Thursday 11 November, Keuzegids 2022 was published and include the usual rankings of best-scoring programmes and universities. The order of the lists is mainly based on student opinions regarding the content of the study, the lecturers, exams, career preparation, and the atmosphere within the programme. For this purpose, the compilers analysed the data from the National Student Survey 2021, which was completed by 330 thousand students from universities and universities of applied sciences. As of this year, the National Student Survey has a new setup, which makes comparisons with previous years impossible, according to the guide.
Surprisingly, the new Global Studies, a co-operation between the six Maastricht faculties that started in September 2020, turned out to be the UM’s best study programme, with 8.6 on a ten-point scale. Immediately followed by the two University Colleges that both scored 8.3. Medicine too, which once started off as the best study programme in the Keuzegids, then dropped, but is now completely back and is one of the best, receiving an eight.
The law students are less satisfied, but that appears to be a trend on a national level. Dutch law at the UM received a 5.1 and with that ended somewhere in the middle. Nijmegen takes the lead with a six. The European Law School is the weakest of the UM bunch. The students gave the programme a 4.3 and are less enthusiastic than their colleagues elsewhere in the country about exams, the lecturers and the atmosphere. ELS also did not perform well in previous years. The faculty is working on making the admission requirements stricter. Too many first-years drop out because the program does not turn out to be what they expected. A new curriculum is also being developed. Has the bad score had an effect on the intake figures in recent years? Sjoerd Claessens, vice dean of education at the law faculty: “We have never seen an effect.”
The fact that the UM is the most international university, became clear again in the Keuzegids: nationally, the Maastricht International Business programme has the highest number of foreign students, followed by the University Colleges in Maastricht and Venlo. The bachelor’s of Digital Studies has – percentage-wise (89 per cent) – almost the most foreign students. Only Dutch Studies in Leiden scores higher (94 per cent). Another little fact: Maastricht students are – once again – more than satisfied with the lecturers’ English.