The new normal

Lecturing in the Master of International Management at Tilburg University was in "Hybrid mode". It went well, but the campus looked like Minsk in the days after Chernobyl - wiped out, barely any students, no faculty, no chatting and discussions off the plan. Some already call this the “new normal”. Education has become more efficient. It’s good when it comes to admin and collaboration, but bad when it cuts out the discourse. In the long run, efficiency makes stupid. That’s why I hope the real new makes this distinction and keeps a better balance.

We were still lucky that we had on-campus seminars. And even the logistic efforts weaved around the security measures were daunting, it was worth it. I think we made good progress and got to know each other quite well. The last sessions, though, I had to move online, as Nordholland and Südholland were declared Covid-19 risk zones by Germany. Tilburg is in Nord Brabant, so not in any of these provinces. But given that I am about to travel to Hong Kong, and the situation and rules can change quickly, I decided to retreat into Germany and minimize movement.

Even it was different this year, my Tilburg engagement was a pleasure, as always. Students were very co-operative, and I can see over time a constant improvement. Also, the Financial Times Ranking of the programme went up. With a global rank of 49th, the program is now 2nd in The Netherlands. It was ranked 89th in 2017 and 57th in 2019. That's all good news. But still, the learning experience for the students resembles more that of inmates that enrolled at an "Open University" to prepare for life after they served their sentence. One even had two Erasmus exchanges, only to be locked up in an apartment in two countries different from his home.

The rest of the time, besides some research and developing advisory work on the "One Belt, One Road Initiative", it has been quiet and sunny autumn. And there is a new Business Case in the pipeline on the bankruptcy of "Vapiano", a restaurant chain, which will be published by the Asian Case Research Centre (ACRC) soon.

Besides doing some new things, I also stopped doing some others. For example, I stopped following the news on the US. America is such a waste of time. So is the UK. I was just wondering recently, whether these American journalists, politicians and commentators, really have these voices, or this is just a technical distortion by the Internet. If not, perhaps a more potent nasal decongestion spray may help. Or how about reducing vocal air pressure? I always have the impression that they don't breathe naturally, but are ventilated from behind by a compressor through the anus. That would also explain why they talk quite some shit. Anyway, that's other people's problem.

Now I am heading for Hong Kong. All is packed, and formalities are done. I will start my time there with two weeks quarantine, locking myself in a hotel room, being supplied by food delivery services and books on my Kindle. Let's see how that will go. Of course, nobody who enjoys being outdoors likes being contained in such a way. But it will be also interesting, how the body and mind respond to solitary confinement.

Hard to believe it is already October, given this marvellous weather. But this hedgehog I found reminded me that winter is coming. It’s too small to survive a normal winter, so it is prepped up with a mix of butter, oats and minced meat.