Maastricht University - Teaching

Teaching

Teaching at Maastricht University is founded on the educational principles of problem-based learning (PBL). According to its website, UM is the only university which applies the problem-based learning approach in all its educational programmes. In 1974, Maastricht's newly-established Faculty of Medicine was only the second in the world to adopt the problem-based learning method. As PBL was originally designed for medical education, other faculties have developed a PBL approach that corresponds with the needs of their academic disciplines.

At the heart of Maastricht's PBL philosophy is the idea that students are personally responsible for their own academic education. A typical UM course revolves around so-called 'tutorial groups'. A tutorial group usually consists of 14 to 16 students, meeting once or twice a week to discuss self-identified problems on the basis of cases or situations described in the course manual. Each tutorial meeting consists of two parts: a post-discussion, where problems which have been identified at the previous session are discussed on the basis of assigned literature and sometimes with additional library research, followed by a pre-discussion of topics to be discussed at the next meeting. The tutorial group is chaired by a student member, who is expected to structure the discussion and ensure that every member of the group is able to participate. The instructor, typically named 'tutor', plays only a limited role during tutorials. Tutors will monitor discussions, provide feedback, and, where needed, help students in identifying relevant problems. Courses usually take seven weeks of tutorials followed by a final exam, but may also include writing or speaking assignments.

Even though traditional lecture-based teaching is at odds with the primarily self-guiding PBL approach, it has become customary in many programmes at Maastricht to include at least some lectures in courses to supplement the tutorial-based structure. Also, electronic learning methods are increasingly being used. As PBL courses are intensive, students can take only two or three courses at a time depending on the number of credit hours per course. The university's Language Centre offers an introduction to Maastricht's PBL approach for international students.