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Spotlight An Economic Edge Tilburg University Tilburg, The Netherlands Tilburg University's Faculty of Economics and Business Administration is one of the largest business programs in the Netherlands. Situated at the cen- ter of a network of roads and rail- ways, the city of Tilburg is home to several multinational companies, such as Fuji, Mitsui, Ericsson, and Philips. As a result, the school is able to take advantage of the area's thriving com- mercial industry. "We have a strong interaction with the local and national business communities," says its dean, Theo Verhallen. "Almost all students do a project for a firm in the final phase of their program. Faculty engage in contract research, consulting, and executive education." All business programs at Tilburg Above: The Cobbenhagen building, a main feature of the business school, named after M.J.H. Cobbenhagen, one of the school's founders. Right: Tilburg University's main building, named after Tjalling C. Koopmans, the second Dutch Nobel Laureate in economics. Below: Dr. Willem Haemers, associate professor of econometrics, with a student. technology with the study of eco- nomics, with the emphasis on infor- mation technology," he says. Tilburg's business school serves 4 University are based on a foundation of economics, with a strong emphasis on quantitative methods. Tilburg's business program is especially known for its specialized program in "econometrics," a combination of economics, mathematics, and statis- tics. In addition, the school's course of study in information management is unique to the Netherlands, says Clemens van Diek, the school's pub- lic relations officer. "Our program combines the study of information 64 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2003 approximately 3,000 undergraduate business students, 750 master's stu- dents, and 40 Ph.D. students. Most students come from the Netherlands, but the international student popula- tion is growing rapidly. In 2002, programs taught in English, such as international business and interna- tional economics and finance, drew more than 200 full-time students from Germany, China, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe. Research is also of great impor- tance to the school's overall mission, as demonstrated by CentER, its internationally oriented research institute. Founded in 1988 to focus on business and economics research, CentER was expanded in 1992 to include the business school's graduate program. At the CentER Graduate School, 120 faculty mem- bers both teach and conduct research organized into nine areas: economet- rics, macroeconomics, microeconom- ics, accounting, information systems, finance, marketing, operations research, and organization. Increasing its base of research and continuing to develop its internation- al reputation are among the school's primary goals. To that end, Tilburg recently earned its AACSB accredita- tion. Such accreditation "is of great importance to foreign institutions who wish to work with our universi- ty. It is a guarantee that those institu- tions can trust," says Verhallen. ■ z PHOTOS BY KEN BENNETT, COURTESY OF WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY