David Gillingham Award

David Gillingham header

Named in recognition of the founding president of NIBS, the David Gillingham Award was introduced in 2013. Its aim is to honour outstanding, internationally-oriented business education projects, and to encourage NIBS member schools to share best practices with their peers.

The award consists of a certificate, and formal recognition at the NIBS Annual Conference.  An abstract of the winning project is also published on the NIBS website.

Selection criteria:

Projects will be judged on the extent to which they:

  • advance business education
  • meaningfully engage students and/or faculty members
  • have an international interest or horizon
  • are inspiring
  • have an impact on the host school or a network of schools
  • potentially benefit the wider community

Both ‘in progress’ and completed projects are eligible.

Application process:

The David Gillingham Award is open to all NIBS member institutions.  To be considered, schools should prepare a description of the initiative (no more than 500 words) along with two PowerPoint summary slides and submit them via email to newsletter@nibsweb.org on or before 21 April 2023.

Finalists will be asked to give a short presentation about their project with the winner being selected via audience vote.

Past Winners:


2023

Winner: International Marketing Week Network

Barbara Brooijmans, EPHEC, Belgium
Sven Cerulus, Mario De Wolf, UCLL, Belgium
Professor Joachim Link, Heilbronn UAS, Germany

Runner-up: Authentic Actions: “Becoming the Change You Want to See in the World”

Dr. Petra van Heugten, Gemma Coughlan, PhD(c), Hanze UAS, the Netherlands

Runner-up: International Debate Series

Professor Marieta Velikova, Belmont University, U.S.A

Runner-up: Dashboard for data-driven intercultural learning

Ed Overes, Zuyd UAS, Netherlands

Runner-up: Cross border projects

Chris Schrage, Laura Zabala Velez, University of Northern Iowa, U.S.A

2022

Winner: International Collaborative Inclusion through Business Simulation,

Ed OVERES, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands


Runner up: Motivating international newbies for strategic management through a COIL XL,

Neji MILAD, University: 

Artevelde University of Applied Sciences, Belgium 


Runner up: Student Learning Ambassadors Module (SLAM)

Professor Ding NING, Mariusz SOLTANIFAR

Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, Netherlands 


Runner up: Working Across Borders (WAB)

Sven CERULUS  

University College Leuven-Limburg (UCLL), Belgium 

David Gillingham Award Submission UCLL (BE).ppt


Runner up: An innovative approach to over the technical challenges as a result of Brexitfor Swedish student’s funding provision, studying validated U.K. top-up programmes in Sweden. 

Colin KNAPP, Rebecka Persson and Otto Lilliehöök.

Företagsekonomiska Institutet (FEI), Sweden 


2021

2020 The David Gillingham Award wasn’t run due to the global pandemic.

2019

Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands, for ‘The Rotterdam Business Case’. This unique project partnered with The Foundation Entrepreneurs Soundboard and Rotterdam City Council combined to nurtured and mentor over 400 successful entrepreneurs from below the poverty line. Students, mentors and businesses combined in a young + old = gold initiative to support developing businesses. The model’s success was shared with partners in Finland and Brighton to add an international dimension.

2018

2017

Carleton University, Canada, for the ‘From Buckets to Rain Barrels‘ learning initiative in which business, engineering and industrial design students collaborate with NGOs and residents to develop water purification and storage solutions for a drought-impacted region of Tanzania.
>> Read the news article (Carleton University)

2016

Jackson State University, USA, for the ‘Passport to the World‘ initiative for students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds.

2015

FH Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences, Austria, for the Scaling Up from Local to Global collaborative entrepreneurship and learning program.
>> Read the news article (English translation in Wirtschafts Zeit)

2014

2013

Arkansas State University, USA, for their Ecuador Project in Salinas de Guaranda.
>> Read the news article (ASU News)

Competitions now open for registration

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