Duisenberg school of finance

The Duisenberg School of Finance (DSF) was an educational organization in the Netherlands which offered Master's level education in finance between 2008 and 2015. The school was launched as a collaborative initiative between the Dutch financial sector in conjunction with local and international academic institutions. Amongst others, the founders of the initiative were Nout Wellink and Minister of the Economic Affairs, Maria van der Hoeven. The name was chosen by the founders to honor Wim Duisenberg, the first President of the European Central Bank. 

In its first academic year, the school enrolled approximately one hundred students. The school had an administrative staff of eighteen faculty members supported by a number of partnering institutions, including the Dutch Central Bank, ING and APG. The university and its campus were located in the Symphony offices in the Amsterdam financial district of Zuidas. The board of directors and the executive fellowship at DSF featured executive board directors from some of the largest financial institutions in Netherlands.

In 2015, the Dutch Center for Higher Education Information (Dutch: Centrum Hoger Onderwijs Informatie) ranked the LLM Finance and Law programme as the highest ranking professional program in the Netherlands.

As of fall 2015, the program of Duisenberg School of Finance was integrated into the educational offerings of the Vrije Universiteit and University of Amsterdam. The program was renamed the Duisenberg Honors Program at VU and UVA.

Program

The school offers a Masters of Science in four major tracks, amongst them the LLM program in Finance. The program is designed as an expedited and intensive training in finance and law, taught by an international faculty. Masters courses are designed for MS in Risk Management, Financial Markets & Regulation, Corporate Finance & Banking, and Masters in Finance LLM track.

Mission

Duisenberg School of Finance brings academic and industry perspectives together in order to move towards sustainable operation of the financial sector. The school aims to contribute to the creation of a favorable investment climate for financial institutions in the Netherlands.

Background

DSF was founded as a collaborative effort of academic researchers, financial companies, legal firms and governmental organizations on September 7, 2008. The launch followed an agreement, signed by various leading Dutch financial service providers to finance the school operations. The executive management and associated fellowship of DSF were composed of representatives from businesses, government, academia, and legal firms.

Academic profile

Courses were typically taught by visiting faculty members. Academics from the University of Amsterdam (UvA), Vrije Universiteit (VU) often collaborated on various research projects with financial practitioners. On occasion, lectures were taught by executive management of partnering financial institutions.

In addition, DSF Policy Briefs were designed together with regulators, professionals from the industry and policymakers. Articles and research papers that met the school research criteria were published in the public domain. Students and faculty authored and published research papers aimed at critically reassessing the contemporary regulatory environment and efficiency of the financial sector. Moreover, the Tinbergen Institute cooperated with DSF to work on collaborative research projects.

Notable faculty

The faculty at DSF are full-time professors and researchers at the partnering institutions.

* Noreena Hertz, academic, economist and best-selling author
* Andre Lucas, professor of Finance VU University Amsterdam
* Winter Jaap, dean Vrije Universiteit
* Jon Danielsson, an Icelandic economist teaching in the LSE
* Laurens de Haan, a Dutch economist and Emeritus Professor of Probability and Mathematical Statistics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam
* Armin Schwienbacher, a permanent professor of finance at the Université Lille 2 and SKEMA Business School (France)
* Timo Busch, professor at the School of Business, Economics and Social Science of University of Hamburg
* Bernd Jan Sikken, Director of Business Development and Innovation at DSF, former director at World Economic Forum
* Merritt Fox, Michael E. Patterson Professor of Law, NASDAQ Professor for Law and Economics of Capital Markets
* Curtis Milhaupt, Parker Prof. of Comparative Corporate Law; Fuyo Prof. of Japanese Law; Dir. Ctr. Japanese Leg. Stud.
* Enrico Perotti, Professor of International Finance, Former Chair, Finance Group
* Murillo Campello, Lewis H. Durland Professor of Management Professor of Finance
* Ralph ter Hoeven, Professor Financial Reporting at University of Groningen, partner at Deloitte
* Rene Hooft Graafland, Executive Board and CFO, Heineken
* Wim Holterman, Professor of Business Valuation, University of Groningen, and Managing Partner of the valuation practice of PwC in the Netherlands

* Jasper Knol Bruins, Merger Integration & Carve Out Services leader, Deloitte
* Bart de Klerk, Director ING Corporate Finance
* Robert-Jan van de Kraats, CFO and vice-chairman executive board, Randstad
* Joost Kromhout, executive director, Rabobank Equity Capital Markets
* Daan van Manen Senior Director M&A, Philips
* Jaap van Manen, Professor of Corporate Governance, University of Groningen, partner Strategic Management Centre
* Rob Oudman, managing director Leonardo & Co
* Cees van Rijn Former CFO and executive board member, Nutreco, and various supervisory board positions
* Erik Roelofsen, Professor of International Financial Reporting and Capital Market Communication, Erasmus University
* Hans Schenk, Professor of Organisational Economics, Utrecht University
* Joeseph A. McCahery, Director of LLM Program at DSF

Public lectures

The public lectures are organized by the industry partners.
* William Rhodes, an American banker, and philanthropist
* Aswath Damodaran, is a professor of finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University
* Nassim Nicholas Taleb, essayist, scholar, statistician, and risk analyst
* Charles Goodhart, was a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee

* Khalid Bakkali, Director M&A, NIBC
* Jan Louis Burggraaf, M&A partner at Allen & Overy
* Costas Constantinou, Senior Manager at EY's valuation and business modelling practice in the Netherlands
* Kees Cools, Partner Strategy &, formerly Booz & Company
* Teun Teeuwisse Equity Analyst, Kempen & Co
* Jeroen van der Wal Practice Leader Valuation, Deloitte in the Netherlands
* Jeroen Weimer Practice Leader Valuation, KPMG Corporate Finance in the Netherlands
* Henk van Dalen, Former CFO of DSM, TNT and Vimpelcom
* Casper de Vries, holds the chair of Monetary Economics at the Erasmus School of Economics
* Arne Grimme, M&A partner at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek
* Hans Haanappel, Independent corporate finance advisor, provider of in-house training on valuation and modelling
* Wouter van der Heijden, Director at KPMG Corporate Finance
* Roderick van den Hemel Vice President, ING Corporate Finance

Students

On average, the school had 90 students each year with approximately 25 students enrolled in each program. Students on Master's courses studied either full-time or part-time. The majority of the students were international, with an average age between 26 and 28. The coursework normally included an internship in finance or a related field, traditionally with one of the partnering institutions.

The Higher School of Economics had a dual-Masters agreement with DSF and annually 5-10% of the student body was from Russia. Other students came from India, China, Africa, Indonesia, USA, Latin America. Students from The Netherlands represented around 30-35% of the student body.

Student culture

It was DSF tradition to open the academic year with one of the students ringing the bell at NYSE Euronext.

Public events

Duisenberg school of finance hosted public debates on topics related to international finance, economics and banking. The debates featured speakers and panelists from DNB, EIOPA and IMF, amongst others. The results of these public debates were frequently used by participating financial service companies as external communications tools.

School management

Executive Fellowship

The network of the industry practitioners from the partnering institutions collaborates with the school and each other with the Executive Fellows program. The Executive Fellows work closely with the school research for seeking the solutions to contemporary developments (and challenges) of the finance industry. Herman Mulder, a prominent figure in the fields of sustainability was an Executive Fellow at DSF until the school integration into the VU/UVA honorary program in October 2015.

Scholarships and awards

Duisenberg school of finance offers the Wim Duisenberg (EU) Scholarship, Thesis Competition, Dutch Board Member Leadership Award, Women in Finance Scholarship, country-specific scholarships, Orange Tulip Scholarship, and the ING Loan Scheme. Duisenberg Battle winners are awarded scholarships as well.

Accreditation

Both the MSc and LLM programmes of DSF are accredited by the NVAO (Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders).

Duisenberg Honors Program

Duisenberg school of finance, University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the Free University of Amsterdam (VU) have signed a letter of intent to collectively set up the Amsterdam Universities Business School (AUBS). The three parties closely collaborate in order to create an Amsterdam-based international business school, operating in the fields of accounting, business, finance and law. In the fall of 2014 the DSF board took a decision to integrate the existing Master's programs with partnering academic institutions. As of September 1, 2015, DSF was integrated into the economics and business faculties at the UvA and VU.

References

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Business schools in the Netherlands
Educational institutions established in 2008
2008 establishments in the Netherlands
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
University of Amsterdam