About Universiteit Maastricht/Maastricht University
Universiteit Maastricht is an international university in
the heart of Europe, located in the City of Maastricht where
- in 1992 - the Maastricht Treaty was signed. Of all Dutch
universities, Maastricht has the largest number of international
students. The university was founded in 1976 and is well known for
its contribution to innovation in higher education in an
international context. Education at UM distinguishes itself
by its problem-based learning concept, which stresses the
importance of student-centred education, self-responsibility
and co-operation in small groups, working on interdisciplinary
and multidisciplinary cases or projects, as well as attention
for practical skills. Research also has a prominent place.
Most bachelor students in Maastricht come from the European
region. The master programmes have a major intake both from
Europe and, depending on the nature of the programme, from
elsewhere in the world. In 2004 our university has a student
population of approximately 12,000, including more than 2,300
foreign bachelor/master students (21%) and 1,420 exchange
or certificate course students from about 70 different countries.
One sixth of the academic staff is of foreign origin.
to the english homepage of the Maastricht University
Faculties
Medicine, Health and Sciences, Law, Economics and BA, General
Sciences, Arts and Culture, and Psychology. In addition to these, the university includes the University
College of Maastricht (www.ucm.nl), the Graduate School of
International Management (www.gsim.nl), Maastricht University
Centre for international co-operation in academic development
(www.mundo.unimaas.nl).
The Center for European Studies (www.ces.unimaas.nl) offers
'Study Europe' programmes, semester and summer programmes.
Maastricht University Language Centre (www.languages.unimaas.nl)
offers language training to students, staff and citizens
of Maastricht and surroundings .
Programmes and modules in English
UM offers bachelor and master programmes
in English in the fields of Economics and BA, and European
Studies. University College Maastricht offers a broad bachelor
programme. All faculties offer short programmes in English
for exchange students and the faculties of Economics & BA, Law, Health
Sciences, and Arts & Culture offer English postgraduate
master programmes (www.studiekeuze.unimaas.nl). Research
Most research at the UM is centred around multidisciplinary
themes and focal points. For further clustering these themes
and focal points are dealt with in research institutes with
an independent board and management structure. The institutes
offer good opportunities for further development of research
and collaboration with third parties. The aim is to participate
in research schools, centres of high-quality research with
structured attention for the training of young researchers.
A large part of UM research now takes place in recognised
research schools.
Besides institutes and schools, research also takes place
in a large number of UM-associated institutes within departments
and faculty research units.
In the UM Holding a number of companies market applied research.
See UM home page Research Magazine for more information on
research (www.unimaas.nl).
Internationalisation
Throughout the institute, internationalisation policies
have become an integral part of education and research at
UM. To realise its international ambitions, the university
invests not only in international recruitment but also in
student housing, sports facilities, bilingual signposting,
and services for foreign students. Following the Bologna
process, UM implemented the ECTS credit point system from
2003/2004 on and will introduce the diploma supplement in
2004/2005. All this is meant to ensure that Maastricht diplomas
will be recognised in the students' home countries.
The university encourages its students to acquire international
experience through internships or periods of study abroad.
Interaction with other cultures makes students aware of international
differences; it prepares them for jobs on an international
labour market. The introduction of the bachelor/master degree
structure has made it easier for the university's departments
to work with partners in other countries; this has added
depth to their international orientation.
Networks
Maastricht University works closely
together with more than one hundred universities worldwide.
In addition, the university actively participates in international
partnerships that focus on educational innovation. Within
the framework of the ALMA network (www.alma.unimaas.nl),
the university works closely together with universities
in neighbouring countries: Rheinisch-Westfählische Technische Hochschule Aachen
(Germany), Universitair Centrum Diepenbeek and Université de
Liège (both in Belgium).
Maastricht University's strategy focuses
on the following
-
making the context of existing curricula even more international,
by giving attention to international diversity and the
multicultural environment
encouraging the creation of new master degree programme
taught in English, in collaboration with preferred partners
-
developing internationally competitive Ph.D. programmes,
together with foreign partners
-
increasing the number of programmes taught in English.
By 2005 at least half of the master programmes and half
of the Ph.D. programmes will be in English
-
increasing the percentage of foreign academic staff to
ten percent by 2005. And by 2005 every permanent member
of the scientific staff will have spent time in another
country, either teaching or doing research
-
increasing the percentage of foreign students to 25 percent
by 2005, at which time the same number of domestic students
will be in another country studying or doing an internship.
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