Over the next few years, a new school building – that will combine four existing building sections into one campus  – will be built there, at the Kralingse Zoom. In 2017, all economic and business study programmes must be based in the new building that will be made suitable for the scheduled new forms of education.

RBS moves internally
The new buildings will particularly be constructed at the current location of the Rotterdam Business school (RBS); consequently, this wing will be demolished, and RBS will move to the current location of COM.

“COM is larger than RBS, so when we leave, more room will become vacant,” Fred Feuerstake, COM Dean, cites as the reason why COM rather than RBS is moving. For the school that Commercial Economics (CE) and Small Business & Retail Management belong to, the move to the WTC will coincide with the introduction of the new learning communities.

Won’t that make it extra drastic? Feuerstake: “It won’t, because you have to think about the manner in which you will give the communities a place anyway. Whether you do so at the KZ location or in the WTC doesn’t really matter. In any case, everything fits perfectly.”

Private spaces for communities
COM will, however, be spread out over several floors in the WTC. Feuerstake: “But we will ensure that the communities as well as Small Business will get their own space to the highest possible extent. For first and second year students, we will create a small-scale environment, and we will ensure that classrooms and lecturers will be located in close proximity to each other. We will also set up education squares.”

COM will use the classrooms that are left behind by Tax Law & Economics as well as sections of the School of Social Work (ISO) and the Teacher Training College (IvL) as much as possible; they will return to the Kralingse Zoom and Museumpark, respectively.

Canteen
Whether the WTC will have its own catering has not yet been determined. Feuerstake: “We would like to, but we still have to discuss it with the landlord.”
CE specialisation Sports Marketing & Management will not move along to the WTC, but will relocate to the Max Euwelaan location near the Kralingse Zoom, so that students can continue to make optimum use of the sports facilities of the Erasmus University.

Jos van Nierop