The role of the UM Brussels Hub is to offer UM researchers a dedicated platform and venue for their research activities. It provides a space where researchers can enhance the visibility and impact of their work, connect with international stakeholders, and explore new opportunities for collaboration.

Events organised at the Hub often focus on one of the four core missions: bridging the UM community with Europe, monitoring EU affairs, positioning Maastricht University as The European University of the Netherlands, and advising the UM on funding opportunities for the institution.

The Hub also plays a role in facilitating research activities organised by the UM community, focusing on fostering dialogue and collaboration. To see what type of activities take place at the Hub, check out the current events and initiatives here.

UM Brussels Hub activities banner

Knowledge Beyond Borders

Welcome to the SBE Blog, a platform for our academic community to share their expertise with people beyond their academic borders! Our authors range from students and PhDs to tenured professors and lecturers.

Would you like to contribute to the SBE Blog? Then send your pitch to SBE's Research Communications Officer, Nima Hassanloo

Blog posts

Designing a Resilient Plastics Economy: Take-Aways from the MORSE Panel Debate

On 27 January 2025, MORSE’s Research Day convened a high-level panel—featuring Arjen Wittekoek, Nelleke van der Puil and Laura Nieb

MORSE blog

From Economics to Branding and Innovation: The journey of Patrick van Thiel

  • Featured
  • Human interest
  • UM news

Patrick van Thiel’s academic journey began in Rotterdam before he found his true calling at Maastricht University in 1989.

Patrick V Thiel SBE Alumni

Rethinking Higher Education in an AGI World: Reflections from the MINDS Workshop

With artificial intelligence (AI) developing at a rapid pace, conversations around its future impact are becoming increasingly urge

A picture of Danique Eijkenboom

ICC@M at Maastricht University: competing with the best, shaping the future

  • Featured
  • Human interest
  • UM news

Roy Broersma, Academic Director of ICC@M, bridges academia and business, enhancing Maastricht University’s impact.

ICC@M 2025

A global perspective, a personal mission: Alumnus Samuel Fung joins SBE’s International Advisory Board

  • Featured
  • Human interest
  • UM news

With nearly 30 years of international leadership experience, SBE alumnus Samuel Fung brings a powerful combination of global industry ins

IAB March 2025

Taking your course online

We will update this page with new suggestions and recommendations as we roll into period 5 and 6. The information provided here is complementary to the support you receive in your own faculty or programme. Share your knowledge with other, and ask your colleagues for input and feedback – there is a wealth of knowledge available within the UM learning and teaching community, this is the time to tap into it!

Keep calm and carry online

Switching from small-scale, interactive offline education to doing most or all of the course work online sounds like a daunting task. While many things will be different, do not forget what you have and know already: a clear idea about the purpose and the content of your course; tasks or assignments that students can work with, off or online; goals and expectations about assessment; and many tools you have been using all along, such as email and EleUM.

So, before you set yourself to the task of redesigning your course into an online format, we recommend your start with considering a few issues that are not about tools and online environments, but about you and your course.

Tool Wheel

Developed by the University Library, the Tool Wheel helps you find your way in the jungle of tools. It distinguishes between tools that are licensed by UM and those that are not licensed but recommended, and offers in-depth information on each tool.

This page provides you with interesting activities and challenges to keep you active and entertained during the Corona crisis.

April 2020
MSP Citizen Science Month

Gratefulness and positive vibes

  • Think of one thing you’re grateful for today and write it down
  • Take a few moments to focus
  • Sit down
  • Close your eyes and say out loud what it is you’re grateful for
  • Check your body for sensations (warmth, sparkles, heaviness)
    • Where do you sense these in your body? And how does it feel?
    • Maybe you can see a color or a shape? What color or shape? What does it mean to you?
    • Maybe you can smell a nice fragrance? What is it and what does it remind you of?
  • Take all the time you need to completely “grab” this sensation
  • Open your eyes
  • Write down what you experienced in a few words
  • If you talk to a friend or relative, ask them what they are grateful for today
  • Share what you’ve experienced if you feel like it, with them or us

If you repeat this exercise over a period of days, you might experience minor changes. For instance: in your muscle tension, in the way you feel, in the way you react to others.

Be aware of small miracles!

Gratefulness and positive vibes

Video challenge: MSP at home

It would be great to see and hear from students how scientific phenomena continue to occur in our homes even during this corona crises. You can make a short video and upload it to the following form: https://forms.gle/zTJcfMpPYV2ySxAA7 (deadline: 10 April) and the three best videos will be rewarded with a Bread and More voucher on your arrival back in Maastricht.

We would love to share these videos on the MSP instagram page to show how the MSP community continue to be passionate about science even when we can’t make it to lecture halls, labs or tutorial rooms.  

I made a mini documentary with Sir David Attenborough about the biodiversity in my garden and where I might find new species. Stay safe!
- Alex (former student and current biology tutor)

Calm body and mind with square breathing

Below a little breathing exercise to help calm the body and mind at any time. It’s called “square breathing”:

Close your eyes and visualize your breath traveling along a square. As you follow the instructions to inhale, hold your breath, or exhale, count slowly to four on each side. Solely breathe through your nose, not your mouth. Try it now.

  • Inhale up the first side of the square. Slowly count 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
  • Hold your breath across the top. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
  • Exhale down the other side of the square. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
  • Then hold your breath across the bottom. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

After a few minutes of this you should be feeling calmer and more centered.

Square breathing

Great that you are interested in one of our master's programmes. You probably want to know what it´s like to study in Maastricht.

We offer you a wide range of information events and personal contact with our current master students. They will be happy to tell you everything about their programme and student life in Maastricht.

Check the information below and ask your question!
 

Faculty of Law

Join the next Master's Open Day!

Take part in the information sessions of our master's programmes and get familiarised with our Problem-Based Learning (PBL) system at our Master's Open Day.  Experience the atmosphere of our faculty and meet your future fellow students! 

Upcoming events

Talk to current master's students yourself

Our student ambassadors will happily tell you more about their study programme and student life in Maastricht. Follow the ambassadors on Instagram and send your questions via DM. 

Any questions?

Please contact us, we are happy to help you! 

Are you a prospective master's student?

With our physical events at the UM health campus cancelled because of the coronavirus, we would like to offer you several resources that can give you a feel of what it is like to study at Maastricht University’s Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML), and provide you with some answers to questions you might have.


1. Master's Open Day Online
2. UM Live sessions for new master students
3. Talk to current master's students
4. Online one-on-one appointments (Skype)
5. Contact the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences at Maastricht University

 

1. Master's Open Day Online

Our next Open Day on 20 November 2021 may be fully online once again depending on the COVID-19 situation. We have built a special platform for the occasion, offering programme presentation videos, Q&As and other events. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to sign up.

Students going the extra mile

2. UM Live sessions for new master's students

Maastricht University (UM) offers one-hour live sessions for students looking to find out more about master’s programmes at UM.

Past webinars:
 13 February: Career prospects
- What can do with the master’s degree of your choice?
- Will it make you more employable?
- And what kind of support can you expect from UM as you prepare for the world of work?

 12 March: A Master's at Maastricht
About studying a master's programme at UM: fields of study, Problem-Based Learning, tition fees & handling fee, housing & practical matters

 14 May: Van hbo naar wo (in Dutch)
- Waarom doorstromen?
- Wat zijn de verschillen tussen hbo en wo?
- Toelatingseisen en premasters
- Probleemgestuurd Onderwijs
- Verhalen van ervaringsdeskundigen

 14 May: Q&A session about the (six specialisations of) the master's in Biomedical Sciences
The coordinator of the master's in Biomedical Sciences gives information about this master's and its specialisations. After that, a Q&A with the programme coordinator and to students.

 1 October: All about choosing a study
- How to make the right choice - 10 tips on how to dream big
- How to choose a university
- What’s the right programme for you

 10 December: A master's in Maastricht
This edition is all about taking a master's degree, whether you want or need to continue your studies and specialise. It deals with career prospects, about what you can do with a degree in the master’s programmes of your choice. And, of course, if you haven’t decided yet, should you be choosing that programme in the first place?

3. Talk to current master's students

Each of our study programmes has a student ambassador who is willing to inform you about all details of his/her programme and about studying and (student) life in Maastricht. You can follow the ambassador via Instagram and ask him/her questions via DM. Below, you can find all of our master's student ambasssadors.

4. Online one-on-one appointment

If you still have questions and would like to have a one-on-one chat with one of our student ambassadors or recruiters, we can arrange a Skype call for you!

For scheduling an online personal appointment (but also if you have any other questions), you can send an email to study-fhml@maastrichtuniversity.nl Please include in your email your Skype name and the specific questions you have and we will inform you about a timeslot for the Skype call.

5. Contact the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) at Maastricht University

And of course, we - the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences - are also always available to you. You can contact us by email, phone, WhatsApp or chat.

Missing information or want to give feedback? Let us know!

  • Can I use all online tools without AVG problems?
  • How can I be visible for my students online (keep in touch)?
  • I need time to restructure my course
  • I want my students to work with physical content online
  • I want to create a video (e.g. lecture)
  • I want to create a video (knowledge clip)
  • I want to create an online lecture
  • I want to flip the classroom

  • I want to know what technical aspects I need to consider for teaching online
  • I want to prepare my students for online learning
  • I want to rethink the design of my course
  • I want to re-use open online educational resources (plagiarism, copyright, etc.)
  • Is Zoom AVG-Compliant?
  • What is the attendance policy for online education
  • When can I record a session? What are the regulations?

Instead of or as an extension of synchronous online (tutorial group) meetings, you can request your students to prepare and interact asynchronously

Have students divide tasks or define learning goals they will work on after the (online) meeting and ask them report on their findings in a shared working place, e.g. a discussion board in EleUM (Blackboard).  You can also offer documents or videos as a starting point to exchange information and build knowledge.

Set rules for the expected quality and provide some online etiquette and be clear about your role as a tutor: how often will you read, are you going to give instant feedback or will you use the discussion as a starting point in a (synhronous) meeting? 

You can also invite the students to work on assignments (papers, video, presentations, etc) and have them either work collaboratively on these assignments (have them discuss roles and tasks). EleUM offers several options to facilitate co-creation and collaborative knowledge building. Think of group pages (with file share) or wikis (ideal for collaborative writing and peer review) and blogs (e.g. suitable as a reflection tool). You can also introduce peer review on the concept versions of the assignments.

Resources:

 

Zoom is easily accessible and offers many options (such as the recording of sessions), which also makes it potentially susceptible to violations (intended and unintended) of European privacy regulations (GDPR), in ways that may negatively affect you, your students, or Maastricht University. Because of these risks, we explicitly urge you to follow the instructions in the manual as you set up Zoom.

Recording lectures etc. should preferably be done via Mediasite. If you need to record knowledge clips or if there are no recording facilities at your location, you may request the recording functionality for ZOOM to be activated for your account. You need to have the permission form on the ICTS Self-Service Portal filled out by your local ICT/Canvas/Mediasite/ZOOM supporter or information manager in order to obtain permission to use Zoom for recording purposes.