Bachelor in Global Studies
Maastricht University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Key Information
Campus location
Maastricht, Netherlands
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
3 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
EUR 2,209 / per year *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
01 Sep 2024
* the institutional fee for this programme is: €12,800
Introduction
Would you like to understand how different parts of the world are connected through global phenomena such as climate change and migration? Would you like to contribute to a more sustainable planet and debate solutions for a more just society? Do you want to understand global challenges from a variety of perspectives coming from psychology, law, economics, history, global health, politics, and sociology, to name a few? Are you interested in learning a new language and strengthening your intercultural skills through practical, hands-on experiences? Then the new Bachelor’s programme in Global Studies is for you.
Global Studies is a truly interdisciplinary programme. It is the only Bachelor's in the Netherlands to have 6 faculties equally teaching in the programme. This means that experts will help you to integrate knowledge from different disciplines to better understand and intervene in complex global problems. You will study with an international group of students, receive two years of language training, and have the opportunity to conduct a field study in the Global South.
Admissions
Curriculum
Why this programme?
Global Studies trains you to understand and develop solutions for complex global issues. The programme is structured around five themes, each of which contains knowledge, theories, methods, and academic & professional skills from multiple disciplines:
- Environment & Economy
- Migration & Citizenship
- Tolerance & Beliefs
- Peace & Justice
- 21st Century Learning
The themes are preceded by an introductory semester that introduces you to the field of Global Studies. In your final year, you will put your expertise to the test with a field study to a destination in the Global South (parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America), an interdisciplinary Bachelor’s thesis, and a chance to develop an intervention for a societal problem presented to you by an NGO, government agency, firm or a school. You will even have the opportunity to teach some of your experiences to first and second-year students.
Crossing borders
In this programme, you will learn to cross borders in several ways. You will: cross-disciplinary boundaries by bridging disciplines, cross Euro-centric perspectives by reading authors from other locations, conduct a field study in a Global South country, and conduct an interdisciplinary final thesis.
Bridging the Disciplines
Complex, global problems require solutions that are rooted in multiple disciplines. Global Studies trains you to integrate knowledge and skills that pertain to the natural and technical sciences (environmental science, data science), social sciences (development geography, political economy, governance, law, sociology, economics, international relations, and technology studies), life sciences (public health, psychology), and humanities (anthropology, history, and philosophy). All semesters and themes are co-developed and co-taught by scholars from at least three disciplines. Studying with these experts, you will:
- Build an understanding of how individual disciplines look at particular questions;
- Debate how the theories and assumptions of different disciplines can be connected to arrive at a richer view;
- Learn and practice research methods that are used by different disciplines to allow you to collect your own data, perform strong analyses and arrive at relevant conclusions;
- Formulate evidence-based advice and recommendations for complex problems;
- Develop your skill-set as a future professional, academic, and citizen of the world.
Global North and Global South
To ensure that the program offers a truly global focus in which perspectives from the Global South get as much attention as perspectives from the Global North, each course will include theories and concepts developed by non-Western scholars that will be compared with those developed in the West.
Field Study in the Global South
During the theme on Peace and Justice, you will have the opportunity to go on a month-long field study in the Global South, exploring and learning about a relevant problem in a local community in Africa, Asia, or Latin America. Together with a small group of your fellow students, accompanied by an expert and hosted by a local partner, you will have the opportunity to study a complex issue, discover local solutions, and practice your own skills as a global citizen.
Bachelor’s Thesis
Your final piece of work in BSc Global Studies will be to write a Bachelor’s Thesis on a topic of your choice — perhaps a deepening and continuation of your field study, a study on a target of the Sustainable Development Goals, or a topic that resonates with the final semester-long theme, 21st Century Learning? Your thesis will integrate expertise from at least two disciplines and serves as a bridge to the next step in your career.
International classroom
The fostering of a truly international classroom is central to the aims of Global Studies. You will work together with students with a diversity of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds in and outside the classroom. This will help you acquire competencies in two of the central aims of the BSc Global Studies: Global Citizenship and Interpersonal Competencies related to intercultural and transdisciplinary communication and understanding.
Skills
You will be able to develop skills and competencies in the following domains:
- Methodological: the ability to acquire and apply new knowledge.
- Social: the ability to deal with other people in a respectful and empathetic way.
- Communicative: the ability to create new and maintain existing relationships, to express yourself clearly and precisely.
- Personal: the ability to reflect on yourself and develop yourself.
- Scientific: you will have relevant knowledge of academic theories and models.
- Professional: you will be proficient in business and persuasive writing, presentation skills, collaborative working, creative problem-solving.
Problem-Based Learning
You will be taught using Problem-Based Learning (PBL) which Maastricht University is famous for. In small tutorial groups with a maximum of 12 students, you will analyze challenging questions and cases. Together with your group, you will set to work on weekly problems, seek further knowledge on the problem and formulate your answers. Instructors only give help as needed, allowing you to develop independence and the problem-solving skills you will need in your career.
This program will also experiment with digital forms of education within the PBL environment and with the support of Maastricht University’s Institute for Education Innovation (EDLAB). This will give you hands-on experience with the advantages and disadvantages of digitally-mediated teaching and learning methods.
Working with stakeholders
Throughout the program, you will learn methods and skills for working on projects with and for stakeholders such as NGOs, government agencies, firms, and schools. This culminates with a real-life experience in the last semester in which you will work together with a stakeholder on an issue they face. You will practice the academic and professional skills, project-based methods, and knowledge that you will have acquired throughout the program, to analyze the stakeholder’s issue and work together with them to develop a relevant and realistic intervention.
Courses & curriculum 2022 - 2023
Year 1
Semester 1
- Introduction to Global Studies
- Research Methods
- Academic & Professional Skills
- Language Training
Semester 2
- Environment & Economy
- Research Methods
- Academic & Professional Skills
- Language Training
Year 2
Semester 1
- Migration & Citizenship
- Research Methods
- Academic & Professional Skills
- Language Training
Semester 2
- Tolerance & Beliefs
- Research Methods
- Academic & Professional Skills
- Language Training
Year 3
Semester 1
- Peace & Justice
- Field Study
- Research Methods
- Academic & Professional Skills
Semester 2
- 21st Century Learning
- Bachelor Thesis accompanied by research methods and academic writing
Language training
Throughout the first two years of the program, you are required to follow foreign language training. This cannot be your native language or English, but you can choose from the following languages:
- Arabic
- Italian
- Chinese
- Portuguese
- Dutch
- Russian
- French
- Spanish
- German
Before the courses start, you will have an intake with the language center to determine your level of the language you would like to study.
Gallery
Scholarships and Funding
As an open and accessible academic community, UM offers several scholarships to support top-performing undergraduate and graduate students with personal development potential that are experiencing financial difficulties to pursue a degree at UM. UM scholarship students function as important ambassadors of the university during and after their studies.UM scholarship students are selected on the basis of their academic excellence, extracurricular engagement, active citizenship and financial need. As the number of scholarships is limited, the selection process is highly competitive.
Rankings
The bachelor's programme Global Studies has been awarded the "Top rated programme" label in the Keuzegids 2022
The bachelor's programme Global Studies is ranked on the 1st place in the interdisciplinary bachelors category of the Dutch University Guide: Keuzegids 2022. Our students have rated the programme with an overall score of 86.
Program Outcome
Global Studies was designed from scratch to be a fully interdisciplinary programme, with opportunities to learn about the theories and assumptions of individual disciplines, how to integrate insights from different disciplines and to practice how to apply the insights of multiple disciplines to complex, global problems. Throughout your study, you will be learning valuable research methods and professional skills, you will receive two years of language training and an opportunity to practice global citizenship during a field study in the Global South. As a result, you will be well-placed to pursue a career path that allows you to contribute to solving important social challenges.
Given the interdisciplinary nature of the Global Studies programme, you will have a strong academic foundation to pursue a variety of Master's programmes in The Netherlands and around the world.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Possible professions upon completion of your degree include:
- Policy maker on global issues (climate change, migration)
- Advisor on global health risks for companies and governments
- Ethics advisor for companies operating globally
- Researcher/consultant for public, non-profit or private sector on migration, environment, cultural diversity, peace
- Corporate and government training schemes
- Teacher, director of secondary schools