Rianne Letschert

When I started as rector in 2016, I came at just the right moment. What better way to kick off than with a three-day PAS Festival in celebration of UM’s 40th anniversary? And it’s really great that afterwards UM decided to keep the PAS Festival going in the future. So now every year there’s a festive and interesting start to our academic year, when the university opens its doors to anyone who’s curious about art and science – including my children last year. We were happy to see that the full, rich programme has lots for youngsters too. So this year, some of the things I’m looking forward to are Stadsnomade, who are bringing their skate ramp to the car park behind the building on Kapoenstraat for two days, the street theatre artist Petit Monsieur, the events at Brightlands Square and the robots and drones from our Robotlab. And there’s lots more besides. Once again, there seems to be an infinite choice for my kids and I.