UM rector touches base with students and staff
6 – LAW – Theme: assessment
“Please allow us to go back to university”
Rector Rianne Letschert recognises students’ needs and will do everything in her power to open up the university in September as much as possible. She was speaking at the final leg of her Faculty Tour. The tutor and students at Law said they appreciated the opportunity to talk to Rianne and to learn that other faculties are facing similar issues with the ‘new normal’.
5 - FHML - Theme: educational activities
“One of the students said PBL is the heart of Maastricht University and that's now online,” Rector Rianne Letschert told UM’s Videoteam after the fifth leg of her Faculty Tour. And online PBL just isn’t the same as the lively interaction in the classroom, she added in the same breath.
FHML student Riccardo Sacca said he appreciated the rector taking the time to see how students are doing.
4 - SBE - Theme: self-regulated learning
COVID has left students to their own devices. Many of them struggle with finding their drive and structuring their own university time. Self-discipline is required. Fortunately, UM offers plenty of opportunities to help these students out, says Shula Mensah, a tutor at SBE, after the fourth leg of the rector’s Faculty Tour.
3 - FPN - Theme: engagement
How do you balance university life with your social life given the confines of COVID? Facetiming is important. So is going on walks. Online education? Not really. Many students find it hard to stay concentrated and motivated, says Rector Rianne Letschert after visiting a virtual tutorial at FPN. “Students need to be able to stay in touch. Surprisingly, what they miss most is the library.”
2 - FSE - Theme: technology and support
It's high time that universities reopen. “Students need to go back to campus,” UM Rector Rianne Letschert said after the second leg of her online tour of the faculties.
Students sorely miss their social interaction. One student at the Faculty of Science and Engineering spends her days in her tiny room commuting between her computer and her bed.
1 - FASoS - Theme: well-being
Rector Rianne Letschert has started a faculty tour, to get a better idea of how the UM community is coping with the pandemic. This week she joined an online tutorial group of FASoS. The focus: the psychological and social well-being of the students and their supervisor Aneta Spendzharova.
Rector Rianne Letschert will be talking to students and staff at Maastricht University in the coming weeks. On behalf of the UM Executive Board, she is visiting online tutor groups to get a better idea of how the UM community is doing.
What is the state of play when it comes to online education? Are there specific problems or issues that need to be addressed urgently? But most of all, she wants to speak with our people in person and hear how they are experiencing this special time.
The tour will take the rector to all faculties. She will visit one tutor group at each faculty and has chosen groups from different years. The tour kicked off with second-year FASoS students on Monday, 22 February.
This week, UM embarked on another initiative: UM walks, offering the opportunity to get in touch with a random student or colleague and go for a walk together.
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