Tweet04-04-2011 om 09:49 by Sueli Brodin

The Expat Awards were created last year by Expatica Communications, Nyenrode Business University and Undutchables Recruitment Agency as an annual award "to recognise the efforts and successes of the international and expat community in the Netherlands" and celebrate the achievements of "outstanding exceptional expats, employers and service providers."

Maastricht University’s Knowledge Centre for International Staff (KCIS) was nominated for the 2011 Expats Awards in the category Expat Service Provider of the Year.



All finalists, as well as last year's winners, were invited to attend the official awards ceremony on 29 March at Nyenrode Business University in Breukelen near Utrecht. As Expat of the Year 2010, I had the pleasure to make the two hour car trip to Breukelen with three representatives of the KCIS team, Project Manager Veronique Eurlings and her colleagues Helder Craveirinha and Anja Brouwers. There we met up with Jan-Martin Ahrendt and Sam Welie from the International Service Desk Maastricht Region at the Maastricht city hall who had nominated KCIS for the award.



Just like last year, the atmosphere was filled with tense excitement in anticipation of the announcement of the new winners.



Luckily for the Maastricht delegation, the first award to be revealed was precisely in the category Expat Provider of the Year, which KCIS was running for.



All finalists had been asked to submit a video clip presenting their organisations and the first time I saw KCIS' film, I was convinced that they had a strong chance to win. Through the vivid testimonial of a new foreign lecturer from St Kitts and Nevis at the School of Business and Economics, the film gave a good overview of the services new international staff members at Maastricht University can expect from KCIS, such as assistance with relocation paperwork and social integration. The lecturer in the film explained that without KCIS' help in getting settled and meeting other people through social events, she would probably have gone back to her previous job in Scotland.



This is what I call the smile of a winner!

"Your organisation came out as the clear winner in your category," said the representative of the jury in announcing KCIS as Expat Service Provider of the year, "because you won the overwhelming majority of the public vote and the unanimous vote of the jury. Congratulations!"

KCIS was particularly praised for its close collaboration with the city and regional authorities in its efforts to create a lively international community in the Maastricht region.



Sharing the good news on Twitter



KCIS Project Manager Veronique Eurlings was interviewed by The Expat TV, an online channel covering expat affairs for the international community in The Hague. To the question "Why do you think you won?" she replied: "I think it is because we work with genuine passion and we really want to help our new foreign staff to have a good life in the area that we like so much. We are very happy to be where we are and we are very happy when people want to come and we want to make sure they feel at home."



A toast to KCIS!

After organising two successful "Meet & Mingle" evenings in October and December 2010 for the international staff at Maastricht University and the international community at large, KCIS will soon launch an informal monthly get-together event called "Meet & Greet Maastricht" to take place every last Thursday of the month at a yet to be specified location in the city. "The idea behind this initiative is to bring together like-minded international people living and/or working in the Maastricht region for informal drinks," Veronique explained.

After a cheerful celebration of the award over dinner, Veronique, Helder, Anja and I spent the entire trip back home thinking out loud and successfully devising a special and entertaining activity for the first "Meet & Greet Maastricht" event.

My only regret is that I will not be able to announce it nor publish any first hand account from participants of it on Crossroads, the web magazine run for the past ten years by the European Journalism Centre to serve the local international community, since the publication must be discontinued , due to end of external funding.

Also check:

Video clip: KCIS wins Expat Award in the category Expat Service Provider of the Year
Photo album

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