Aart Bosman Student Excellence Award

Winner 2015: Thijmen Calis

Third-year student of Economics and Business Economics Thijmen Calis has won the University of Groningen Aart Bosman Student Excellence Award. ‘An extremely talented and hardworking student with an enormous interest in economic issues, in particular in developing countries.’ This is how the Programme Director of Economics and Business Economics Professor Bert Schoonbeek described Thijmen Calis. His average mark over three years was an 8.9 and he earned a 9 for his thesis. His marks were also high during his studies at the Chinese University in Hong Kong. He has a chance of graduatingsumma cum laude this summer.
Calis organized a successful seminar on Bitcoin and participated in a research project on the role of microfinance in India. He presented the research report at the European Microfinance Conference in Geneva in June this year. As a result of his interest in the problems faced by developing countries, Calis volunteered for the AIESEC Kick4Ed project in Manila in the Philippines. There he taught English, mathematics and physics, and he also taught the children how to play football.