About us

UM has appointed an advisory council on diversity and inclusivity in order to support, challenge and inspire the Executive Board in the realization of the UM’s mission and strategy. The Advisory Council consists of UM staff, UM students and members not employed by Maastricht University.

 Nanne de Vries, Professor of Health Promotion, member executive board MUMC
Bakir Bulic, Director Faculty of Science and Engineering
Didier Fouarge,  Professor in Dynamics of Skills Allocation, School of Business and EconomicsCerien Streefland, Managing Director, Faculty of Arts and Social SciencesFred Zijlstra, Professor of Work & Organizational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and NeuroscienceMark Kawakami, Assistant Professor, Faculty of LawLana Sirri, Assistant Professor in Gender and Religion, Faculty of Arts and Social SciencesAlbertine Zanting, Senior Policy Advisor Internationalisation and Researcher of Cultural Diversity, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life ScienceIsrat Hossein, student BA geneeskunde, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Science Nga Janda, student Faculty of Law

Inclusivity is one of the main goals of UM’s strategic programme Community at the Core. Based on exploratory research in the UM community and other external higher education and business organisations, we present the following UM Diversity&Inclusivity (hereafter D&I) Strategy for the period 2019-23.

UM D&I Policy has two main aims:

• Diversifying employee and student population
• Creating an inclusive atmosphere in which all talents and competencies can be mobilized for the well-being of the UM community

​We have identified four core areas that ask for specific policy interventions, trainings or awareness raising:

• ATTRACTING & RETAINING talent 
• FOSTERING cultural change
• STRENGTHENING diversity competencies
• MAKING lifephase-friendly HR policies

ATTRACTING & RETAINING talent

We are in the process of developing HR recruitment scripts that can partially standardise steps in recruitment processes to attract a more diverse group of administrative and academic staff as well as students – and to help this diverse group successfully mature in our organisation. This effort demands the broadening of our conceptualization of ‘talent’ in recruitment and retention efforts. If we want to harness diversity’s benefits as increased creativity and be an important role model organization within Limburg, the Netherlands and academia we have to rethink our recruitment strategies and our career development efforts.
Edlab is also busy with a project on retention and student persistence.

FOSTERING cultural change

We have to practice what we preach in order to attract more diversity and retain our employees and students. Hence, a sustainable cultural change towards inclusivity is essential.
Activities in this area are the D&I Diversity Grants, events and symposia, rethinking current curricula (Global Citizenship Education), marketing & communication, but also the recurring employee and student surveys with a special focus on inclusivity belong to initiating, monitoring and fostering cultural change.
We also think it is important to support UM D&I organizations that foster exchange between UM staff and students (and the region).

STRENGTHENING diversity competencies

Our academic staff need the skills to navigate UM’s international classroom. Students need the skills to partake successfully in PBL and the global job market. Diversity competencies are also relevant for researchers. All staff has to be diversity sensitive to create an inclusive UM.
Beyond relevant trainings, the importance of inclusion needs to be recognised and institutionalised in our existing quality cycles (student evaluations, UTQ portfolio, yearly talks).

MAKING family- and life-phase friendly HR and Education policies

By recognising and facilitating the care responsibilities of UM community members, by appreciating different ways of life, different needs at different moments in life and by creating the conditions for diverging career models, UM can offer more equity in career development, attract a more diverse pool of talent, and increase employee satisfaction and career sustainability.
UMCares aims to structurally improve the commensurability of professional and private responsibilities.