RSM ends controversial contract with Shell

A controversial agreement between the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) and Shell – which stipulated that the oil and gas company was permitted to influence the curriculum – was ended in December. A similar agreement with ING was previously terminated in 2013.

Last year, the business faculty was subjected to an inquiry by an external committee led by Maastricht-based professor Gerard Mols. The reason for the inquiry was a critical report on the relationship between the faculty and companies in the fossil fuel industry. One of the things mentioned in the report was criticism of the contracts RSM concluded with Shell and ING. The contracts, framed and mounted on the third floor of the Mandeville Building, gave the companies a formal right to ‘influence the faculty’s curriculum’.

No evidence of influence

According to the Mols Committee of Inquiry, the investigation didn’t unearth any evidence that such influencing actually occurred, but it did conclude that the contracts were ‘awkwardly worded’. Initially, this led to RSM amending the contract with Shell, and the contract was later terminated entirely.

As promised, Dean Steef van de Velde submitted a progress report to the Executive Board before the 1 January 2019 deadline regarding the changes requested by the Mols Committee of Inquiry. This report has not yet been made public. It is, however, known that the requested corporate register, where the faculty discloses all of its agreements with the corporate sector, is now online.