College Tour: Max van den Berg

What is the Honours College Tour?

As part of the Leadership Lab, Honours College students sometimes get the opportunity to organize a College Tour event where a high-profile Dutch or International guest is interviewed. This event is based on the concept of the homonym Dutch TV show. The College Tour TV show is inspired by town hall meetings during United States elections where the majority of questions are asked by the audience. In the version in Groningen, the audience is composed of both students and the general public. Everyone gets the chance to ask their questions to the guest of the night. This format tries to build a communication ‘bridge’ between high-profile personalities and university students.

Who is Max van den Berg?

Margrietus Johannes "Max" van den Berg (born 22 March 1946) is a Dutch politician and member of the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA). After his Sociology studies at the University of Groningen, Max van den Berg became an alderman for culture, conservation, traffic, public works, public transport, housing and urban development in Groningen (1970-1978). Max had a big influence on how the city planning in Groningen currently is and recently got recognition in the news for this. He also got praised as one of the main sponsors of the nomination of Groningen to healthiest city in The Netherlands. Between 1979 and 1986 he was the chairman of the party (ed. PvdA) and from 1999 to 2007 he was a Member of the European Parliament. Between these two experiences he has been the secretary-general of the non-governmental organisation Novib (1986-1999). After his experience at the European Parliament, he was nominated first Queen’s and then King's Commissioner for the province Groningen. Role which he fulfilled until 2016. In the same year he received the honorary citizenship of Groningen as well as becoming an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. As King’s Commissioner he dedicated a lot of time and energy to the resolution of the earthquake case due to gas extraction in the Groningen province. Max is married to journalist and book author Geke van der Wal.

About Koen Schuiling

Koen Frank Schuiling (born February 1st 1959) is mayor of Groningen, the largest municipality in the north of the Netherlands. After finishing his law studies, he took on a job as lecturer at the department of Administrative Law and Public Administration at the University of Groningen. During the same period, he became an active member of the People’s party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in Groningen. In 1998 he became an alderman in Groningen, responsible for the economics of the municipality. From 2006 till 2010 he had several positions at TCN, after which he returned to politics by becoming a mayor in Den Helder in 2010. In September 2019, Koen Schuiling became the mayor of Groningen.

Organizing committee

The organizing committee members are Honours Master students Beniamino Vincenzoni Padovan, Lieke Molenaar, Nina Klaver, Vera Thijssen, Alina Matrapazi, Mirjam Hildering-Leemhuis. They are supervised by Marloes Viet.