Volt in the Maastricht debate regarding our international university: "Connect our university to the region"

An English-language university that does not meet Limburg's needs is just a diploma factory for foreign countries. However, "Dutchizing" the university denies the international character of Limburg. Maastricht Volt council members Jules Ortjens and Mart den Heijer are therefore now pleading for a regional vision with concrete solutions that will ensure that internationals become the Limburgers of tomorrow.

The Maastricht debate around internationalisation is flaring up. Maastricht's executive councillor for student affairs, Johan Pas, would prefer everything to stay as it is at Maastricht University (UM). UM lecturers Renée Gabriëls and Lies Wesseling, on the other hand, advocate Dutchification. Yet, neither vision answers the major issue of our region: how to keep talented people here?

Our English-language university has attracted a lot of talent, but Dutch MPs in The Hague are rightly worried about the high degree of departing talent from our region. As a result, we risk failing to realise UM's greatest potential: broad prosperity for the region and its inhabitants.

Simply 'Dutchifying' our university, however, is not the answer. Gabriëls and Wesseling's national navel-gazing may work in Utrecht, but not in a border region.

To retain talent, politicians and educational institutions must dare to connect. Sometimes literally, through public transport. The European Law student can only develop her aspirations in Limburg if our provincial government works on train connections to Brussels and Cologne. The housing crisis in Maastricht will only be solved if we recognise that one in 25 buildings in Heerlen is empty and young South Limburgers will only start living, studying and working in the region frequently if trains between Maastricht, Heerlen and Sittard run directly and four times an hour, until two o'clock in the morning.

Educational institutions need to focus more intensively on regional needs. Without accessible free Dutch language education that counts in ECTS, we (unintentionally) tell internationals that we'd rather see them leave again after graduation. Language education costs money. But it will cost much more if The Hague pulls the plug on international education.

UM could also shake up the content of existing courses. UM's European Studies programme, for instance, currently acts as a springboard to Brussels. But the programme could also learn from our applied sciences institution, Hogeschool Zuyd: if students become aware of the political obstacles in our Belgian-Dutch-German border region (such as different legislations) and learn the neighbouring languages, you train them to become true knowledge workers and entrepreneurs who can work across borders closeby. Moreover, involving the European Studies programme of Liège could be another valuable step to take: that way you assure future scientists work together in our common Euregion.

Our challenges are great. Maastricht could swallow some of its misplaced pride and share the "UM pie" with the entire region. In order to do that, you have to break some taboos. Indeed, why doesn't UM establish technical faculties in Heerlen and Sittard-Geleen? Heerlen is right next to Germany's leading technical university, in Aachen. Sittard-Geleen's Chemelot industry has a valuable connection with the booming tech-based economy of Eindhoven. If we do not strengthen those connections, we miss a great opportunity.

Finally, we need a strongly integrated Euroregional job market to turn this international university into not just an international, but also a (Euro)regional institution. There is high unemployment in Liege, while Limburg suffers from a job surplus. Platforms, such as the Belgian VDab, should collectively become a three-country platform.

UM's salvation, which is now threatened by The Hague's nationalist rhetoric, will only come when Limburg realises that politics and education are not separate in everyday reality. For that, the Limburg conversation really needs to be conducted differently than in Utrecht or Groningen. English-language education is not enough: international and regional talent can only be kept in the region if UM, Zuyd and the labour programmes of Vista meet the needs of our border region. This starts with greater pride in our cross-border region. Without that Limburg uniqueness, we too, as councillors of Maastricht, would not have stayed here.