Public AffairsUnique educational methodology
The Maastricht programme offers an integrated curriculum on the basis of different educational methodologies. Each module is made up of four components, each with a specific purpose and educational format: the workshop, expert-seminars, skills training and guest-lectures.
Workshop
The educational format of the workshop is student-centred and based on collaborative and problem-based learning. The most significant point in problem-based learning is that students work on a problem that requires them to identify, and search for, the knowledge that they need to formulate solutions. This turns the usual approach to problem solving in university programmes on its head. Usually students are assumed to have already acquired the knowledge necessary to approach a problem before they can start on the problem.
In the setting of problem-based learning the knowledge arises from work on a problem. The emphasis, thus, is not on the teacher presenting knowledge, but on the student solving problems. Students learn how to get and select relevant and reliable information, and how to use it in solving a (concrete) problem. In this way students acquire problem-solving skills and the knowledge acquired will be better applied to new situations. Also the knowledge students bring in to the programme from their different national backgrounds can be used as an input.
The learning process can be briefly described as a collection of carefully constructed problems presented to small groups of students. In the workshop students learn to solve problems by informing themselves and by reflection on the process of acquiring and assessing information. Besides, the students develop skills that include:
- working in a multinational group and dealing with group dynamics,
- collecting highly focused data,
- writing memos and reports,
- developing and conducting oral briefings and presentations,
- operating under tight deadlines and with incomplete information,
- accepting and providing criticism and use it.
In the problem-based learning environment students play a very active role in acquiring subject knowledge. They explain to each other the principles, theories or rules involved and the reasons why they are relevant to the events described in the problem assignment. The students are more or less each other's teachers. However, students need support in order to adequately analyse problems and to be able to synthesise the relevant information. For this reason, each workshop is coached by a faculty member.
Seminars
Besides the workshop each module contains two seminars, in which an expert teaches about facts, concepts or theories, that students need to know to participate adequately in the workshop. The teacher-expert is a faculty member or an outside expert, mostly from a specific academic discipline or from a specific field of professional expertise. Each seminar meets once a week for two hours.
Skills Training
The skills training includes computing, giving presentations and memo writing, as well as budgeting and negotiating. Skills training is based on instruction and learning by doing. The specific skills to be acquired in a module are related to the theme or problems of that module.
Guest Lectures
The series of guest-lectures is designed to bring students in contact with outstanding researchers or professionals from the world of European public affairs.
