Policy document 53rd EFR Board Focus points: Openness Internal Organization Events and committees Digitisation
2016-2017 1
Introduction
Page 3
Openness
Page 4
Communicate more clearly
Page 4
Other associations
Page 4
Internationalization
Page 5
Internal Organization
Page 6
Intensify our (working) relationship with the faculty
Page 6
Optimize full time recruitment process and the transferal period
Page 7
Financial overview
Page 7
Strengthen the EFR bond
Page 8
Events and Committees
Page 9
Evaluation and quality monitoring
Page 9
Specific events/groups/committees
Page 9
Ideas for future committees and events
Page 10
Digitization
Page 11
Alumni and non-commercial relations
Page 11
Analytics
Page 11
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Introduction The 53rd EFR board is very proud to present the 2016-2017 policy document. The board has discussed their policy for many hours and the ideas that have been written down here summarize those efforts. During our policy discussions we quickly discovered that each board member had his/her own view on certain topics. This enabled us to see things from multiple perspectives and enriched our view. We soon came to the conclusion that each of us had similar ideas about policy focus points. We have united our plans into four different focus points: Openness, Internal Organization, Events & Committees and Digitization. Each of the plans that we have made can be matched with one of our focus points. We have divided the focus points into different sub goals each sorted on priority.
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1. Openness The EFR needs to be more open towards its (committee) members. We would like to be perceived as an open association that communicates clearly and is open all its members whether those people Dutch or international, committee members or ‘ordinary’ members. We also want to communicate more openly and increase collaborations with other associations and parties. 1.1 Communicate more clearly It is important that the EFR communicates its message clearly towards (committee) members. We want to share our enthusiasm towards the EFR with everyone and this requires a clear communication roadmap. We want to increase the involvement of committee members as well. To achieve this we want to: 1.1.1
1.1.2
1.1.3
The EFR wants to create more awareness about what the EFR encompasses. The marketing officer will start our own EFR Instagram account and post pictures of our events regularly. We will introduce a committee member of the month to create more involvement. The IT/Sec will send the committee member email more often to create more involvement and create more awareness regarding events that are interesting for committee members. After each event the organizing committee will be asked to write a little piece that summarizes their event with some pictures. The board wants to communicate our policy better towards our (committee) members. We want that our (committee) members are aware of the policy of the board. Therefore we want to share our policy focus points with the committee members during the committee kickoff. We also want to explain parts of our policy in small Facebook messages. The marketing officer will implement this. The EFR offers its members very attractive services and organizes many interesting events. It is key that our communication to promote these services and events is clear, coherent and recognizable. Therefore we want to create one corporate identity that will used in all our communication. We will also look if a logo change is needed and desired. The marketing officer has already started with this. Furthermore a clear communication roadmap should be made to see which events we organize, what the target group is and which marketing resources are appropriate.
1.2 Other associations There are many study associations at the Erasmus University, each representing a separate group of students. The EFR does not attract all groups within the university and the ESE. By collaborating with other associations the EFR can reach different groups of people. They can get to know the EFR and maybe they will join other events in the future.
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1.2.1
The board thinks it is extremely important that the EFR is involved in many activities with other associations. Collaboration helps us to come in contact with certain groups that are hard to reach. We want to increase collaboration with other groups by organizing a few theme parties with ESN Rotterdam. Furthermore we want to explore the possibility of organizing a congress day together with study associations that represent international student groups. The president and PMG will start these conversations. Furthermore we want to explore the possibility of teaming up with other foreign associations to promote summer schools. By doing this the EFR becomes a more diverse association that appeals to a broad group of students. The IT/Sec and commercial officer will look at this.
1.3 Internationalization The university becomes more and more international. The share of international EFR members is also growing and more international students join an EFR committee. The EFR should clearly communicate what it can do for international students. Furthermore, internationals should also be involved in the association. 1.3.1
1.3.2
The board wants to formulate an international vision. We want to communicate clearly what we do for our international students (events and services, specifically for international students) and in which ways we can help them making their time at the ESE unforgettable. The international officer (IT/Sec) will formulate this. The vice-president will explore the possibilities of an international board member for the future. We also want to reform the General Members Assembly (GMA). To create more committee member and ‘ordinary’ member involvement we want to reform the GMA. We want the first part (at the university) to have a more serious character. Various committees should have the opportunity to present the work that they have done over the past period. This part should also be in English. When we move to the second location the more traditional part of the GMA can be held, in the same fashion as previous years. The president is responsible to write a proposal for this.
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Internal organization
Our internal organization needs to be professionalized and the relations with the faculty and other partners need to be strengthened. Besides this the full time recruitment need to be more professional and the information about a board year needs to be updated and expanded. Also the bond between committees&committees and board&committees needs to be strengthen to improve our internal organization. A solid financial overview of all the earnings and costs of the EFR needs to be made in order to have more insight in our financial performance. 2.1 Intensify our (working) relationship with the faculty The EFR is the study association affiliated with the Erasmus School of Economics. A strong relationship with the faculty is extremely important because they support us in a number of area’s. They also provide financial support for some of our events and they can help to generate extra communication for our events. We also co-host certain events with the faculty (START/IBEB weekend and after exam drinks) and besides this, a good of goodwill and a strong relationship will only work in our favor. We want to strengthen the relationship specifically in 3 area’s specifically: 2.1.1
The board thinks a strong relationship with ESE management is important. We therefore propose to increase the moments that the board meets with the ESE management. We also propose to have an informal meeting with the ESE management in the form of a drink or something similar to improve the relationship. The president will be responsible for this.
2.1.2
A strong relationship with the academic staff is of vital importance since the professors are very autonomous. They decide themselves how they organize their own course. To get to know the academic better the board wants to organize an informal lunch as an introduction activity. To explore ways in which we can cooperate more a panel discussion with some professors and people from the board will be organized. Furthermore during the transition period of each board year the vice-president will have a few introduction meetings with his/her successor to get to know the academic staff. The vice president will be responsible for implementing this.
2.1.3
In the area of marketing the corporation between ESE and EFR can be intensified. The EFR needs to be in close contact with the marketing and communications department of the ESE to inform them about our events and vice versa. By doing this we can address a greater variety of people. The co-branding of events will aslo strengthen the bond between ESE and EFR and students will see the close relationship between the EFR and ESE even better. The marketing officer will have regular meetings with the marketing and communication department of the ESE and the EFR will use the ESE more in our marketing (logo, presentations etc). The EFR will also make more use of the marketing channels of the ESE to address a bigger audience. The marketing officer will be responsible for this.
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2.2 Optimize full time recruitment process and the transferal period The people who fulfill a full time position within the EFR are very important, without them the association will not run smoothly. In order to attract enough people and to attract the people with the right qualities the full time recruitment period needs to be optimized. Another important aspect of a board year is the knowledge transfer. The knowledge transfer period is very important because it ensures a smooth transition and gives the new board member a head start. 2.2.1
2.2.2
The current board members need to be very honest about the life of a board member towards potential board members, specifically in terms of time it consumes and the financial compensation. This also applies to the ERD and BW committee. This will prevent misunderstanding regarding compensation and the time you are busy with the EFR in the months June and July. The location of the board recruitment information drink will be changed to an external location and the timeslot will be reconsidered. The ERP recruitment period will be combined with the ERD recruitment to give it more status and to ensure that the right people are attracted. The project manager career is responsible for this. The board will also look at the possibility of adding a 9th board member. Board members will be very enthusiastic towards potential board members and the board will ensure that potential board members will apply for a board position. Every board member is responsible for the implementation of this. The transferal period is the start of the board period for each new member. The correct transfer of knowledge and the availability of the current board members is vital here. Every board member will update their white books throughout the year. Before the transferal period starts each board member will look critically at their white books and update or expand them where needed. All the current board members will make sure they block their agenda’s during the transferal period in order to have enough time to make the transferal period run smoothly. Important dates such as ‘Beleidsweekend’ will be planned for the new board. The president is responsible for the planning of this. The same goes for function specific trainings.
2.3 Financial overview At all times the EFR should have access to a solid and sound financial overview of our earnings and costs over the last few years. This gives the board more insight in where we stand as an association from a financial point of view and it can help the treasurer in making financial decisions. The overview should also be quite detailed in order to be useful. 2.3.1
The treasurer is responsible for making such a financial overview.
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2.4 Strengthen the EFR bond The committee bond and the board bond with committees is important. The EFR relies heavily on its committee members. They need to be engaged as much as possible and they need to strong bond within their committee and with other committees. This ensures that they will stay active throughout the year and preferably also in future years. To accomplish this the board undertake a number of activities. 2.4.1
The H5 will, in collaboration with the board, start with the introduction of ‘vrijmibo’s’ for committee members, this is to strengthen the mutual bond. This year the EFRT points will also be introduced. These points will be awarded to committees who help during our events and attend drinks and other activities. At the end of the year the winning committee will be awarded a prize. A second ‘actieven’ weekend will be organized shortly after the half year committees have been announced. The board will organize a running dinner with all the committee members to strengthen the board & committee bond.
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3
Events and Committees
The board believes that the EFR needs to optimize quality monitoring of events, reconsider its events calendar and optimize the working environment of a few committees. New groups of students need to get involved in the EFR activities even though these new groups can be quite challenging. Another important point is the evaluation and quality monitoring of our events and services. This needs to be improved because gathering and analyzing those data is very valuable. A last point that needs to be addressed is the ERP recruitment. 3.1 Evaluation and quality monitoring Getting feedback and monitoring the quality of our events is essential. By redesigning this roadmap we can clearly see how our events are performing. Gathering feedback is also essential to decide whether an event should be modified or even terminated. Clear KPI’s per event should also be set to monitor whether or not an event was successful. 3.1.1
In collaboration with the digital communication focus point the board will create digital feedback forms. These forms will be send to every participant that has attended our event but also to committee members that helped us during an event. Having this information is very valuable to us because it provides us an insight in what the participant thinks of our event. The digital communication focus group will be responsible for this.
3.1.2
The information that is gathered via the feedback forms need to be used correctly. Every board member should gather the feedback and modify the events accordingly. This information should also be put in the relevant white books of each board member. Furthermore each event should have clear KPI’s that should be measured after each event. By doing this we can measure if an event was successful and if not which parts were lacking. Every board member will be responsible for their own event.
3.2 Specific events/groups/committees Up until now the EFR did not organize events in some areas and for some specific students groups. This year the board wants to expand in 3 specific areas: increase activities for master students, organize more guest lectures and professionalize the ERP committee. 3.2.1
This year the EFR wants to organize more activities specifically aimed at master students. A good start has been made by the formation of the Master committee. Primarily the project manager career will supervise this committee with the help of the commercial officer. The board wants to give the master committee a lot of freedom in what kind of events they want to organize. Furthermore the Involve research project should target master students more specifically. This project suits master students very well and the project manager career will make sure that when the marketing for involve starts the master students are targeted specifically.
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3.2.1
3.2.2
The mission of the EFR is bridge the gap between theory and practice. The board thinks it is very valuable that students also have the opportunity to learn from professionals, therefore we want to promote and initiate as many guest lectures as possible. To start this initiative the board will talk to the professors on the one hand and to potentially interested companies on the other hand. To implement this the vice president will cover the academic side of this and the commercial officer will cover the business side of this. The ERP committee is becoming increasingly important. Besides this the platform and its popularity is also growing which means that the committee workload grows as well. To board thinks that we need to respond to these developments. Therefore we want to professionalize the ERP recruitment by combining it with the ERD recruitment and host a separate ERS drink to recruit capable potential candidates. The cooperation between STAR and EFR during the promotion period should be increased. Together we need to find the best students for this committee. Furthermore STAR and EFR need to reassess the workload of the committee and maybe add another member. The supervision of the committee also needs to be reconsidered and if required action should be taken. These points will be discussed after the ERD has finished. The project manager career is responsible for this with the help of the president, IT/Sec and commercial officer.
3.3 Ideas for future committees and events The board has put quite some effort in developing new initiatives for this year. The list below contains some ideas for new committees and the function of the new committees. 3.3.1
3.3.2 3.3.3 3.3.4
3.3.5 3.3.6 3.3.7
The ERF needs to start earlier with thinking about new half year committees if they want to be implemented in the current academic year. Therefore the board will start in November with concretize ideas for half year committees. By doing this we ensure the committees can be formed after the Christmas break. Heartbeat committee: Organization of the heartbeat festival IT committee: supporting the IT officer when the new website is in place International takeoff committee: Helping international first year students to start their life in Rotterdam. The Ibuddy program does that already to some extent, therefore we want to use the Ibuddies better and involve them more International congress committee: Organizing a international congress with various national and international student organizations. Organize an international skills week Organize a EFR minor in close collaboration with the ESE
The president and the vice president are both responsible for making sure that the decisions to form these proposed new committees are being taken in time.
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4 Digitization Digitization is becoming increasingly important, therefore our data should be up to date at all times and accessible to every board member. The analyzation of gathered data with the use of analytics is very important for our own knowledge but also for commercial partners. 4.1 Alumni and non-commercial relations The EFR has multiple files with alumni data and non-commercial partners. In the current situation the board has no clear overview which makes it hard to use those data in a good way. 4.1.1
The board wants to update and combine the current alumni and noncommercial files into one orderly file. In this file the non-commercial partners, board alumni and ESE alumni should be united.
4.2 Analytics The board thinks the EFR should make more use of analytics. This information is very valuable and can be of great us in the future. 4.2.1
The EFR should use analytics more in their online platforms (ERP, ERD, BW and new EFR website). With the help of analytics we can have detailed performance of our events and we can track what happens on our online platforms.
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