The integration was not supposed to become a never-ending process, President of Maastricht University, Rianne Letschert, let slip several times recently. A year ago, the exploration phase started after the announcement that MUMC+ and UM were going to have a ‘marriage’. And although Letschert still wants to keep up the momentum, the word "diligence" also dropped several times during the online Q&A. The intensified interference of the participation bodies after the summer, of the university council, but also the hospital's staff convention, among others, will take time. And if they need it, so be it, say Mertens and Letschert. It is too important, the implications too great to just rush it through.
Zip
Over the past year, all kinds of working groups went to work on different topics, such as strategy and finance, because how ‘financially sound’ are both institutions? "Healthy, very robust," says Mertens, "but we noticed that both deal with things very differently. We are organised differently." So in that, they will have to find themselves even more. And what is the outcome of the governance working group? Who will soon be the boss of an organisation of nine thousand employees with more than 25 thousand students and a lot of patients? It becomes clear that a year ago, they were heading for a single legal entity (with all kinds of consequences, as this would require amending the Higher Education Act). "But then we have to spend so much energy on matters in The Hague," Mertens says, "we don't have to, because it can be done differently". A structure with two legal entities is more obvious. However, there will be one board that can "steer strategically and financially". Moreover, the proposed form gives "a certain security", Letschert says. "Suppose things go wrong in the future, you can easily unzip."
House
From September, Mertens and Letschert cum suis will work even more closely together. Also in Randwyck, the bond will (have to) become closer between the faculty board of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences and the hospital's management. The two are now too much separated, Mertens believes, "you don't want that anymore. You want both to integrate and lead the house," referring to an integrated UMC.
As for the future, there is "a lot of energy and confidence", says Mertens, with Letschert reiterating what she promised earlier: no, academic freedom will not be questioned. And no, UM will not become a health university despite a shared focus on health-related themes. Those who are fully engaged in, for example, circularity or Europe can just keep doing that. And the fear that two different cultures will not go together? After all, the hospital is much more hierarchical, a 24-hour company with a much less open culture. Again, Letschert comes back to what she said earlier in an interview with Observant: "There are differences, we don't close our eyes to that, but we also have those within the university, faculties, departments. At the same time, those differences perhaps provide a different perspective on issues."