Even though university education has traditionally placed its primary focus on educating future generations, we have seen in recent years that this isn’t enough. Better yet, we no longer believe this is enough. As Maastricht University, our goal is to supply the job market with highly educated, flexible, resilient and very employable people. This means more than a mere transfer of academic knowledge and skills. It means developing employability, or self-awareness, adaptability, social responsibility and the realization that lifelong learning is crucial to a successful career.

Maastricht students have been learning these skills for over 40 years now, thanks to our Problem-based Learning, our international classroom and our high-quality programs. Extensive academic counseling, career advice, a complete series of options for internships and practice-based learning environments are a valuable addition to this. This is where our Brightlands campuses enter the picture. Students can meet our partners, do an internship, become young entrepreneurs, participate in research or work with others on practice-based projects.

One of our many employability initiatives is the Master Yourself project. Together with UM Career Services, we offer our master’s students workshops and masterclasses at well-known companies and organizations in the Euregion. This enables them to learn important skills, expand their network and gain a good impression of how companies are run. The first editions were a huge success, both for the participating companies as well as the students, and this is why we are constantly inviting companies in the Euregion to participate in Master Yourself.  The program gives graduates the chance to learn more about the business world and at the same time, meet potential new employers. As UM, we believe it’s important for the region to not let this talent go to waste, and at the same time, we want to make our students aware of exciting jobs in this field. These are jobs that are offered very often at the Brightlands campuses.

Two other initiatives in which Euregional businesses are involved are the Student Challenge Board (SCB) and Hire our Students. Both projects make it possible to place these inquisitive students at companies and organizations. In the SCB project, groups of students apply their refreshing views in tackling challenges formulated by companies. Hire your Students is self-explanatory: a job vacancy system solely destined for the UM, where people can publish openings for interns, employees or project support staff. We also organize Career Events where students learn as much from experts and alumni as from each other. 

We do everything we can to contribute to opportunities for our graduates in the Euregion. This involves all of the initiatives mentioned above plus bringing a testing lab on board, the ultimate goal of which is to get the Einstein Telescope to Southern Limburg. This enormous project will create countless jobs for highly skilled employees so we are crossing our fingers that this project will get the green light in 2021. When that happens, we will be waving both the UM and Brightlands flags!