These are the preliminary figures, which were released by the university today. With an emphasis on preliminary: students often apply to multiple institutions, so there will still be some shifts. The final figures will be available in early 2026.
This uncertainty is also why the university did not release the figures per programme. Although it was clear during last month’s Law Faculty Council meeting, that significantly fewer students had applied for the European Law School, the English-taught bachelor’s programme at the faculty.
Slight increase
On the whole, the number of new bachelor’s students at Maastricht increased slightly, by 3 percent compared to last year. The number of new master’s students also increased, by over 2 percent. The total number of students remaining much the same can be credited to so many students leaving.
Where are these new students from? The proportion of new Dutch students is a few percent higher than previous years, rising from 35.8 percent in 2023 to 38.2 percent now.
Dutch people now make up a solid 38 percent of total UM students, the same as last year. The proportion of students from the Euregion, the area roughly 100 kilometres around Maastricht, stayed the same. They made up about 49 percent of students at Maastricht.
Recruiting
The university is also recruiting across the border in that area, in Belgium and Germany, for some of the newest bachelor’s programmes. This, despite the deal made between Dutch universities, to essentially stop recruiting international students.
In this way, they hope to accommodate the now outgoing cabinet, which sought to counteract the internationalisation and anglicisation of higher education. According to the university association UNL, Maastricht University’s recruitment across the border is not a problem: UM is merely sharing information “a bit more widely” for programmes “related to sectors experiencing labour shortages”, a spokesperson told Observant previously.