Netherlands

This course examines how images of the “Old World” were constructed in the United States to define the nation in contrast with the political and cultural traditions of Europe. The tension between the American ideal of exceptionalism and adherence to an essential “Europeanism” continues to affect transatlantic relations. Students examine how these contrasting collective images were transformed during the twentieth century as the United States became a global power that influenced Europe. The course considers the following: which images of Europe have dominated American public discourse; how the geopolitical, political, and economic changes during the American Century affected the way Americans re-positioned themselves towards the Old World. After studying the literature, students explore one case study in a small research project.

Marketing Management focuses on the development of a better understanding of core marketing issues through the analysis of real-life marketing problems and marketing decision-making in an international context. The course adopts two formats: case study analysis and a marketing research project. In the case study format, emphasis is put on contemporary and international issues within a diverse scale of industries that focus on strategic as well as tactical marketing problems. Although conceptual material is provided and used as an instrument for analysis, emphasis is put on a critical and problem-solving approach of real-life cases. Through a marketing research project, students are challenged to delve into a real managerial issue and utilize skills that are developed within the course. To understand how to address this problem, students are tasked to design and implement full-scale marketing research and provide a report with proposed solutions back to the company. The sessions build upon PBL-guided case study sessions, while in-class exercises and assignments help build students’ marketing research skills. Lectures support the elaboration of the research project. International marketing and research cases are discussed in tutorial group meetings. The necessary knowledge for these discussions can be found in a basic textbook on marketing management, as well as a book on how to conduct marketing research. The latter is also necessary for successfully conducting a real-life marketing research project. Additional information on how to conduct marketing research comes from lectures. Basic managerial, marketing, and statistical knowledge is a prerequisite for attending this course.

This course examines various contemporary aspects of corporate governance, including issues relating to responsibility, accountability, sustainability, oversight, risk, ethics, and incentives. The course is multi-disciplinary, integrating concepts from the disciplines of accounting, finance, law, economics, and business ethics. A comprehensive overview of a myriad of issues, both theoretical and practical, arising out of the current international debate on creating effective corporate governance is provided. Next to acquiring a comprehensive overview of corporate governance, key learning objectives are to: (1) Develop a deep understanding of the key elements of corporate governance, (2) Acquire general knowledge of institutional differences in corporate governance as well as a general appreciation of many different codes of best practice worldwide; (3) Learn how to apply knowledge and understanding of corporate governance to real-world problems, and provide well-informed advice and judgments based on relevant academic research; and (4) Learn how to effectively communicate knowledge, advice and judgments on various corporate governance issues.

This course focuses on the relationship between religion and politics. To untangle this relationship, the course examines the role of four core processes – globalization, nation-state formation, colonialism, and gender – in giving shape to contemporary relations between politics and religion. In the first place, it offers a sweeping historical survey, starting with imperialism, the French and Haitian Revolutions, and modern state formation. This leads to contemporary geopolitics, religious nationalism (Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Confucian), and socio-cultural contests (over sexuality, abortion, education, and migration). The central goal is to understand how recurring questions of the political community (who has power, how, and why?) are informed by and inform struggles over the place, role, and nature of religion.  Questions are addressed in an interdisciplinary fashion, where politics, history, and religious studies encounter one another. The course consists of interactive lectures and seminar-style discussions, including ones that are student-organized and student-led.

Examining flows of diseases, people, goods, knowledge, and technology induced by processes of globalization can deepen our understanding of the complexity of health and disease. In this course, these flows are studied in depth, bringing insights into (epi) genetic disease distributions as well as the spread of information, technology, and migration, all in themselves affecting health and disease. The content of this course draws on several distinct academic disciplines of political economy, anthropology, biomedicine, (epi) genetics, and epidemiology. Prerequisites include Introduction to Biology and at least one of the following courses: Genetics and evolution, Infectious diseases and Global public Health, or Globalization and Inequality.

When exploring the principal rules that govern the flow of water, this course considers the four major types of water: atmospheric, ground, soil, and surface. With human activity and prevailing climate conditions placing more pressure on our supply of water than ever before, there has never been a more important time to develop a sound understanding of the subject. Students are familiarized with the basic terms and major laws that describe steady-state water flow in the subsurface and at the surface. These major laws are the energy equation (Bernoulli's law), the water balance equation (continuity), and the flow equation (Darcy's law or the Darcy-Buckingham equation). Students also gain knowledge of some aspects of atmospheric water, such as the generation of precipitation, measurement of precipitation, and the estimation of evaporation, as well as several methods for estimating surface water discharges in small streams. The ability to calculate volume fluxes and/or volume flux densities for several steady-state water-flow cases determines the successful completion of the course. Students are expected to have a working knowledge of mathematical differentiation and integration. This course is best suited for students in Hydrology, Geography, or Earth Science fields.

This course is designed for students in the Humanities or Social Sciences with no previous education in Biology. It may also serve as a remedial course for students with a high school Biology background insufficient for entering a regular level 1 Biology course. The course centers around three major themes: the basics of life, genes and evolution, and essential body functions. The course studies a wide variety of fundamental biological principles and concepts including the characteristics and basic units of life, biodiversity, the molecular basis of inheritance and genetics, origin of life and evolution, proliferation and differentiation of cells, principles of development and cancer, metabolism and energy, nutrition, health, nervous system and behavior, biological defense and communication, and reproduction and aging.

In this course students discuss, at a detailed molecular level, different cellular and genetic processes that are the basis of life as we know it. Students are familiarized with further knowledge in the field of cell biology, which enables them to better understand and appreciate the newest developments in this research area. Discussions revolve around general cell biological topics such as the role of membranes, membrane transport of small molecules, the nuclear architecture, the organization of the genome, regulation of transcription and translation, protein trafficking, the cell cycle and maintenance of genomic integrity, programmed cell death and senescence. The last task, dealing with cancer, serves as an integration task; knowledge of the previous topics is required to appreciate what the consequences can be when a cell goes astray and the defense mechanisms of the body fail. Prerequisites for this course include introduction to biology. This course is designed to be taken in combination with SKI2077 Lab Skills: Cell Biology. Students wishing to take the Lab Skills should concurrently enroll in or have completed this course. Students wishing to take SCI2037 Cell Biology without taking the Lab Skills may do so.

Social psychology is the scientific study of how people’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings are influenced by others. This course covers the core themes from social psychology – such as attitudes and attitude change, conformity, and aggression – and how they can be scientifically investigated. During the course, students participate in a “Humans of Maastricht” project. In this project, students make contact with their self-perceived “out-group,” applying social psychological theories and concepts to their experiences and reducing their stereotypes and prejudice in the process.