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First Project Week of the New Academic Year Kicks Off

Apeldoorn councilor, Nathan Stukker, addressed students from Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences on Tuesday morning, kicking off the first Project Week of the new academic year.

Almost 120 international students are participating in this Project Week, which is a collaboration with Apeldoorn city’s marketing team. Students have been asked to come up with a feasible marketing proposal for Apeldoorn. Wittenborg has campuses in Apeldoorn, Amsterdam and Vienna. They will present their findings at the end of the week after doing some research.

“Not only will they be learning about the beauty and character of Apeldoorn, but also work hard on promoting Apeldoorn in the Netherlands and internationally,” Wittenborg CEO, Maggie Feng, said. “By the end of the project, Apeldoorn will have a new group of young, dynamic ambassadors from all over the world promoting the city.”

Stukker welcomed students at the event held at the former tax office, stating how pleased he is with the project. Apeldoorn city council has gone to great lengths in recent years to stimulate higher education and raise the city’s profile. Since Wittenborg moved to Apeldoorn in 2010, the two organisations have maintained close relations.

Rianne van Strien from Apeldoorn Marketing, whose work is commissioned by the City of Apeldoorn (Gemeente Apeldoorn), said she was looking forward to reading students’ ideas about marketing the city. Van Strien moderated students’ preliminary presentations on Tuesday. “I was surprised by some of the ideas – international students see the city in a whole different way than how locals might. I really loved interacting and listening to them.”

Initial student ideas include making information about the city and its activities more accessible to international students, opening attractions that are more appealing to young people and organising more events such as festivals, also in cooperation with Wittenborg.

Wittenborg has Raised Apeldoorn's Profile Internationally and at Home.

Wittenborg's chair of the executive board, Peter Birdsall, was also in attendance. He said: "The link with city marketing is clear and as an international higher education institute Wittenborg has raised Apeldoorn’s profile in the Netherlands, but of course also internationally."

WUP 8/9/2018

by Anesca Smith
©WUAS Press