{"id":85287,"date":"2018-03-15T13:04:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T12:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=85287"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:57","slug":"studenten-onderzoeken-maatschappelijke-impact-van-feyenoord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/03\/15\/studenten-onderzoeken-maatschappelijke-impact-van-feyenoord\/","title":{"rendered":"Students to research Feyenoord\u2019s societal impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erasmus University will be joining forces with Feyenoord, Rotterdam\u2019s largest professional football club. Over the next four years, twenty master students will be doing graduation project-related work placements at the club. Their objective? To determine the effect of Feyenoord\u2019s community projects on the city of Rotterdam.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Jan de Jong (left) and Brian Godor (second from the left) sign the agreement.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to sign a contract that is not worth a fortune for a change.\u201d Despite the fact that he hasn\u2019t been at Feyenoord long, general manager (and EUR alumnus) Jan de Jong has already signed contracts that involved far greater amounts of money. However, that does not mean he is not happy with the pieces of paper that are currently awaiting his signature. \u201cThis is a major acquisition,\u201d he says jokingly while shaking the hands of ESSB Dean Victor Bekkers and assistant professor Brian Godor. While posing for a photo with the first crop of students to join his club, he adds: \u201cEven in these early stages, this is a better team than the one we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huge fan<\/h2>

EUR and Feyenoord committed to a four-year partnership last Wednesday. Under the partnership, ESSB and ESHCC students will research Feyenoord\u2019s impact on society. During each academic year, five students will do research work placements at Feyenoord, which will also involve the writing of a master thesis. \u201cThe club does quite a bit for society,\u201d says Godor, who supervises the programme from EUR. \u201cBut it\u2019s not always clear what impact these community projects have. The first students to embark on the programme will draw up a quick overview. In the long term, I hope Feyenoord will not come and see us after the fact, but talk to us beforehand, to determine what kind of impact their projects are designed to have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t
\n\t\t\u2018When I saw the name \u201cFeyenoord\u201d, I didn\u2019t even bother to read what the assignment was about\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

The first crop of students embarked on their graduation assignments at the famous club a few weeks ago. They all seem very keen on the assignment, although they all had different reasons for signing up for it. \u201cWhen I saw the name \u2018Feyenoord\u2019, I didn\u2019t even bother to read what the assignment was about,\u201d says Ammar el Zarow, 25, a Positive Organisational Psychology student, with a grin. \u201cI lived in Zuid for a long time, and being a huge fan, I was immediately sold on the programme. Sports, psychology and Feyenoord \u2013 the perfect combination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Impact on the city<\/h2>
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure><\/div>

Luckily for El Zarow, the assignment did turn out to be up his alley. \u201cMy thesis is about the Matchplay project, in which unemployed youths and employers meet each other while playing sports. I\u2019m going to look into the question as to whether sports and the Feyenoord brand have any impact on the number of youths who find a job during the course of the project.\u201d<\/p>\n

His fellow student Anouk Cox, 22, confesses that the fact that the work placement involves football was not why she signed up for it. \u201cI mainly found the assignment they offered extremely interesting. My research will focus on the question as to how Feyenoord will be best able to help adolescents living in Rotterdam-Zuid obtain basic qualifications that will help them find a job.\u201d Having only recently moved to Rotterdam, Anouk never used to be much of a Feyenoord fan, but she is on her way to becoming one. \u201cAs a student living in Maastricht, you don\u2019t get to see much of MVV [Maastricht\u2019s professional football club \u2013 ed.], but Feyenoord is highly visible here. I was completely unaware of the club\u2019s impact on the city. The club has already given me tickets to several matches, so I\u2019ll be a fan soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t

De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t