Latest blog articles

  • This summer we have witnessed the birth of the “European university”. In June, the European Commission announced the 17 successful bids for this status from consortia of institutions across the continent. Given that UK universities are among the best in the world, you would have expected them to be...

  • Horizon Europe: game change?

    Van Horizon 2020 naar Horizon Europe

    ‘Evolution, not revoltion’ was het uitgangspunt bij de start van de voorbereiding van het nieuwe onderzoek- en innovatiekaderprogramma Horizon Europe 2021-2027 van de Europese Unie. Grote aanpassingen leken niet nodig. Elders in de...

  • This blog is currently only available in Dutch.

    Op 22 mei 2019 verscheen de ‘Atlas voor gemeenten 2019’. De 50 grootste gemeenten van Nederland worden jaarlijks met elkaar vergeleken. Dat kunnen verschillende beleidsterreinen zijn waar lokale, regionale en centrale overheden zich mee bezighouden...

  • Blog by UCM-student Svea Grünkorn about Green Impact.


    The Green Impact programme first crossed my mind when I saw a picture of the frog “Kermit” being circulated within the university. Teams of the UM-wide Green Impact programme were trying to steal the stuffed animal from one another whereby they...

  • More than 17 million workers living or working in another Member State are exposed to possible violations of their rights, either because of poor implementation of EU rules, disinformation or lack of coordination among Member States. Therefore, the EU plans to set up a new authority that will...

  • As of 1 January 2019, the tax part of the tax credit will no longer be automatically granted to frontier workers who work in the Netherlands but do not reside in the Netherlands. This constitutes an obstacle for frontier workers. ITEM has already questioned this before. Recently, the European Court...

  • After Germany, Wallonia is also thinking about introducing a road toll. A resolution on tolls was recently discussed on 11 February at the Budget Committee  of the Walloon Regional Government.  The intention for the Walloon road toll follows the German idea: a road vignette, with a price...

  • Recently, the usage of English as the main language of Maastricht University has been disapproved by some noisy intellectuals who are frequenting talkshows for the elderly. According to these gurus, Dutch universities should stick to the Dutch language, especially in case of studies such as...

  • The internationalisation of higher education (IoHE) relates to sensitive topics of public concern. Considering the ongoing debate in the Netherlands regarding the challenges related to the internationalisation of higher education, it is time to take a step back and remember the many benefits as...