However, what exactly impressed the NVAO (and what could be improved) is still a mystery: the assessment reports have not yet been published. In 2019, after a similar assessment, the NVAO reported that Maastricht has a “true culture of quality”, based on dialogue and interaction. And in terms of internationalisation, UM was hailed as an example of ‘best practice’ at the time.
But what does the CeQuint label mean in practice? “That we integrate internationalisation in our strategy, in our quality assurance, and in our education,” said Rosa Becker, senior policy officer Internationalisation. For example: “Intercultural skills have been integrated into the learning goals for almost all our courses.” Is that something to highlight? A signal to politicians during this time of budget cuts and criticism of internationalisation? She admits that played a part, “but it wasn’t the most important reason to pursue an extension. The label matches our profile as ‘European university of the Netherlands’: we want all our partners and prospective students to see that we continue to take internationalisation seriously” – not just the politicians.
Benefits
Then there’s the culture of quality, for which UM received the ITK certificate – just like many other Dutch universities. Individual degree programmes at Maastricht benefit from that, said senior policy officer Marieke Peeters. They can now be subjected to shorter quality assurance assessments when they have their quality assessed. And students also benefit from the fact that “certain things are well-organised centrally”, she said. “Supervision by mentors and coaches, attention paid to student welfare, and facilities to help students with a disability, for example.”
Both refused to comment on any recommendations for improvement for now. According to Becker, the reports will be discussed in the University Council in May.