MSM Dean announced that he is stepping down

MSM Dean Professor Wim Naudé has announced that after six years of being at the helm of MSM, he is stepping down from his function as Dean, as of from 1 July 2018.

In an internal message to staff and faculty, Naudé indicated that he will continue as research professor at MSM to build out the growing portfolio of scholarly activities in the areas of technology, innovation, entrepreneurship and development that became a core area of MSM’s niche under his leadership this past six years. “New technologies, such as artificial intelligence, nanotech, bio-engineering and 3D printing is rapidly changing the world of business, of occupations, and of trade and will have a deciding impact on sustainable development outcomes in future. This is an exciting context in which my research has increasingly focused since 2007 but which I have not been able to do justice given the management time that being Dean required” Naudé said.

Naudé thanked all staff, faculty and partner institutions for the long list of milestones and achievements of the recent past:

“We established many new partnerships across the world; we established and grew 5 cutting-edge programs in partnership with world-renowned RWTH Aachen University, we obtained and re-obtained accreditations from AMBA, IACBE, ATHEA and NVAO: all unconditional. Moreover, we were no less than twice a finalist, and once a runner-up, for the AMBA Innovation Award. Today, we have more students here in Maastricht than in a very long time, so much that we will have to hold graduation 2018 at a larger venue. Our reputation as a research-driven School has never been higher: with EU-funded research projects and top-level journal articles regularly being published, we have become a true knowledge institute. As an advanced signatory to PRME and a founding member of the Benelux-France Chapter of the PRME our commitment to responsible management education has never been higher.  Financially, MSM is on a sound and sustainable footing. I am very happy that in recent times we have attracted top talent to join our ranks. I can go on to list many other achievements we achieved together”.

Professor Naudé will spend the next academic year on a research sabbatical.