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Learning approach
Maastricht University holds a unique position among universities in the Netherlands and abroad because of its educational approach.
Innovative Learning
In Maastricht you will be working on real-life problems in small groups. As a group, you and your fellow students will analyse a problem and discuss what you need to know in order to solve it. After a short period of research, the group will meet again to report back the findings members have come up with. A tutor will sit in on the group meetings to guard the process and monitor the level of the discussions.
Different perspectives
You find answers to your questions in the Learning and Resource Centre at the University Library and in other sources. After having studied the information, you and your tutorial group members meet again. Each group member will most likely come up with different data. It is then essential that you discuss these different perspectives and try to come to a mutual agreement. This agreement can in turn imply that there are several ways to approaching a problem. You will find that most of the time, problems can only be solved when approached from different perspectives.
Proficiency training
Of course you will also be provided with other methods of instruction; you will for example sit in lectures and participate in proficiency training, to learn the skills that are needed in your field of study. These skills training will vary from simulation practica and other interactive methods where students are asked to work together on assignments, presentations or other projects.
Hands-on problems
When first starting their careers, many graduates find that working in real life differs a lot from what and how they were taught at school. Maastricht University tries to avoid this discrepancy by constantly confronting its students with hands-on problems. Maastricht University is the only Dutch university that uses this system, called Problem Based Learning (PBL), to its fullest potential and employs it as its key method of instruction. Universities around the world are now also adopting elements of PBL.
Blended learning
Our School combines face-to-face teaching with distance or e-learning in a blended learning process. Internet, ICT and new technologies provide a useful addition to the face-to-face learning approach as we know it and in some instances even present an alternative.
Tools and technologies
• Online knowledge assessments for mathematics/statistics and economics are used to judge the prospective student's knowledge of these topics before the start of their
programme. The student can access and make tests through the website and receives feedback from a teacher.
• If the online knowledge tests indicate that the student does not hold sufficient knowledge or skills, the student can participate in online remedial teaching courses in mathematics/statistics or economics. These courses take place before the start of the actual
programme and are offered completely online. The courses are structured in a PBL setting guided by a teacher, who can be contacted at any time for questions or help. Hence, students can follow these courses in their home country but already meet and interact with colleagues before coming to Maastricht.
• To support the face-to-face learning activities, Maastricht University uses the Electronic Learning Environment Maastricht University (EleUM). EleUM has been taken into use in September 2002 in order to support the educational activities at the UM. EleUM can be accessed through the Internet and offers a range of tools, functions, and features for learning. The basis of EleUM is Blackboard, a system where all the materials used in a course are made digitally available at a central place. Students as well as teachers have their own account and at log in, a tailored information screen pops up. When the student logs on to EleUM, the courses in which he or she is enrolled will appear at the screen.
• In all master
programmes, software (SPSS, STATA) is used for simulations and other assignments.
• MGSoG also serves as a centre for the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN). The network was set up by the World Bank in 2000 and it now includes over 70 learning centres in more than 60 countries. The learning centres use new technologies in distance learning to connect organizations and individuals all over the world with respect to development issues in its broadest sense
The Maastricht School of Governance is linked to GDLN (Global Distance Learning Network), administered by the World Bank. |
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