2005: UM Alumni in New York City! See page 12!

New initiative at the Universiteit Maastricht:Maastricht Graduate School of GovernanceText: Nicole HanssenPhotography: Carin OudenaardeRecently, it was announced that the UniversiteitMaastricht had founded the Maastricht GraduateSchool of Governance; a unique institute formaster and Ph.D. students who study and analysepolicy issues ‘in the public domain’. Quite amouthful. What does it actually entail in practiceand how did this school come about? A short talkwith Chris de Neubourg, Professor at the Facultyof Economics and Business Administration, alsoasked by the UM Executive Board to take on theposition of academic director at the new Schoolof Governance."The idea for a school like this actually emergedsome years ago, and at various places. Not just atthe UM, but also within all kinds of internationalorganisations, such as the OECD, the World Bank,UN organisations, etc. In this time of progressingglobalisation, there is a growing need for specialistsin policy analysis. In the US, there areapproximately fifty of such schools, all with theirown areas of attention within the field of publicpolicy: environment, safety, health, etc. However,in continental Europe, there are few institutes thattrain people to be ‘policy analysts’. There are ofcourse programmes in the field of managementand policies, but there is not a single programmethat focuses on the analytical aspects of governanceissues in public policy. That is exactly what we inMaastricht want to do. By offering a new mastersprogramme in Public Policy and HumanDevelopment that will train students to be policyanalysts. Of course we will do this in a typicallyMaastricht fashion: our orientation and characterwill be international. Not just with regard to thecontent of the programme and the student populationthat we have in mind, but also in the co-operationwith internationally reputable institutes.All that together makes the school a unique initiative,in the Netherlands but also in continentalEurope."Social and scientific leaders"In Maastricht, we chose to connect the focus ongovernance to five areas in the public sector inwhich the UM is already an important player:Nutrition & Health, Social Policy & Labour,Science & Technology, Sustainable Development,and Globalisation, Trade & Development. We wantto apply the knowledge and capacity with regard tothese specific fields that we already have in orderto train very specific academic policy analysts; thesocial and scientific leaders of tomorrow, who areold hands at considering, implementing andevaluating administrative scenarios."The graduate education of the School ofGovernance will train students to be competent inareas that they will need: learning to make decisionson designing, implementing, monitoringand evaluating policies, but also in obtaininginsight into the economic, political, social, legaland cultural contexts in which such issues play arole. Special attention will be paid to the globalnature of the various policy issues in the publicsector and the interface with the private sector, aswell as the underlying connections between policymakingat local, regional, national and internationallevels.Broad portfolioWith the Maastricht School of Governance, theUM wants to expand the possibilities for furtherstudies not only for Dutch bachelor students, butin particular for talented foreign students. In doingso, the school and therefore the UM is focussingclearly on an international masters territory. Fromthis academic year (2004/2005) the School ofGovernance will offer the following activities: the(existing) masters programme of Social ProtectionFinancing, in co-operation with the InternationalLabour Organization, the existing masters programmeof Public Health, which is being offeredin co-operation with the Faculty of Health Sciences,a new Ph.D. programme in Social Protection, andtwo new summer schools. From the 2005/2006academic year, activities will be expanded, startingwith the masters programme of Public Policy andHuman Development, for which an application fornational accreditation has been submitted. Theschool will also organise short courses and summerschools. Prof. De Neubourg: "We are trying todevelop a broad portfolio of activities in order to putthe school firmly on the map. In the beginning, wewill therefore have to work hard at developing theprofile of the School of Governance."Varied groups of students"The students will consist of those moving on fromthe bachelors programmes, graduates with a fewyears of working experience, and people who havehad considerable careers already. Lawyers, economists,social scientists, doctors, engineers fromall over the whole world; people who wish tospecialise further, but also people who want tomake a switch in their careers. I expect highlyvaried groups, both in age and in nationality. Thatwill make the School of Governance extra special."Graduates from the School of Governance will findjobs in managerial and executive positions ingovernment, private and public institutions andinternational organisations. In addition to providingmasters programmes, the School ofGovernance will also work together with the UMto combine and build on research in the field ofpolicy and the five policy areas. It is expected thatthe Maastricht School of Governance will officiallystart off this autumn. For more information, pleasecontact Celine Duijsens, student affairs officer ofthe Maastricht Graduate School of Governance,tel.: 043-388 3732, E-mail:C.Duijsens@ALGEC.unimaas.nlYou may also visit the website that should beonline by mid-Novemberwww.governance.unimaas.nlcontinuUM year 3, issue 3, october 200423