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People have frequently asked me what was it that made me so determined in advocating international exchange of students and scientists alike. My first experience was a visit as a PhD to the then still existing country of Czechoslovakia. A two hour standstill in the train from Nurnberg to Prague due to intensive border control, in a period when the Iron Curtain was still dominantly present, made me realise once more that not everyone had the same opportunity to travel as I did. My time in Prague confirmed that feeling; my Czech colleagues were not able to visit Western Europe, partly because of family refugees that had succeeded to leave the country through the then existing Yugoslavian corridor. But I was treated as a friend and as a very welcome guest, and during that visit I learned more on how a communist regime treated its citizens than I could ever have imagined. The warmth and friendliness of that first visit is a thing I won't easy forget.
Since then, I visited all continents and wherever I went, I experienced similar differences between official state policies on the one hand and a warm cordiality in person-to-person relations on the other hand. Meeting people and building friendships is a good way to remove prejudices. That holds even more for scientists or highly educated people, in view of the many problems we are facing, problems that without any exception are of a global nature. Sending our students to foreign countries to study there for a while, and inviting foreign students to come to our campus for a master or PhD, is part of that internationalisation policy, a policy that should not be hampered by restrictive admission policies or arguments of knowledge protection.
I am always surprised by the short-sightedness of that last argument that is often used in particular with respect to our former international PhD's who returned to their home country. My own experience is that many alumni vividly recall their time in Twente and feel proud to be connected with it. They not only remember what they have gained, above all they know that the University of Twente is an important source of knowledge in their respective fields and will remain to be that. And they realise the truth of Einstein's statement `the more you know, the more you realise how little you know'. Each and every alumnus is a potential ambassador of our university and we'll better celebrate that, and maintain strong ties. During a recent visit to Japan, I had the opportunity to have diner with a group of Twente alumni and was surprised to find that people were willing to travel three hours or more, just to meet the rector of their former university. And finally, also in view of changing economic powers it seems wise to further invest in relations with current and future scientific institutes, students and scientists across the globe. Relations that will prove to be extremely rewarding, both from an individual as well as from an institutional or even national point of view. Above all, it adds a dimension to one's personal development that can hardly be overestimated. International friendship is a great gift, and you can get it for free. Don't let that gift slip away.
