Last week I went running along the Savelsbos in eighteen-degree weather, the first real warmth finally reaching Maastricht. Above me, formations of greylag geese cut across the sky in their characteristic V-shapes, dozens of birds returning to the Limburg wetlands after winter. I stopped to watch them pass overhead, listening to their calls echo across the fields between the Savelsbos and the Maas. These geese migrate without committees or negotiations, just the ancient rhythm of survival and renewal. When winter ends, they return.
Dutch academia just survived a harsh winter. About two years of budget uncertainty, protests, anxiety about the future. The kind of cold that makes you wonder if warmth will ever return.
But now there are genuine signs of thaw. A new government that at least promised to invest in education. Our former president, Rianne Letschert, now serving as Minister of Education. Last week, the University Council voted ‘no’ on the proposed integration of the hospital and the university, a small sign that academic freedom comes first. The temperature is rising. The geese are back.
Watching the greylag geese settle back along the Maas, I think about what their return means. They did not fly hundreds of kilometers to enjoy the warmer weather. They came back to build nests, to breed, to raise the next generation. What strikes me about these birds: they return to the same breeding grounds their ancestors used, but every nest is constructed fresh from whatever materials they find. Every generation adapts.
Academia has that same work ahead. Teaching students with new tools, not just old methods. AI has reshaped education while we debated whether to allow it. Here in Maastricht, we pioneered problem-based learning when others thought it impossible. We should know better than anyone that innovation requires using the tools that the season brings.
Winter taught us what we can survive. The thaw will show us what we can create.
The greylag geese are already at work in the Savelsbos. They do not celebrate their arrival. They descend from the sky, land, and just get started.
The warmth is here. Time to move.
Jonas Heller, assistant professor Marketing & director SBE DEXLab