"More meetings, but the content of the work hasn’t changed"

Almost a year after the merger between MSM and UM: how is it going?

21-03-2023 · Background

No less than seven attempts and more than twenty years were needed to achieve it, but since May 2022 the Maastricht School of Management (MSM) officially belongs to Maastricht University (UM). How have those first months been? Also, what does MSM actually do? Observant visited the institute in the recently renovated Tapijn barracks, which operates as a separate unit within the School of Business and Economics (SBE).

The advantages of the merger? The immediate answer is an economic term: “Economies of scale”, says Diederik de Boer, director of the Expert Centre on Emerging Economies at MSM. In laymen’s terms: advantages due to a larger scale. “MSM can make use of the knowledge, facilities and UM’s large European network and hence we have a greater social impact.” As examples, De Boer mentions the knowledge and expertise of the Financing research group or the Maastricht Sustainability Institute. In addition, MSM can avail of the so-called triple-crown accreditation that SBE has: marks of quality from three of the most important accreditation institutes in the world.

Contacts

Vice versa, UM can make use of MSM’s network and partners. From China to Colombia, from Kuwait to South Africa and from Romania to Ethiopia: MSM has contacts throughout the whole world. “An SBE student is in Indonesia at the moment working on a literature project for us,” says Huub Mudde, assistant professor and project consultant at MSM. Also, it is not unlikely that more and more researchers and students from UM end up at other universities and projects elsewhere via MSM’s connections.

Bureaucracy

More bureaucracy is one of the disadvantages of merging with a larger organisation. When it comes to money – more management layers need to approve –, but also in the field of personnel affairs. De Boer: “For example, we need to change over to UM’s job order system (UFO).”
MSM does a lot of research and consultancy work in the global South, often in countries that the Dutch government has labelled as ‘orange’. “Can we still go there now that we are part of UM?” It is still possible, but matters like that need to be checked out first. Processes also often take longer. The faculty and ‘de Berg’ often have to have their say. “There are a lot of extra meetings,” says Mudde.

International

Start-up problems, because the content of the work hasn’t changed, says Amy Wang, director of education at MSM. “We know what we are doing; we believe in that. So does UM, because what we are doing is in line with UM’s strategy.” The international character of the education system, for example, says Wang: that is one of the showpieces of MSM’s education. Both their well-known MBA (Master of Business Administration) and the shorter programmes, such as the Summer Schools are “extremely international”. This applies both to the students and to the lecturers, Wang states proudly. “And by that I don’t mean the largest percentage being from Belgium or Germany. No, our classes consist on average of more than twenty nationalities. These are students between the ages of 25 and 45, with an average of nine years of work experience. Our summer programme last year, for example, had 120 participants (same profile as students from the MBA programme) with 37 different nationalities. The 19 lecturers all together had eleven different nationalities. You create a tremendous network this way. In addition, you learn about different cultural backgrounds. And maybe even more importantly: also about the business and entrepreneurial climate in other countries.” Mudde adds: “We train the future leaders of the global market.”

Self-sustaining

The larger part of MSM’s research takes place on the basis of the consultancy projects that the institute rakes in. So, practice-oriented research. Even now that MSM is part of UM, this will continue to be important, because the research institute must remain self-sustaining.

The research/consultancy branch of MSM concentrates on four main areas: the development of the agricultural industry, water management, rule of law, and lastly mental, sexual and reproductive health. Very important, De Boer emphasises: “Research that contributes towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).” These projects make use of the Triple Helix innovation model: collaboration between academics, industry and government.

Impact

As an example, consultants Mudde and De Boer refer to a project in Rwanda. MSM has been working in this country since the late nineties. The institute set up a training centre that supports universities and other education/research institutes in their attempts to improve the agricultural sector. This includes research into the best way to cultivate potatoes and what the best feed is for poultry, De Boer explains. “Experience shows that by concentrating on medium-sized businesses, the economic and social impact is greatest. Those businesses need employees and look for them locally. They focus especially on youths between fifteen and 25 years of age. Those laborers in turn learn from their work and then use that to work for themselves.” That is how businesses start and the economy grows. The government is also involved in such a project. These are often local governments, but sometimes MSM is also talking to the minister. They can, for example, lower tax rates or simplify permit processes. Mudde: “This is how we create an ecosystem and in doing so we improve sustainable economic development in the region.”

MSM in conflict areas

MSM works on research and education projects around the world, also in areas where there are conflicts. Places such as Palestine and Rwanda for example, where tension has been rising again the past few months. To what extent do those situations limit MSM’s work?

“We are affected by it when we can no longer do our work there,” says Meinhard Gans, director of MSM. “We always follow Dutch government policy.” When they assess it to be no longer safe, MSM will leave. Or when the Netherlands no longer wants to work with certain countries, says Gans. “Russia is a contemporary example of that. We don’t work there but we would now certainly not set anything up there.” The other option is of course that MSM feels that the situation is no longer workable or safe. It is especially the team on site that makes that decision, says Gans.

The situation in Palestine is still workable, but Gans refers to a former project in Yemen, as an example, in which he himself was involved. “We were working with the local university there to set up a business school, with their own MBA programmes. The situation there became more and more gruesome in 2012 and 2013 [In those years there were massive demonstrations against the authoritarian regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh, ed.], that even though it pained us we had to drop everything and leave.”

Where does that pain come from? “It feels like letting your partners in Yemen down. That is not the commitment that you had in mind. A loyalty issue,” he says. Of course, leaving a project prematurely also has financial consequences, says Gans. “But we can overcome that. Money is never a reason to stay somewhere or leave.”

Also because of moral considerations MSM will not quickly pull out of a project. Take the MSM project in Rwanda for example. There is the threat of a war between that country and Congo. Does Rwanda not play an evil role there, from the Western perspective? Directeur Gans: “Criticism from the Dutch perspective is easy, but it is often not that simple in practice. It is not our role to criticise the politicians. We are there to improve the academic capacity, our perspective doesn’t matter. That is not always easy, but if you can’t deal with that, you shouldn’t be doing this work. We will only quit because of political considerations, if they actively meddle in our work or academic freedom is at risk.”