Wittenborg Nominated for Prestigious PIEoneer Awards

25.08.2023

WUAS Short-listed in Categories of Student Support and Business School of the Year

Wittenborg is proud to have been short-listed at the PIEoneer Awards, one of the most prestigious international awards in the field of higher education. The institution has been nominated in two categories: Student Support and Business School of the Year. The award ceremony will take place in London on 22 September, at the Hilton Bankside Hotel, and will be attended by the president of Wittenborg Peter Birdsall and the school’s CEO Maggie Feng.

While Wittenborg graduate Olumide Omotoso was a finalist in the category International Alumni of the Year in 2019, it is the first time that the school itself is nominated for the PIEoneer Awards. Birdsall said that it is an honour for Wittenborg to be in the list of finalists, highlighting that the PIE News is a leading publication of news articles and analyses as well as a world-renowned resource for discussions on international higher education.

“Being nominated is already a great achievement, because all the short-listed schools are quite outstanding. It's going to be fun going to the award ceremony; we’ll be representing Wittenborg, an independent and family-owned business school, which is unusual these days, and we’ll keep modest and see how we do. All awards are icing on the cake, but the biggest reward is obviously just continuing in the way that we are, with a great team, with a great group of students and keeping our independence.”

According to him, the fact that Wittenborg is an independent and compact-sized university of applied of sciences enables the school to provide its students with high-quality support services in an efficient, proactive and agile way, offering an all-round experience. “Our front desks provide assistance like calling doctors and dentists, making appointments with government agencies and helping students sort out other issues. On top of that, we try to offer quality accommodation for our students at the same time, while keeping the costs down as much as we possibly can. Our goal is to make their lives as easy as possible.”

The president of Wittenborg adds that the school prefers not to outsource its support services, having its own in-house team that helps students deal with any issues that may arise during their studies. “Being independent and in control of your services and products is, in my view, really important. If you outsource them and you're not in control, students can suffer enormously bad experiences at the start of their studies, which will affect their whole journey. It's just been proven that students are more likely to drop out very quickly in their first year if they have a bad experience on arrival.”

Birdsall concludes by pointing out that the PIEoneer Awards nominations reflect the fact that Wittenborg has reached maturity in terms of the type of school it wants to be. “Last year, Wittenborg was nominated for the BGA Business School Impact Award. In this day and age, a business school that is independent of government and of private equity, and not part of a bigger institution, has a unique sort of atmosphere, which some people translate into a family atmosphere. But it's also a team atmosphere, and the sense of community at Wittenborg is very strong. These are some of the factors that make us stand out as an institution.”

Nomination process

The PIEoneer Awards welcome submissions from any organisation operating in the global education sector, regardless of size. Wittenborg’s entry was submitted by the school’s Assurance of Learning Manager Kriszta Kaspers-Rostás on her own initiative, in early April.

Kaspers-Rostás highlights that participating in awards of this type is one of the best ways for schools to create more brand awareness and become more popular. “In December 2022, we got highly commended for the BGA Business School Impact Award, and since then we have been more alert to target entry submissions for awards. This way, Wittenborg can gain more popularity and an increased good reputation among business schools and universities, as well as higher education circles. And, of course, it’s always super exciting to be nominated for an award,” she says.

In her role of Assurance of Learning Manager, Kaspers-Rostás is involved in education quality management and accreditations, and has also gained experience of multiple conferences which have helped her put Wittenborg’s activities sharply into perspective. “The rules of the PIEoneer Awards establish that an institution can only submit three entries within the 20 categories of the award. I have chosen the categories based on what I knew to be Wittenborg’s key strengths, and in fields where I think the institution stands out. It came as wonderful news that the school got nominated in these two categories.”

She comments that in the area of student support, Wittenborg aims at providing a good onboarding followed by holistic support of the students from their first day until graduation and beyond as alumni. Moreover, in the new category of Business School of the Year – added to the PIEoneer Awards in 2023 – the institution has been conducting multiple initiatives that stand out.

“In addition to providing sustainable student accommodation, Wittenborg has significant plans of expanding its study locations in Apeldoorn and has shown a strong commitment and multidimensional application and integration of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals throughout the institution. Furthermore, I elaborated on our best practices to achieve cross-cultural integration among the student body. These include the family-like environment with personal process tutors/study advisors, the always present peer-mentoring/buddy system and the interdisciplinary project weeks, as well as the provision of numerous extracurricular activities and various career-development support events,” Kaspers-Rostás underscores.

About the organisation

The PIE – Professionals in Higher Education – is a female-owned and led organisation, founded in 2011 to provide news and insights for the industry. Today, it reaches almost 200,000 unique readers each month from 143 countries. In addition to PIE’s editorial work, the organisation has grown to run leading events and support organisations and individuals to develop and thrive via their recruitment services.