Graduation day 2016

Graduation Day at Maastricht School Management is a time for joy and celebration for all students as it marks the much-anticipated moment when an intensive year of hard work is finally crowned with coveted MBA, MPhil or DBA diplomas. At the same time, it is also a time for reflection about the important lessons learned during the various study programs and about the exciting but perhaps also challenging future lying ahead.

No less than 135 students attended the event this year, some having studied at MSM in the past year, and others having travelled from partner programs in countries as diverse as Yemen, Kuwait, China, Germany, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Egypt, Peru and Romania.

As every year, Graduation Day offered MSM a privileged occasion to welcome students’ friends and families, guests and sponsors from the corporate world, embassies, partner universities, as well as local and regional stakeholders.

A time for reflection was also the theme of this year’s keynote speech eloquently delivered by Prof. Jean-Marc Coicaud who presented a clear and candid overview of the legacy of the Maastricht Treaty, 25 years after the discussions which lead to it started a few hundred meters away from MSM.

jean-marc-news-item In his keynote speech, Prof. Jean-Marc Coicaud, Professor of Law and Global Affairs at Rutgers University, former director of United Nations University in New York and member of the Carnegie Council Advisory Board of Global Policy Innovations, used the example of European Union project to draw important lessons on leadership for the fresh graduates: “It is important to treat problems in terms of co-responsibility. Deafness is an illness among politicians in the EU. Remember that leadership is about listening, understanding and creating meaning.” To this, Prof. Coicaud added a few personal words of advice, based on his many years of experience in the corridors of power in France, at the EU and at the UN: “The leaders who tend to be remembered, respected, admired are those who have contributed to the environment and to society.”

On this hopeful note, MSM Director Dean Prof. Wim Naudé introduced the audience to the first musical intermezzo of the afternoon, performed by three musicians from the Maastricht conservatory: “This piece is a lively and fast Italian allegro by Georg Philip Telemann, incorporating German polyphony and French dance rhythms and written in the joyful key of G major – G, if you will for Graduation,” he said smiling.

alumna-news-item The following guest speaker of the afternoon was the first of the many high-achieving women who were put in the spotlight during Graduation Day. MSM alumna Ms. Cecilia Riva Zaferson, who holds an MBA of MSM and Centrum Católica (Peru), is currently Marketing Manager of General Motors for Peru and Bolivia. “Graduating from MSM’s MBA program has helped prepare me to work harmoniously with colleagues from different cultures different perspectives and approaches in a company that counts more than 215,000 employees worldwide, in more than 23 time zones, speaking 70 languages and operating in 115 markets all around the world,” she said. She too had a personal piece of advice for her new fellow alumni: “Never lose your passion for what you do; whether you are young or old, there is no age limit for dreams.”

The much-anticipated moment for the students finally arrived, with the awarding of the mba32-male2-news-item diplomas and numerous prizes. This year, both the Elizabeth Strouven Award for outstanding research and the Ben Veltman award for best MBA paper went to women graduates, respectively Ms. Yousra Mohamed Abdelrazik Ramadan Bakr from Egypt and Ms. Ivy Musora from Zimbabwe, who were both praised for the remarkable quality of their research work and writing skills.

The entire ceremony was recorded and live-streamed for all students, friends and family members who had not been able to take the trip to Maastricht. There was a strong awareness among all present that the importance of the event reached far and wide beyond the walls of MSM’s conference hall in Maastricht. Many tech-savvy students and guests in the audience were also seen using their own mobile devices to register meaningful moments of the afternoon.

_mg_3450 This year, MSM introduced a new prize, the Dean’s Book Prize, which was awarded to the five graduates of the newly launched and fast growing Master in Management. The happy winners received signed copies of Prof. Coicaud’s latest publication “Fault Lines of International Legitimacy”.

The second musical intermezzo that followed these many _mg_3451 honors addressed a different set of emotions present among the audience. Prof. Wim Naudé described the sonata for violin and piano by Johannes Brahms as “deeply felt piece”: “Sadness is not completely out of place at a ceremony that marks the end of a period, the end of an adventure, the parting from friends, and teachers and places that have become home for a while.”

_mg_3465 After much heartfelt applause, the ceremony came to an end with the famous and popular Valedictory speech by the representative of the residential MBA in Maastricht. Ms. Beverley Best, who fulfilled her role with distinction, gave a lyrical and inspiring testimonial of the important take-away lessons her experience at MSM had taught her. She summarized them in four points, which she was happy to share with her fellow graduates:

Be innovative, ask questions, observe, challenge, hear, look for alternative solutions, be curious
Be responsible, be a role model and a mentor
Be world class
Be human

She then pronounced the words that undoubtedly continued to resonate in everyone’s ears for the rest of the sunny after-summer evening, as students and guests gathered for drinks on the hills overlooking the beautiful city of Maastricht: “The world is our oyster: let us grow pearls.”