Maastricht University has about 22.500 students at the moment. That is more than last year, but the growth is not very strong, said spokesperson Koen Augustijn. A mere 2 per cent. He does emphasise, however, that these are temporary figures, which “require caution. There is always a shift at the last moment. one way or another.” Students often register with several institutes. It is only halfway through the academic year that the figures tally with reality.
First-years
The influx (first-years) at UM rose by 6 per cent; the exact proportions between bachelor’s and master’s programmes, is not clear yet. The growth is mainly due to the new study programme of Computer Science. About 300 students signed up for this. That is more than for the other programmes at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, which include (among others) Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and Business Engineering.
Numerus fixus
At the same time, there was also a decline: there are fewer first-year students at Biomedical Sciences (BMS), only 175, whereas there were twice as many before. As there was in the past so much interest in this programme – and all other BMS programmes in the Netherlands had numerus fixus – the Maastricht Executive Board decided to also start selecting from the beginning of this academic year. With an intake restriction of 400 places, the Maastricht BMS programme is still the largest in the Netherlands. Yet, only 175 people registered. How is this possible? Augustijn: “A numerus fixus usually has the effect that fewer students enrol or attempt to do so.” Director of Education Jan Theys acknowledges this. “Students have to register by 15 January, which is very early and because future students are (still) not used to this, it may be overlooked by some. Also, students have the idea that a restriction is often a selection based on knowledge within the field, something that can scare them away.” But that is not the case here, he said.
'Temporary study programme'
In addition, BMS is often used as a ‘temporary study programme’ for students who have not been picked for medicine. Last year, in the faculty council of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) was discussed that a restriction at BMS would cause an overspill to Health Sciences (HS). But if you look at the temporary figures, you will see that there is no gigantic increase at HS. It is likely that students have eventually chosen a different programme or another university.
By the way, Mirjam Oude Egbrink, scientific director of the Education Institute at FHML, also informed the faculty council last year that – should the expected influx fail to occur – the measure could always be abolished again.
Internationals
More and more Germans, Belgians or students from other European and non-European countries are finding their way to Maastricht: of all first-year students, 64 per cent does not have Dutch nationality. According to Augustijn, the increase (60 per cent last year) “is relatively large because the decreasing number of registrations at BMS is largely due to the lack of Dutch students, who may have embarked on the programme while they were waiting on their preferred programme to become available.”