Maastricht Unversity School of Business and Economics

School of Business and Economics

The Maastricht University School of Business and Economics (SBE) provides high-quality education to students and conducts excellent research, offering an international perspective in the fields of economics and international business management, public policy, governance and sustainability. Our research focuses on interdisciplinary solutions to today's global challenges.

SBE’s approach revolves around small-scale teaching methods supported by an electronic learning environment, a portfolio of international study programmes, and strong incentives for top-quality research.

The focus lies on educational innovation. All degree programmes make use of Problem-Based Learning, with an emphasis on skills development – problem solving, group work, and self-directed learning – to prepare students optimally for the European and international knowledge society.

Contact

For general inquiries, contact us via:
+31-43-3883768

Visiting address
Tongersestraat 53
6211 LM Maastricht

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Read our latest articles

  • The Dutch population is growing substantially due to immigration and this is a cause for concern. It was a major reason for the PVV's election victory. Immigration is blamed for an overcrowded Netherlands. In Belgium, a similar debate is currently raging ahead of the upcoming national elections. In...

  • Educational systems are resilient systems, with technology functioning as an essential tool to overcome the shocks. The pandemic made educational systems realize they possess great capacity to overcome hurdles and create awareness that universities should use their potential to innovate. This blog...

  • Founded 40 years ago, SBE started with only a handful of students and a motivated group of staff members experimenting with a new concept called Problem Based Learning. Since then, the School has grown to about 6,300 students and around 700 staff members, with education and research programmes in...

More news items
  • The housing sector is undergoing a moment of transformation as countries face increasing pressure to meet their greenhouse emission reduction pledges for the upcoming decades, with numerous countries aiming to achieve near-zero emissions by 2050.

  • As researchers, we usually consider sharing our findings once a paper is published, whether through blogs, LinkedIn and Twitter/X posts, or perhaps through executive summaries, infographics, or workshops with stakeholders. However, in reality, we cannot be certain that these post-hoc initiatives...

  • In today’s global landscape, the connection between government policy and academic research is key for progress. Due to time constraints, government officials often overlook the benefits of academic research in their decisions. Academics, on the other hand, may be unsure about how to approach...

  • How can we help employees to fulfil their potential? And how can we do this in a way that is sustainable for both employees and organizations? Recently, I started a new professorship at the Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA) at SBE to address these questions, together with...

  • SBE alumnus Paul Schraven reflects on his journey after Maastricht University School of Business and Economics (SBE). After a stint in management consulting, he co-founded SparkSupply in Berlin, connecting students to startups. Shifting away from this model, he worked remotely for a US startup...

  • Being a homeowner: to some, it is a dream for which they are willing to work hard and bear a substantial financial burden. To others, it is an undesirable combination of maintenance effort, bureaucracy and reduced mobility.

    Seemingly, this polarization of opinions applies at a broader level, too...

  • This article discusses the European Investment Screening Mechanism (ISM) – a legal instrument to control international mergers and acquisitions involving non-European investors. ISM aims to safeguard economic and societal resilience by protecting Europe’s key assets to ensure national security and...

  • Imagine walking down the supermarket aisle, looking for a snack. While your stomach craves a decadent treat, your brain nudges you toward a healthier choice. Amidst this internal tug-of-war, your eyes land on a brightly labeled "Low Fat" granola bar. It's perfect, you think, a guilt-free and healthy...

  • A new paper by Associate Professor Steffen Künn from Maastricht University School of Business and Economics (forthcoming in the Review of Economics and Statistics) now provides novel evidence that providing unconditional financial support to encourage geographical mobility among unemployed job...

  • About 675 million people in our world live on less than $2.15 a day, the World Bank’s cut-off for extreme poverty. In Congo, where 70% live in this state, a meal at the local McDonalds alone would cost almost four times more. The management Guru C.K. Prahalad coined the term Base of the Income...

  • No organisation exploited climate change like large media corporations –it is widely evident and even famous among climate scientists! Humanity has gone through different sorts of natural crises that took it to the verge of extinction: the early low breeding age (900,00 years ago), ice age and more...

  • SBE alumnus Riccardo Notarangelo works as a Project Researcher at the University of Vaasa in Finland. In this article, he shares how his studies and experience at SBE and his love for rugby contributed to him going to where he went and ending up where he is.

  • The Dutch Research Council (NWO) recently awarded their prestigious Veni funding to 188 promising researchers (out of 1462 applicants) in the Netherlands. SBE's Juan Palacios and Max Löffler were among the 188 laureates who each received up to €280,000 in funding which they will use to develop their...

  • Service robots are rapidly becoming a part of our daily lives. From being deployed in retail and hospitality, to health and elderly care settings, service robots are innovating the way in which we deliver services to customers. Moreso, while service robots can assist employees in their day-to-day...

  • SBE alumnus Maxime Croisé (Renneboog) did not follow the typical career-path as you would expect from someone graduating from a Business School. When most of his fellow SBE alumni were signing contracts to work for various companies, Maxime followed his passion and became a magician.

  • The project "BioBased Circular" has received a grant of €338 million in the third round of the National Growth Fund. The School of Business and Economics is represented in this project by Herman Wories, Programme Director at BISCI.

  • Artificial intelligence (AI) has gradually become more prevalent in our daily lives. We ask Siri about the weather or have Chat GPT type our work emails. But what does it take to make all these AI-driven devices work?

  • On July 3rd 2023 a broad coalition of Dutch civil society organisations, labor unions and think tankslaunched a call for a social and sustainable European fiscal pact in public debate centre Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam. The coalition argues that the current EU budget undermine social and...

  • In 2002, Maastricht University became the first university outside the United States to The Frontiers in Service Conference. Now, after 21 years, The School of Business and Economics is proud to have once again welcomed service researchers from around the globe for this prestigious event.

  • Each year, students in the Netherlands rate the quality of their programmes and Universities in the National Student Survey (NSE). This year’s results have positioned Maastricht University School of Business and Economics (SBE) in first place, making it the leading faculty for business and economics...

  • Uncertainty can make our lives difficult. This blog post will walk through the basic concepts of uncertainty in economics, coupled with a few takeaways from our research.

     

  • SBE alumnus Niels Geominy did not follow the typical career-path as you would expect from someone graduating from a Business School. When most of his fellow SBE alumni were signing contracts to work for multinationals, Niels decided to launch his own start-up: Fiks.

  • International Women's Day serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for women's rights and highlights the progress made towards gender equality whilst drawing attention to the challenges they still face. SBE's Elinor Ostrom Fund is working to address the underrepresentation of women in academia...

  • SBE Researcher Jakob Raymaekers has been awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship grant for his research project. The objective of this grant is to support researchers’ careers and foster excellence in research.

  • SBE Researchers Anouk Festjens (MSCM) and Nico Pestel (ROA) have been awarded NWO grants for their research projects in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) domain. These grants are specifically intended to encourage bold, curiosity-driven ideas, even if the outcome is uncertain. The focus is on...

  • SBE researchers Jermain Kaminski, Emir Efendić, and Marc Becker share their thoughts on how AI systems, like those of OpenAI, are impacting the labour market.

  • Since the 2015 adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 deadline, the first Dutch national SDG Barometer study shows that there is a lot to be optimistic about. 

  • The discussion on how many inhabitants the Netherlands could or should have ignores the essential factor: the rate of change in the population's size and composition. The way we have discussed this issue in the past decades paralyses the debate on what is needed to adapt to the changes that are...

  • SBE's Education Institute held the annual Educating Festival. This year, the focus of the event was on innovative assessment practices. This article reflects on the unique festival set-up of the event, as well as the impressions it left on the attendees.

  • When we asked alumnus Robbie Servais about his current occupation, he told us that he works as a football coach at K.R.C. Genk. An unusual career considering that he studied International Business at Maastricht University. Although Robbie's profession may seem like an unusual career choice, his...

  • Primary school students are, on average, 15 weeks behind. Especially in maths and spelling. "The problem is getting bigger instead of smaller." - Carla Haelermans, Professor of Education Economics

  • The sudden and extreme increase in energy prices and the subsequent emergence of broader inflation is a big negative shock for the economy, hurting households and firms. Fighting inflation is a task for policymakers, in particular central banks. However, the different trade-offs that central banks...

  • It was an eye-opening moment: a few years’ ago, I attended a huge conference on microfinance, together with one of my PhD students. In attendance at the conference was a nice mix of academics and practitioners. Our paper, presented by my PhD student, was about what has become known as ‘mission drift...

  • Everyone notices it: prices are rising. Inflation has not been this high in years.

  • Roman Briker and Fynn Gerken, two talented academics from Maastricht University's School of Business and Economics (SBE),  were recently awarded Marie Sklodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships for their research on Artificial Intelligence.

  • Economists have long obsessed with efficiency. At the macro- and micro level such things as slack, waste and inefficiency were considered things to avoid and economists have advocated free markets and open competition to eliminate them. In this blog I will argue that we have been too successful, and...

  • Alumnus Jean-Paul Jaegers completed the Dutch Mountain Trail in one day on 17 April 2022. The trail is 101km long and covers seven summits in the beautiful southern parts of Limburg via the German and Belgium borders and finishing in Maastricht. In addition to the trail being a bold personal...

  • Completing a bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain Management in 2011 and a master’s in the same field in 2012—both as SBE—Patrick Mack has gone on to enjoy a career that has taken him from the Netherlands to work in three different countries, learn two new languages, and travel extensively. He shares...

  • SBE researchers Kimberley van der Heijden, Anouk Festjens, Caroline Goukens and NYU researcher Tom Meyvis recently published their findings on how individuals experiencing financial pressure make decisions. These findings challenge the traditional research notion that less wealthy people pick short...

  • Researchers at UNU-MERIT, the Maastricht Sustainability Institute and the Department of Chemical Engineering of Maastricht University have obtained a 1.5 million euro grant to contribute to an EU-funded project on plastic packaging recycling.  The EU is allocating a total budget of 9.6 million euros...

  • In this piece, Dr. Ines Wilms and SBE master student Enrico Wegner introduce the bigtime software toolbox they have developed with the support of the Elinor Ostrom Fund.

  • The Crisis Case Challenge is an SBE initiative to help local companies during COVID-19. It was created by students for students, and it offers students an opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to real-life situations. Building on the success of last year’s inaugural event, this year’s CCC...

  • In this blog post, Assistant Professor Robert Suurmond explores the common argument that earlier supplier involvement is an effective approach to new product development. 

  • As we move forward to address global challenges, facts and scientific research need to feed community knowledge and play an important role in public decision-making. For this, effective research communication is key! For this article, we spoke about this topic with Professor Melissa Siegel, who is...

  • Researchers Jonas Heller and Hannes Rusch from Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics (SBE) have each been awarded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships to conduct their research. The fellowships are personal grants and are awarded to both promising and experienced...

  • As a student at Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics, I am used to living in an international environment and constantly having opportunities to educate myself further by joining associations, initiatives and many exciting events. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, this...

  • The idea behind 'internative' is simple: connecting students and companies through a WhatsApp integration platform for a quick, down-to-earth, personal approach. The project was officially launched in October 2019, in those hazy, carefree pre-Covid days on the Maastricht terraces. It was born from...

  • Over the past month, we have posted a number of inspirational stories about students and staff who have embarked on a journey into the wonderful world of entrepreneurship. To help even more students and staff, aastricht University has (re)launched the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

  • Over the past few weeks, we have heard inspiring stories from both current SBE students and alumni about their entrepreneurial journeys as well as some really helpful tips and tricks on how to start something ourselves. This time, we turn the spotlight to those dedicating their work to creating new...

  • Many local businesses in Maastricht were hit hard by the consequences of the corona pandemic. This didn’t go unnoticed by SBE students who were quick to jump into action. In a matter of weeks, a group of students put together the Crisis Case Challenge 2020! The end result: 100 SBE students (and even...

  • The Econometric Game is a yearly event in Amsterdam, often dubbed as the World Championships of Econometrics, and took place this year from April 10th to April 12th. Maastricht University has been a consistent participant in the game for the last ten years, battling it out with the likes of Harvard...

  • In 28 March 2019, Maastricht University had the pleasure of welcoming Christian Klein, Operations Manager Process Management and Daniel Rausch, Business Developer from Zalando as jury members for determining the best marketing research project (MRP) as part of the Marketing & Supply Chain Management...

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