Rotterdam International Case Academy

Working with real business challenges opens doors to curiosity, creativity, decision-making, problem-solving, leadership and more. You are in the lead and responsible for your own learning process, supported by dedicated coaches.

Working with or competing against international students is a very valuable intercultural experience.

With case solving you act as a consultant who has to solve a complex problem for a company. By analysing the challenge, you as a consultant has to identify the problem and generate a strategy to solve this problem. Being a good team player during this process is key to success. The better a team uses the individual skills of every team member to the benefit of the team, the better the final solution will be. 

You all have been trained in a certain specialism, now you form a transdisciplinary team, a high-performance team. While solving complex problems you make connections between ideas and concepts across different disciplinary boundaries. In this way, solutions are more robust, valuable, creative, sustainable and future proof.

I was a regular student in a regular programme, doing a regular study. The Case Academy programmes helped me to achieve many skills that no other study programme could have done. Being innovative, collaborative, interactive, taking leadership … these abstract words have become concrete and meaningful for me now. I understand it is not just about the problem a company has, but it is important to find the real cause of the problem underneath all the symptoms. What is the reason this company exists? Why should we choose a certain strategy? These questions I didn’t ask myself before, but now I learned to approach a problem from many different perspectives (…), this can be best achieved by combining different perspectives, different people’s strengths. Everyone knows something, but no one knows everything.

Sandy LaRuche Toelaram
Student Rotterdam

The Rotterdam International Case Academy (RICA) offers two semester programmes for students:

  • Agile Consulting – an international Business Pressure Cooker (AGC); semester 6 (spring)
  • All Stars Consultancy – Solving Tomorrow’s Problems  Today (ASC); semester 7, minor (fall)

In addition, the RICA also offers various options for lecturers. These include teaching with cases, case writing, setting up a competition and judging case solutions.

Course related questions?

case-academy@hr.nl

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Questions?

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Curious?

Check here our case crack episodes

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Training & Support

Agile Consulting

A 6th semester (3rd year) programme that goes beyond the ordinary. A pressure cooker in which you work with students from Rotterdam ánd abroad. Real business situations are the starting point for learning.

All Stars Consultancy

A 4th year programme that turns high-potential students like you into the expert problem-solvers that are needed by many companies. With your team you go to student case competitions worldwide.

Agile Consulting

A 6th semester (3rd year) programme that goes beyond the ordinary. A pressure cooker in which you work with students from Rotterdam ánd abroad. Real business situations are the starting point for learning.

All Stars Consultancy

A 4th year programme that turns high-potential students like you into the expert problem-solvers that are needed by many companies. With your team you go to student case competitions worldwide.

Training & Support

RICA Traineeship

Lecturers who are interested in the case method in an interdisciplinary and international setting can participate as a coach in one of the case semesters that are offered to the students. Agreements are then made in advance with his/her course manager about availability and time commitment. By collaborating with more experienced coaches, a lecturer gets familiar with ​​the value and results of the case method.

Art of Case Writing

RICA offers courses in the field of case writing. Together with an experienced writer, we then work on articulating a real company problem in a written case; of course, in close collaboration with the problem owner, usually the manager of a company or organisation. In this way, valuable and tailor-made cases are created that can be used in case competitions and RUAS programmes.

RICA Traineeship

Lecturers who are interested in the case method in an interdisciplinary and international setting can participate as a coach in one of the case semesters that are offered to the students. Agreements are then made in advance with his/her course manager about availability and time commitment. By collaborating with more experienced coaches, a lecturer gets familiar with ​​the value and results of the case method.

Art of Case Writing

RICA offers courses in the field of case writing. Together with an experienced writer, we then work on articulating a real company problem in a written case; of course, in close collaboration with the problem owner, usually the manager of a company or organisation. In this way, valuable and tailor-made cases are created that can be used in case competitions and RUAS programmes.

Judging Case Solutions + Organising Case Competitions

Assessing practical solutions to real-time problems – often without having all the information – is no easy matter. The assessment of case solutions is not about “right or wrong”, but rather about weighing one solution against another. Many aspects play a role in this. RICA offers lecturers the opportunity to gain experience in judging in the competitions that are organised in Rotterdam and also in the matches that take place within the different case semesters. Our Case Academy can advise and provide assistance in assessing the quality of the solutions and determining the scores. RICA can also provide judging assistance.

Organising Case Competitions

RICA has many years of experience in organising case competitions. Competitions can take anywhere from a day to a week, with case preparation time from a few hours to two weeks or more. The format and organisation can also differ: a set-up in divisions, head-to-head matches, whether or not to qualify first … the possibilities are endless. Our Case Academy can advise and help you set up a successful competition.

Judging Case Solutions

Assessing practical solutions to real-time problems – often without having all the information – is no easy matter. The assessment of case solutions is not about “right or wrong”, but rather about weighing one solution against another. Many aspects play a role in this. RICA offers lecturers the opportunity to gain experience in judging in the competitions that are organised in Rotterdam and also in the matches that take place within the different case semesters. Our Case Academy can advise and provide assistance in assessing the quality of the solutions and determining the scores. RICA can also provide judging assistance.

Organising Case Competitions

RICA has many years of experience in organising case competitions. Competitions can take anywhere from a day to a week, with case preparation time from a few hours to two weeks or more. The format and organisation can also differ: a set-up in divisions, head-to-head matches, whether or not to qualify first … the possibilities are endless. Our Case Academy can advise and help you set up a successful competition.

Teaching with cases (in cooperation with HR Academy)

Ultimately, a case study is simply an interesting problem with many correct answers. But how do you teach it? How do you assess the process and the solutions? How does case study work look like in classrooms? How much generic knowledge do you need as a lecturer? Where and how to get the best cases? The case method can be an extremely effective learning tool but is very different from the regular way of education. In order to familiarize lecturers with this, the HR Academy and the HR Center of Expertise regularly offer courses in collaboration with RICA. This course, however, will only continue with sufficient registrations.

NOTE: RICA is working on a number of short videos in which the case cracking tools are clearly explained. These “knowledge clips”  will be made available soon on this website.

Teaching with cases (in cooperation with HR Academy)

Ultimately, a case study is simply an interesting problem with many correct answers. But how do you teach it? How do you assess the process and the solutions? How does case study work look like in classrooms? How much generic knowledge do you need as a lecturer? Where and how to get the best cases? The case method can be an extremely effective learning tool but is very different from the regular way of education. In order to familiarize lecturers with this, the HR Academy and the HR Center of Expertise regularly offer courses in collaboration with RICA. This course, however, will only continue with sufficient registrations.

NOTE: RICA is working on a number of short videos in which the case cracking tools are clearly explained. These “knowledge clips”  will be made available soon.