Pauline van der Meer Mohr

Despite the fact that we as Executive Board are definitely too old for 7 course dinners with matching wines, we really enjoyed and appreciated the effort of the students last night who served us the traditional RKvV/CvB dinner hosted by student association RSG. This was our third annual dinner and each year, the students surprise us with the quality of their hospitality. Just before midnight, we pulled ourselves by the bootstraps to go home, knowing that the day would start early and the meetings required prereading. That’s when the students started their usual nocturnal activities (except for one, who needed to get up even earlier than we because of a rowing event today). Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this possible: the cooks, the servers, the dishwashers, and to all representatives from the various student associations: thanks for your hospitality, your generosity, your good table manners and excellent conversations, we have enjoyed it all tremendously.

One of the great pleasures of my job is that I often meet truly special and outstanding people doing truly special and outstanding things. Yesterday, Defne Ayas, director of Witte de With centre for contemporary art paid me a visit. Defne is a real cosmopolitan and one of the best things that happened to Rotterdam. Turkish by birth, educated in the US, having lived in Shanghai for many years (and speaking Mandarin as a result), she came to Rotterdam to lead Witte de With, a center which I am embarrassed to say I did not know ranks among the top 6 or 7 modern art centers in the world, right up there with Tate modern in London. Will definitely continue a conversation with her to bring Erasmus and Witte de With closer together.

I joined the Rotterdam Science theatre yesterday; a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. One of our researchers spends an afternoon bringing their research to the general public in a playful manner. Yesterday, we saw prof Inez de Beaufort of Erasmus MC; she talked about ethics and obesity and was surrounded by various theatrical parafernalia and performers (including frank Groothof, one of my all time favourite theatre performers). It is a shame that these afternoons draw such a modest audience. Our researchers spend the time preparing and performing, everybody puts in a lot of effort and usually only 30-50 people sign up. It is an initiative worthy of more attention, so please spread the word.

Last weekend, our country saw the demise and fall of its government, despite 7 intensive weeks of negotiations to reach an agreement on a package deal to meet EU criteria to cut our budget deficit. Alas, no such deal was reached and prime minister Rutte is back to the drawing board. I do hope that behind the scenes, serious work is being done to ensure that an adequate budget will be submitted to Brussels shortly. From the news, one would say that the topic ’du jour’  is when we can expect the next elections. Ironically, election dates seem more important than solving the nations most pressing problems. The US press has already suggested that Europe’s greatest liability is not Hollande, but Holland. Is anybody asking the question what went wrong in the way we conduct politics that we could end up in these dire straits? That we are now being compared with Belgium (no government for over a year) or even Greece? Some soul-searching would be useful before we jump into the next round of mud-slinging. For our sector, several unknowns remain. We assume that we will continue to implement the performance contracts as set out in the so-called Hoofdlijnenakkoord. It is of paramount importance that the government is a reliable partner: universities are accountable for targets (regarding study success, amongst other things) and the government is held to provide the commensurate funding. One of the proposed budgettary measures is the abolition of student grants, coupled with the simultaneous abolition of the ‘langstudeerdersregeling’. We support this measure under the condition that a meaningful part of the ensuing benefit will be ploughed back into our sector.

Sometimes, things comes together within a short timespan. This morning, I did a radio interview with BNR newsradio (lots of interest in the pilot results of Nominaal=Normaal). As a thank you gift, I received an interesting book by Renee Steenbergen: ” De Nieuwe Mecenas”, on charitable giving for cultural institutions. Just in time reading for this evening, when I may address the charity dinner Argos Oil is hosting for our Erasmus MC Thorax Foundation. Hoping to generate a substantial amount of funds through this fundraiser, I have thrown in a masterclass for female talent (offers received from 1500 euros to avoid embarassment). I do hope this will be a great success. Our researchers deserve it and need it. Have just read the overview produced by the Rathenau Institue on government R&D spending. It appears that all departments are spending less since the 2010 budget was set. Percentage wise, total government r&D spend is being reduced from 0,84% in 2010 to 0,67% of GDP by 2016. Also in absolute terms, direct spend on R&D is decreasing, which means that NL is going down in the international (Eurostat) rankings from a 5th position in 2010 to a mere 12th position by 2016. Only the UK, Belgium and Italy are spending even less.

It’s been too long since I last posted a blog entry, my apologies. I have been travelling to Beijing (to sign MOUs with Renmin university, Peking university and pay courtesy calls to some other university partners). I was reminded of this song “there are 9 million bicycles in Beijing, that’s a fact”. Well, most of these bicycles have been replaced with expensive cars since the lyrics of this song were written. An unbelievable difference with the city I last visited a decade or so ago. Following China, I joined Mayor Aboutaleb to Singapore (where he addressed the Centre for livable cities on urban development in Rotterdam). Since returning, life has been hectic with preparations for today’s accreditation committee (which is conducting an audit of our quality control processes) and of course with our performance commitments which will be part and parcel of the university’s so-called Profiling Plan (submission deadline 1 May). If all of this sounds slightly bureaucratic, well, I guess it is. But on the positive side, it is always a good thing to critically review one’s processes and procedures, and learning from external feedback is valuable, too.

Just attended the annual “Apeldoorn conference”, held in Manchester this year. The theme of the conference was Higher Education at the Heart of Growth. This was the 11th British-Dutch dialogue conference, where British and Dutch policy makers, University administrators, commentators, politicians and business leaders came together to explore how the Dutch and British are ‘interestingly different’, in the words of co-chair Alexander Rinnooy Kan. A site visit to Manchester University was very informative and we came away with plenty of examples of best practices, opportunities for internationalisation and collaboration. I had the opportunity to address the conference and will attach my speech as soon as I have had a chance to edit it.

Among the major dissatisfiers in any professional environment are the cleanliness of the location and the quality of its catering. When it’s ok, nobody talks about it, except when you have contracted a 2 star Michelin chef (as business school IMD in Lausanne once did). When it’s not ok, everybody is unhappy. Unfortunately, we (the EUR) have issues with both. The catering issue is a disappointing price/performance ratio, as clearly communicated by students and staff alike, most recently in the staff engagement survey. The executive board hears this feedback and is taking it up with the caterers as a matter of urgency. I don’t want to overpromise, as we are contractually tied and cannot change conditions unilaterally, but it is clear that improvements are needed. The cleaning issue is more complex, as it strictly does not regard the university. A conflict between the cleaners and their employer about certain labour conditions has led to a series of strikes over the last few months. Of course I understand that it is not enough to say ‘thank you’ and be kind to the cleaners, this in and of itself does not improve their labour conditions. And it is a fact that we have contracted a party that won the tender based on a number of criteria, including price. Labour conditions are important, and cleaning personnel, just like other staff, have certain entitlements (including, to name just a few, basic respect and paid sick leave). It is inappropriate for me to blog or brag about confidential discussions between the executive board and the university’s contracting parties. But we do emphasise the importance of decent working conditions in all our contractual relationships.

Dear EUR students, I would like to invite you to enter a contest. I am harvesting ideas about “the university of the future”: what will it look like? How is it different from today? What needs to be done to create it? Here’s the challenge: send me your ideas in the form of a ‘column’ of (min) 500 – (max) 1000 words. Please write either in Dutch or in English. There are no boundary conditions: feel free to use your imagination and creativity. A jury will review your ideas, and the best 4 will win a free entry ticket to this year’s PINC conference on 22 May (www.PINC.nl). This conference, which usually sells out very quickly, brings together creative minds of all walks of life in an unforgettable setting. The best 10 will be invited for lunch in the Faculty club, where you will have an opportunity to share your ideas with senior members of the university faculty and administration. A unique opportunity to inspire others with your vision.
Submission deadline is 15 April. Please send your entries to the Executive Board, PO box 1738, NL-3000 DR Rotterdam or by email to cvb@eur.nl.

Some researchers have the soul of a rock star. Nowadays this is most visible in the USA, country of supersize and hyperbole, where Nobel prize laureate Paul Krugman shares his wisdom and insights with Playboy readers. And his co-stars George Soros, Edmund Phelps and Jeffrey Sachs debate the state of the economy in a New York museum in front of cheering crowds. Economists, including the gloomiest ones, have become more and more prominent despite the fact that many concede that economics as a science has failed to provide guidance in times of crisis. This would appear to be good news for Rotterdam: unlimited career opportunities for our economists. The other day, during dinner with the Trust Fund board of trustees, I was reminded of an old student ballad which suggests that every BA1 student in economics knows when the crisis will hit us. I couldn’t quite remember the full text of the ballad, but fortunately, we had our annual lunch with representatives from student associations last week, and one of the students kindly shared the lyrics with me. I attach the refrain for your enjoyment (in Dutch):

DAT KAN ALLEEN IN ROTTERDAM

Dat kan alleen in Rotterdam
De bakermat der economen
Waar de eerstejaasstudent
Zelfs onmiddellijk onderkent
Dat er een crisis aan gaat komen
Dat kan alleen in Rotterdam
Al waar besteed wordt binnen perken
En toch bouwen ze maar vlug
Brienenoord Erasumusbrug
Dat kan alleen in Rotterdam