Entries for May 2016

MAASTRICHT. The Faculty of Law celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. Last Friday, 27 May, a party was held for students and staff in Rebelle, the entertainment centre in the former Augustinian church on the Kesselskade. Some six hundred guests (the maximum of 850 had registered, including about 90 employees) moved to the groove. Dean Hildegard...

Bram (23): “I am not feeling so great and that is why I spend more time alone these days. My friends are looking for my attention and that bothers me. I find it difficult to keep saying 'no'. What should I do?” Ingrid: At the beginning of the nineteen-nineties the 22-year-old recently graduated American Chris McCandless leave...

He is very open and despite his success, he is never arrogant. He gives researchers the space to follow their passion. When decisions need to be taken, he wants to hear everyone’s opinions first. So, he is a friendly man. But if the interests of the research institute that he helped set up, are at stake, professor Frans van Winden can be fier...

What can I do with my qualification? What do I have to offer? Today’s students are under severe pressure and hardly have time to think about themselves and their future. It is the university’s job to help them, to ensure that no talent goes to waste and that future academics can enter the labour market with more self-insight and confide...

Maximiliane Kolb, 23, Bachelor in International Business, Class of 2015 “The biggest struggle for me was that I didn’t know where to go and what to do. Of course Maastricht University offers things like the Business Days, which help you orientate yourself to some extent, but what I was missing was a career centre where you could go a...

MAASTRICHT. Too few study spaces, sockets with no power, broken chairs and mice in the inner city building: students continue to complain about the library facilities at Maastricht University.

MAASTRICHT. A thousand people on yoga mats at the Tapijn barracks. That is the aim of the Good Life Yoga Maastricht foundation. On 21 June, International Yoga Day, the organisers want to show that yoga is not “woolly, boring or just sitting down,” says psychologist Kim van Oorsouw, a researcher at Maastricht University. “On the co...

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“Where are you going?” “Meeting a friend.” My housemate cannot believe it – why on earth would anyone decide to hang out with a friend at 7 PM? Shocked, she tells me that those “are not times, they are not times (to meet)”: 7 PM is, apparently, a ‘dead hour’: at 7, you’re not suppose...

When it comes to pizza, everyone has an opinion. And with all those different preferences, discussions about pizza require the same level of delicacy as debates on politics or religion. Bancale 61, which opened recently in Scharn, not far from the Albert Heijn XXL, serves incredible pizzas: visually arresting and baked in a shallow-domed, wood-fire...

MAASTRICHT. Until 8 June only UM cardholders will be permitted to enter the University Library in the inner city. Students who don’t have a UM card can gain entry on presentation of their ID and certificate of registration. “We are working hard to guarantee that UM students have a study place during the exam period”, say the libra...

“I didn’t know I was committing fraud, but I was. I pled guilty because I broke the law, behaved unethically and harmed people. I’m ashamed and want to apologise.” These are the words of Andrew Fastow, former chief financial officer at Enron, the US energy company that went bankrupt in late 2001 after one of the biggest corp...

“It was 2002, I was twenty years old and studying Health Sciences, Policy and Care Management. I had a tremendous hunger for other knowledge, read a lot of anti-globalist literature. Someone, I believe it was lecturer Jan van der Made, recommended Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns (Theory of Communicative Action) by Jürgen Habermas (born in...

Milan (26): “I worry about everything. About how I should tackle matters, but also about the way in which I have done things. I get tired from all that thinking. How can I create peace and quiet in my head?” Ingrid: I’m on my bicycle heading into the city centre. I have cycled this route along the Maas many times, but never bef...

She didn’t believe it, when Ursula Nelles, a member of the supervisory board and chairperson of the advisory selection committee, called her on 18 March. “Ha ha, I asked if she was sure she had the right number.” Yes, Nelles had the right number. Rianne Letschert (39) “was completely taken by surprise, had never thought abou...

MAASTRICHT. “You will see, we are about to go live and five minutes later the shit storm will break loose.” It won’t be nice, all that criticism, but “they care”. Bernadette Jansma addresses the audience in Brasserie Tapijn on Wednesday morning, 18 May, just before Maastricht University’s new website is launched....

Communication could be much better, tutors should receive more standard teaching hours and exams should be checked beforehand for mistakes. From 23 to 26 May, students can vote for the new members of the University Council and the faculty councils. Observant asked three student parties about their vision on PBL, exams and facilities.

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As this is my last column I thought I’d share a few lessons that I have learnt while living here these past nine months. Firstly, cycling is not just popular in the Netherlands it’s a way of life for the Dutch. I have seen a cyclist ride while carrying groceries and texting at the same time, 4 year olds out of training wheels ride withi...

Fine teas. Foreign cakes. Oriental design. Calming and attentive staff – visiting Teazone is an adventure in itself. Sit back and relax in one of the comfortable chairs or couches with your favourite tea, espresso or English scones with homemade jam and cream. Teazone is one of my favourite places in the tiny streets of the city centre of Maa...

MAASTRICHT. “There is absolutely no problem whatsoever” with publications and other forms of collaboration between James Hunton, who has been found to have committed fraud, and Maastricht researchers. This is the verdict of Philip Vergauwen, dean of the School of Business and Economics, on the American professor of accountancy who held ...

They had to conquer obstacles, run, raft and race, but eventually the School of Business and Economics (SBE) successfully defended its title and won the Faculty Fight 2016. This interfaculty sports competition is organised for every fifth anniversary of Maastricht University. Last Thursday, it was held for the second time.

The American James Coleman is one of the greatest educational sociologists from the post-Second World War era, but also a man who didn’t think twice about sending politically incorrect opinions on education out into the world. Professor Rolf van der Velden, director of ROA (Maastricht Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market), grin...

Laura (24): “I have a problem when things don’t go according to plan. If the train is delayed, if I have a flat tyre, or it rains when I have to cycle, I get into a bad mood. How can I deal with these things better?” Ingrid: Since the arrival of the precipitation radar, we cycle and walk in the rain less often and because of ou...

Scientific articles should first and foremost be made available in a database that is freely accessible to everyone and only after that be published in journals. Surprisingly, this statement comes from the editor-in-chief of the renowned British Medical Journal (BMJ). An interview with Fiona Godlee.

A clear thinker who provides constructive and unambiguous feedback, but who can also deal with criticism very well. Alexander Brüggen, senior lecturer at Accounting and Information Management, came to know Joan Luft, emeritus professor at Michigan State University, during two projects on which they worked together.

MAASTRICHT. There are doubts about the scientific reliability of three articles by James Hunton, a former American professor of Accountancy who was also a professor at Maastricht University during the first decade of this century. This was announced by the Association of Dutch Universities (VSNU) last Tuesday after an investigation by a Scientific ...

According to the chairman of the supervisory board, Truze Lodder, there is “delight all around” and “congratulations were pouring in” after the announcement of the appointment of a new rector, professor of Victimology and International Law Rianne Letschert from Tilburg.

No, there have been no stories about students or employees drifting along the Tongersestraat after closing time. That is probably also due to the fact that the SBE Bar closes at 20:00hrs. The initiative for a faculty pub in the Kruithuis came from the students but the School of Business and Economics, caterer Albron and Facility Services fully supp...

MAASTRICHT. “Don’t listen to people like us, it’s your own path,” said Alejandro Barrera, owner of technology news site tech.eu, at the Centre Céramique last Monday. Nevertheless, many people had come to listen to entrepreneurs giving talks and workshops at the Maastricht Entrepreneurship Week 2016, from 9 until 12 May.

MAASTRICHT. When Irina Burlacu from Moldova finished her Ph.D. at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, she realized something. “Only a few people will ever read my thesis. It’s technical and there are so many Ph.D. theses; who has time to read them all. I didn’t want that to happen. It was the outcome of years of work.&rd...

"The first two industrial revolutions made people richer and more urban". This statement of indisputable fact from the Economist underlines why the third industrial revolution is not only desirable but long overdue: what the world needs is more wealth and more urbanism, and it is hard to imagine a social ill that could not be solved by th...

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The Brandweerkantine is exactly what Maastricht had been missing for some time before this quirky and ‘instagrammable’ restaurant opened in the old fire station. This alternative location - very close to the city centre – is a great hangout place for eating out with friends or casual meetings. Walking through the large space, you ...

My last diary entry dates back from Monday the 11th of April. I cannot really decipher what I did on that day thanks to my hasty handwriting, but it does include the word ‘siesta’ scribbled into a corner. In February, on Schiphol Airport, I had bought myself a little red notebook as a goodbye gift – sometimes, one has to spoil her...

Chantal (19): “My best friend’s mother is sick and has not long to live. Of course my friend is very sad and I don’t know how to deal with that. What can I do to cheer her up?” Ingrid: When someone we love is sad or in mourning, we want to do something to make that feeling smaller, less intense. Of course, the suffering i...