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Faculty of Law, Maastricht University (The Netherlands) 1. Overall impression My master of forensics, criminology and law at the University Maastricht was very interesting and offered new perspectives. Since Maastricht is a Student City the student life was also always fun with many events and parties. Maastricht itself is also really nice with many nice cafes. 2. Making preparations (e.g. administrative matters, finding information) Finding information about different specialized master programmes at the University Maastricht (UM) is quite easy since it is all available on their website and additionally a brochure on the available master’s programmes of the Faculty of Law can be downloaded (PDF) or ordered as a booklet for free. The general registration and booking of courses at the University Maastricht can be easily made online (Studielink and Student Portal). This registration only has to be done around May/June so there is no need to worry before. 3. Contacts/Responsibilities (e.g. important contact persons at the Partner University and Faculty) If there are any questions the people from the answer very quickly via email or the Student Service Centre is very helpful in solving any problems also during the year. For questions regarding the admission, payment of tuition fee or early proof of enrolment Diane Crook (Master Admissions Officer) was very helpful. 4. Housing / Finding accomodation Finding Housing in Maastricht is rather difficult since there is no campus. There are guest houses that are available for a stay that is less than a year (maastrichthousing.com). There are a lot of housing agency’s (but they often charge subscription or contract fees). So, it is advisable to start early and also look on the Facebook groups (such as Maastricht Student Rooms or Rooms/ Kamer/ Zimmer in Maastricht) for rooms without agency fees. The prices for the rooms are affordable starting already around € 290. Also, one can get help with housing from Jules (they arrange viewings in their buildings and help with everything else).

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Page 1: 1. Overall impression 2. Making preparationse0ff65de-47f5-4288-95f4-266ebddb9... · 1. Overall impression . ... (due to the foreign ATM and change in currency). ... A main event in

Faculty of Law, Maastricht University (The Netherlands)

1. Overall impression My master of forensics, criminology and law at the University Maastricht was very interesting and offered new perspectives. Since Maastricht is a Student City the student life was also always fun with many events and parties. Maastricht itself is also really nice with many nice cafes.

2. Making preparations (e.g. administrative matters, finding information)

Finding information about different specialized master programmes at the University Maastricht (UM) is quite easy since it is all available on their website and additionally a brochure on the available master’s programmes of the Faculty of Law can be downloaded (PDF) or ordered as a booklet for free. The general registration and booking of courses at the University Maastricht can be easily made online (Studielink and Student Portal). This registration only has to be done around May/June so there is no need to worry before.

3. Contacts/Responsibilities (e.g. important contact persons at the Partner University and Faculty)

If there are any questions the people from the answer very quickly via email or the Student Service Centre is very helpful in solving any problems also during the year. For questions regarding the admission, payment of tuition fee or early proof of enrolment Diane Crook (Master Admissions Officer) was very helpful.

4. Housing / Finding accomodation Finding Housing in Maastricht is rather difficult since there is no campus. There are guest houses that are available for a stay that is less than a year (maastrichthousing.com). There are a lot of housing agency’s (but they often charge subscription or contract fees). So, it is advisable to start early and also look on the Facebook groups (such as Maastricht Student Rooms or Rooms/ Kamer/ Zimmer in Maastricht) for rooms without agency fees. The prices for the rooms are affordable starting already around € 290. Also, one can get help with housing from Jules (they arrange viewings in their buildings and help with everything else).

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5. Arrival After arriving in Maastricht (hopefully with a room) a few administrative things need to be taken care of: pick up of student card and registration with the municipality. The student card can be picked up in the Student Service Centre and is then can be used to pay for coffee, food, and printing. It is also required to enter into some of the buildings and into the library during the peak period (3 weeks before exams). Maastricht then has introduction days where they show you all the facilities and explain your chosen programme.

6. Telephone (e.g. costs, carriers)

It is easy to get a Dutch SIM card from one of the providers. They even hand them out for free during the first few Introduction days (from Lebra I think). It is only important to check the conditions for calls and data volume of the respective company. There are many free Wifi spots (Free Wifi Maastricht) throughout the city. So, there is Wifi on almost every major square and also available in most café’s. Also since the buildings of the University are spread throughout the city the University WLAN (eduroam) is often also available. Therefore, barely any additional Data is required if there is also Internet at home.

7. Bank account The University advises to open a bank account with ING. The advantage is that there no additional costs when paying with card as one would have with most Swiss accounts (due to the foreign ATM and change in currency). Also, ING has an App (in English) and online banking (only in Dutch). It can therefore be a good idea to open a bank account instead of always withdrawing huge amounts. However, the procedure to open a bank account there is a bit complicated since they make foreign students go to the ING bank close to the station and make an appointment for later the same day which results in huge cues before the bank even opens in September. This procedure is only applicable when opening a student account. So, it is advisable to check if the requirements for such an account are met (registration with a University and as I was told also have DUO or a Dutch employer).

8. Transport (e.g. from Switzerland, to the University)

The cheapest (around CHF 30) way to travel from Switzerland to Maastricht is with flixbus from Zurich to either Liege (then take the train) or Dusseldorf (take the IC Bus / train). There are also cheap flights to Amsterdam or Brussels. The regular train tickets in the Netherlands are quite

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expensive. However, there is the possibility to buy grouptickets (€ 7 for both ways) in Facebook groups. In Belgium, the train ticket (Go Pass) is € 6.20 (also both ways to anywhere in the country on one day) for anyone under 26.

9. General information about the Partner Faculty and student life In Maastricht, a bike is a must since it is much easier and faster to get around. The sports facility of UM is a bit further away and requires a membership but there are also closer private gyms in equal price range. UM has many sports clubs that can be joined. For swim training (2 a week) I joined M.S.Z.V. Tiburón which was a really great experience since they organise many additional social events (parties, dinners, (competition) weekends) and you also get to know Dutch people.

10. Teaching and studying at the Partner Faculty (e.g. program structure, methodology, exams, etc.)

Depending on the chosen master’s programme and course the methodology, exam and teaching style vary extremely. Also, the choice of courses varies. In my master (Forensics, Criminology and Law) many courses were compulsory. Generally, UM follows the PBL system (Problem-Based Learning). There are few lectures and many tutorials in small groups where one is expected to have read the material, prepared the questions (learning goals) and participate. The courses each last 8 weeks and often assessed by an exam in combination with a paper. In the tutorials, the prepared material (for each week) is discussed and any questions can be answered there. The advantage of this system is that if the learning goals are prepared and answered every weak the additional effort to learn for the exam is relatively low and a good grade can easily be achieved. However, this also means that the reading for each week has to be done which is usually quite a lot (often around 300 pages). The additional papers (around 3000 words) which are often part of the final grade also do take up a lot of time during the week. This means that during the week there is less free time as one would have in Zurich (of course depending on the time invested in thorough preparation). There exists also the possibility of replacing electives with an internship during May/June which could also be very interesting but it needs to be organized by oneself.

11. City (e.g. cultural activities, sports, discounts, nightlife, must-sees, short trips, etc.)

There are many cultural events and student parties in Maastricht mostly on the main square (Vrijthof). A main event in Maastricht is always Carnaval (everywhere in the City) and Kingsday (also everywhere in the City and also with many festivals). Also, Maastricht and surrounding towns (such as Aachen) have really nice Christmas Markets. Both of them are really worth experiencing and getting in the spirit by dressing up. Worth visiting is for sure Amsterdam, Utrecht and in Belgium also

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Brugge (my favourite). In Maastricht, the Caves (with underground connection to Belgium and old Art vault and the tower of Sint-Janskerk (big red tower on Vrijthof with an amazing view) are really worth a visit.