Details

• Netherlands
• MAECO-22
• Graduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

Before even thinking about what to exactly write in the application I would really put some time and effort into researching the different partner universities/read the reports of former students and make sure that the expectations of what you want from your stay abroad generally align with what those universities have to offer (like their courses on offer/activities/education type). This research can then be used to write a good application letter, where you can clearly motivate why you want to go to exactly that university/city. In general for preparing the semester abroad I would say go to the offered information sessions, read all the available information on the WU website (the whole process not just the application part so you know in general what kind of organizational things are lying ahead of you).

2. Accommodation

Maastricht is known for its student housing problems (more like crisis), which anyone going there should be aware of. My general tip: start as soon as possible to look for an accommodation. I started extremely early (March/April) by looking at student housing group chats on Facebook, because I wanted to find a private room and not one of those extremely expensive university housing options. In the end however I found a room already in April that was being sublet by a German student who was doing her exchange the same semester on wg-gesucht.de, so I would recommend that platform as there are a lot of Germans in Maastricht using it. The room was a sublet in a private house that the owners only rented out for female students (we were 8 in total). We had normal subletting agreement that we both signed and I had a video-call with her and her roommates before where she showed me everything - for safety issues please do that, there is a lot of scamming in Maastricht (I met people that had issues and lost a lot of money!) I had a shared kitchen (with the shower inside) and toilet with two other girls. The only catch, however was having to rent the room from August to January, though I only stayed in Maastricht September to December - it was still cheaper than for a lot of other people! Location-wise it was very close to SBE and the Inner City library (like 5 minutes by bike/15 minutes walking) and also close to the city center (Mariaberg). I met a few people that did however live a bit further outside, some even in different villages/smaller cities (however its sometimes still only 20-30 minutes by bike), so I got very lucky. I had no issues with safety.

3. Academic life at host university

The campus infrastructure in Maastricht was great, very clean and accessible (I love the offers by UM Sports) and also the Inner City Library (which gets very full around exam time though). In terms of academic culture and teaching style Maastricht is very different from WU. They follow the Problem Based Learning Approach which means you will have to do a lot more self-studying because courses are less lecture based and depend on your preparation. In a lot of classes students are the ones leading through the tutorials (it's essentially like doing a two hour presentation/discussion leading), but it depends a bit on what kind of courses you are doing. Also everything moves way faster because of the shorter periods - you will have a very intense time with two classes for 8 weeks, then exams and then it starts all over again. Teachers/Profs/Tutors are way more approachable than what I was used to compared to Vienna, so that was great. If you are looking for a different kind of academic experience then Maastricht is the way to go - be aware though that courses can be intense, the new learning environment hard to adapt to at the beginning and also the grade translation to Austrian grades is not advantageous. Hopefully you will learn a lot though, which I think was great.

5. Every day life in the host country

There are a few busses in Maastricht, which work quite well (you don't need a special card and can pay with your phone/bank card directly in the bus - like everywhere in the Netherlands), however the best way of getting around is obviously by bike. You can opt for renting a bike via Swapfiets (book in advance as they are normally out of stock at the beginning of the year) or buy a second hand one via WhatsApp/Facebook groups. There were no issues with safety, it's a small city. Activities offered by the ESN program of Maastricht were not that great, mostly revolving around partying and generally drying out ofter the start of the year, so if you ever want to do something else there is not much to offer. The introduction week (also the official day hosted by SBE) is quite important to meet people. The UM Sports offering is great, you can either book a gym membership or sign up for a flat-rate to do all kinds of sports courses ranging from boxing, yoga, volleyball and work-outs (around 25€ per month). Other than that Maastricht offers some nice coffee shops, restaurants a few cute bars, a nice art house cinema as well as some great nature in the surroundings that are easily reachable (by foot or bike) and of course you can go to all the other great places in the Netherlands!

6. Testimonial

Overall Maastricht was a great, but in general very chill exchange experience. Meeting fun new people from all around Europe and the world, having a really challenging academic experience and also the living in a very cute, quiet university town was a good choice for me personally.