With Letschert’s appointment as Minister of Education, Culture and Science in the new cabinet, a vacancy arose on the Executive Board. The Supervisory Board stated in a press release today that it considered it “necessary for all positions on the Executive Board to be filled in the short term, given the large number of ongoing dossiers.” The appointments run until 1 September, and in the meantime a more permanent solution will be sought.
What that solution will look like remains uncertain. One of the dossiers referred to by the Supervisory Board concerns the integration plans between the university and MUMC+, which were recently made public. In those plans, there is officially no longer a ‘position’ for a board president. Under the new structure, the future five-member governing board of UM/MUMC+ would be led jointly by the head of the hospital and the rector. The plans will be discussed this month by various representative bodies, where many concerns and questions remain, partly regarding this governance structure.
Both Habibović and Smits are experienced administrators. Habibović joined Maastricht University from the University of Twente in 2014, where she became professor of Inorganic Biomaterials. Together with Clemens van Blitterswijk, emeritus professor of Regenerative Medicine, she founded MERLN, UM’s institute for regenerative medicine. She served as its scientific director for four years, until being appointed rector in 2022. Following Letschert, she is the second Maastricht rector to move into the position of Executive Board president.
Jan Smits became professor of European Private Law at UM in 1999, where—apart from a temporary position in Tilburg—he has remained ever since. He previously served as vice dean and chair of the Private Law department before becoming dean of the Law faculty in 2017. His second and final term as dean ends on 1 March. He had originally planned to take a sabbatical, but has now postponed it in order to assume the rectorship. Smits will be succeeded as dean by Ronald Janse, who previously held the same position at the Open University.