} A Farewell Message

The 2010 Interstate Programme was the eleventh in the annual series, and we have decided with regret that it must be the last.

Since 2000 we have had the privilege of welcoming nearly six hundred MBA students to Brussels. They came from the best business schools in Europe and North America. We tried to give them an understanding of developments in the European Union; the impact of these on the transatlantic relationship; and the importance of that relationship, both to its participants and to the wider world. Many of them told us we succeeded, and their satisfaction has been ours.

We have been sustained from the start by corporate and other sponsors, who ensured each year that our budgets more or less balanced. We are very grateful to them. They got few tangible returns for their investment in us: we think they supported the Programme because, like us, they thought it mattered. But an intensely difficult business environment has forced some of them to step back in the last couple of years, and we have not been able to replace them. Hence the decision to close.

We are grateful to our speakers, who gave their time for no recompense beyond a box of chocolates.

We are grateful to colleagues in the schools who sent us the talented and diverse groups of students who made our Brussels events so stimulating, and such fun.

Our special appreciation to those students, who provided the electricity.