Crossing borders

My talk started with a Loesje slogan. A Dutch free speech organisation, Loesje has gone international, so I take it you are familiar with its clever philosophical reflections. The one I started my talk with was the following: “A border is actually a desire … to go further” (“een grens is eigenlijk een wens … om verder te gaan”). This seemed to fit well with the history of Maastricht, from its settlement by Romans crossing the river Meuse to the location of the signing of the Treaty on European Union. That Treaty eliminated many economic and financial borders between European member states, but at the same time highlighted the many other borders left. These remaining borders form a barrier to transnational synergies and opportunities. And for a region such as South Limburg, with its 220 kilometres of international borders and only 6 kilometres of domestic borders, these missed synergies and opportunities are likely to be significant. Far more so than for any other region in the Netherlands or, for that matter, in Europe.

Maastricht University lies at the centre of this Euregion, surrounded by borders, challenging us, too, “to go further”. Further in providing expertise, information and advice on the many practical barriers, from public transport and language barriers to unfavourable taxation, pension and social regimes, which limit and undermine cross-border mobility and cooperation. With our partners, we are in the process of developing a business plan for an expertise centre to deal with these issues. But we also want to go further in enhancing knowledge of the languages of the Euregion among our students and staff. English is, and will remain, our lingua franca in both teaching and research. We also offer basic Dutch courses to our foreign students, to help them integrate better in the local community and encourage them to stay in South Limburg and the Netherlands after their studies. But we should reflect on whether we could offer German and French courses to our domestic, Dutch-speaking students, so that they too can exploit the borderless job opportunities of the Euregion. I support the idea that our students should be fluent not just in their mother tongue and English, but also in at least one other language of the Euregion. For me, this is ultimately what our nearby borders invite us to take on board: knowledge of the culture and language on the other side.

This text was also published in the Maastricht University (web) magazine, October 2014.