International Cooperation and Pinkpop

Sometimes you don’t have to sell Maastricht because Maastricht sells itself. Last Thursday Anthony Long from the University of Adelaide visited our university. Anthony was recruiting students in Germany and thought it was a good idea to drop by in Maastricht because Maastricht is quite popular among Adelaide students. The efforts of Ina Engelen (UCM) and myself to promote Maastricht extensively in Adelaide seem to pay out. Luckily, the weather was nice, the food was good, and together with Harm Hospers of the UCM we had a good talk about the future of international education. After Tony’s visit we will have a strong supporter to promote Maastricht because Tony loved being in Maastricht. Welcome in Maastricht, you Adelaide students!

Friday was again dedicated to international co-operation. The Groupe Maastricht had organized their annual meeting in Maastricht. This group consists of a number of leading European universities (including the UM). So far, the meetings have not lead to specific results because the focus and the mission of the Groupe are not clear. The wrong but prevailing idea in the international university world that every reputable university should belong to a ‘consortium’ seems to have been the driving force behind the Groupe Maastricht. Fortunately we have agreed that to proceed, we need to have a clear mission first and see what is in for everybody. It took some time to reach this starting point of international co-operation, but it is never too late to learn.

Since the 1970s, for me the Whit weekend has been dominated by Pinkpop. In the 1970s and the early 1980s I often went to Pinkpop, thereafter I followed it on the radio and TV and now two of my kids kept me updated with their SMS messages from the place-to-be: Pinkpop is a real overlapping generations festival.