Details

• Netherlands
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

I can't say much about the admission process at WU, as it has changed significantly in recent semesters. In general, it is important to start preparing early and not to miss any deadlines. It is essential to find a university that suits your circumstances for your stay abroad and to familiarize yourself with the requirements for that university in advance and fulfill them early on.

2. Accommodation

Finding accommodation in Maastricht is very difficult. It is a city with a large student population and relatively few apartments available (especially for stays of less than a year). For this reason, it is important to start looking for accommodation early and not to leave it until shortly before your stay. I ended up living in a private apartment a little outside the city. The apartment itself was very nice and relatively inexpensive compared to apartments in the city. However, I had to drive about half an hour to the university every day and often had to rely on my car. Unfortunately, the location of my apartment wasn't ideal, so I would recommend finding an apartment in the city to live closer to the university and save yourself the daily commute. Personally, I never felt uncomfortable or unsafe in Maastricht and the surrounding area. The city is densely equipped with surveillance cameras, and you can walk the streets at night without feeling uneasy.

3. Academic life at host university

The university does not have a real campus in the traditional sense. The individual faculties are spread across the city. At first, it takes a little time to find your way around and get to know the individual buildings, as courses often take place in different buildings. However, as Maastricht is not very big and the locations of the faculties are usually clearly indicated, it does not take long to find your way around. The teaching style is very different from that at WU. Most of the time, you are in small groups of no more than 15 students, in which you have to prepare individual units and then present them to your classmates. Great importance is attached to ensuring that everyone is involved in these units and that they are interesting and stimulating. As a listener, you also have to prepare for the units, as you are expected to come to them with a good level of prior knowledge. For this purpose, articles and other materials are provided on Canvas, which you should prepare before the unit. It can be a little difficult to get used to at first, but after a few sessions, you usually feel comfortable and get used to this way of imparting knowledge. The tutors in these small groups are usually PhD or master's students who mainly provide feedback and grading.

5. Every day life in the host country

Public transportation in Maastricht is relatively well developed. There is a large train station from which you can travel directly to a wide variety of cities. The train station in Liège is also not very far away. From Liège, you can reach a large number of cities in Europe. However, I didn't use public transportation in Maastricht very often, as the city is very easy to cover on foot. As I wrote in a previous section, I personally never felt unsafe in Maastricht. It is clean and everything is very well maintained. At the beginning of the semester, the university offers an orientation week for exchange students where you can get to know some people. Thanks to the small groups in the classes, it is also not very difficult to get to know people better in everyday life. There is also a wide range of sports on offer with student clubs that you can join for a small fee. However, registration can be a bit of a hurdle, as you can only do it on site and you have to take out a membership for the whole semester (valid until February), which is a little more expensive than the monthly membership for 4 months.

6. Testimonial

I am used to living in a big city like Vienna, so I enjoyed living in a smaller city like Maastricht. Most things are within walking distance, which makes getting around the city very pleasant. The style of teaching here in Maastricht is also very special. The units and the preparation for them help you retain knowledge better and force you to spread the workload more evenly throughout the semester. Maastricht's central location also makes it an ideal place to explore Europe a little better and visit new cities.