MSc Systems Biology - Education and Covid-19

• 26 June 2020: Update: Educational format coming academic year 
• 28 May 2020: Master's Introduction Days

Everyone |  14 August 2020

UM wants to provide its students and employees with a safe working and learning environment during this pandemic. This protocol shows how (the possibility) of spread of COVID-19 at UM can be prevented as much as possible.​ 

You can find the full protocol here

(prospective) students | 9 July 2020   

The steps to apply for a Dutch visa and residence permit can be found here. If you have questions about Visa applications, especially for applications processed outside the usual deadlines, please contact the Visa Office.

As a reminder, the Sciences master's programmes are providing flexibility for traveling to Maastricht by offering both online and on-campus education options. This applies to students with delays in their visa application process.

Prospective students | 8 July 2020

The Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science is making it possible to admit students to a Dutch master's programme for the academic year 2020-2021 under certain conditions, even if these students have not yet completed their bachelor's programme. This type of conditional admission is also referred to as a ‘soft cut’.

Students from an UM bachelor's programme
In order to be able to enter UM (pre)master programmes for academic year 2020-2021 based on the 'soft cut' admission criteria, a standard of at least 80% of the ECTS from year 3 of the bachelor's programme needs to be obtained (i.e. a maximum of 12 ECTS from year 3 of the bachelor's programme may be missing, year 1 and year 2 need to be fully obtained).[1]

Students from an external bachelor
When a student from a bachelor's programme from outside UM wants to enrol in a (pre)master's programme at UM based on the 'soft cut' admission criteria, this will be done via the above-mentioned standard[2]; the UM master's program will assess whether the student in question can be enrolled conditionally, bearing in mind the 80% standard.

Other applicable exceptions 
Exceptions of the 12 ECTS will be made when applicants that have pending Bachelor thesis credits (usually higher than 12 ECTS). In case a student has yet to complete their bachelor thesis, the Admissions Committee will ask the student for a description of their thesis status. For cases in which the student has started their bachelor thesis but are missing advance components to obtain credits including defence, written thesis submission, or pending minor data collection, admission will be granted provided the student is not missing credits from other courses and thesis completion is realistically obtainable within the first half of the academic year 2020 - 2021.

[1] Exception: The student still has to complete 1 or more course units of year 3 of the bachelor's programme that covers more than 12 ECTS and of which it is feasible for the student to complete these course units within the academic year 2020-2021.

[2] Exception: In the case of a four-year (foreign) bachelor's degree, a maximum of 20% of the ECTS from the last year of study may be missing.

Looking forward to 2020-2021

Everyone | 18 June 2020

The Master's programmes team is working hard to start education in the fall, on campus if you can, online if you need to. This flexible modality will allow you to participate in our staple “international classroom” while accommodating traveling of physical distancing restrictions. We're looking forward to welcome you soon and in the meantime, stay safe!

Corona-proofing Paul-Henri Spaaklaan 1 ("PHS1)

Everyone | 18 June 2020 

Although education last took place at our PHS1 building in March, I've been on site almost every day. There's a few reasons for that: construction work on the communal areas never stopped (more about that later) and we're also working on implementing and testing the necessary health measures.

So far, we have figured out and indicated the maximum room capacities, outfitted every entrance with hand sanitizer, figured out seating plans, assigned walking directions in hallways, opened up unidirectional staircases and more - all to ensure we comply with the latest rules and regulations. You can see some pictures of our progress at the bottom of this page. Although no one knows exactly which measures will apply in September, we will continue to ensure that our building stays up to date and safe.