Program information
University College Maastricht offers a three-year Bachelor program. Students choose from a wide variety of courses. In a sense they create their own individual curriculum. They do so within the broad framework of their concentration and the academic core program.
The Concentration
A concentration is a cluster of courses focused on a set of related scientific disciplines. UCM offers a choice of three such concentrations: humanities, social sciences and life sciences. The combination of courses a student chooses within a concentration provides a profile for entry into the labor market or for a Master program at UM or anywhere else in the Netherlands or abroad. During the first year, students take courses from different concentrations, partly to see which one suits them best and partly to fulfil the broad educational background of a liberal arts degree. At the end of their first year, students declare a concentration.
Within their concentration students can choose from a wide range of courses. Students may focus on a particular discipline (for instance, psychology, economics, history or biology), or instead opt for courses around a combination of themes or disciplines. For instance, a student interested in international relations will take courses in political science, in economics and in history.
A concentration encompasses 16 courses in total. In general, students will fulfil about two thirds of their credits for graduation in a concentration.
Academic core
The academic core is the common denominator of UCM. It comprises those courses that all students must take. The academic core has two quite different parts: a number of required courses and a general education requirement.
The former is a set of four courses in subject areas that are held to be essential for all college students. All students must have a basic knowledge of the foundations of science and of the principles behind our political systems. They must also be able to understand the historical roots of present day issues and understand why mathematical abstract concepts and models are so important in academic disciplines. Therefore, all students have to do a course in Philosophy of science, Political philosophy, Contemporary world history and Modeling nature.
The second part of the academic core is best described as a general education requirement. As part of this every student has to take four courses outside his/her chosen concentration (two in each of the other concentrations). A student who has opted for a concentration in humanities must thus complete at least two courses in social sciences as well as two courses in life sciences.
In total, the academic core consists of eight courses. Students fulfil one third of their total credits required for graduation within the academic core.
