrow and I will not wear green tights when picking people up at the train station. But there is a symbolic connection between this fabled thief and my specialization. Corporate Social Responsibility does not so much look at how money can be taken -from the rich and given to poor, but rather how the actions of the rich affect the poor and ways to alter these actions so that everyone benefits. The International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ICCSR) is known around the world as a leader in this field and I am fortunate to benefit from the knowledge and experience that is found within it.
Rotary is an international organization and so too is my class. We are 62 students who together represent 22 different nationalities. This results in an amazing array of views and opinions on almost any topic or issues and is most evident in our regular worldly debates. Rotary is built on the concepts of trust, fairness and friendship, all of which are present in our class. I expected the MBA class to be cut-throat and dog-eat-dog but it is not. We have all bonded and become friends, a six hour Accounting and Finance group meeting on Saturday morning will do that, and the competition that I expected/dreaded has been replaced by cooperation. I was also elected to the position of President of the MBA Society where it is my main duty to organize events for the students, events where we can get to know each other better and strengthen the bonds that have begun to form. Our first major event was an International Night, where each student brought with them a dish from their home country. We ended up with an amazing assortment of food ranging from German pretzels to Korean Drunken Chicken, and were treated to an acoustic performance by TJ â?" our official Taiwanese rocker.