Maastricht University – University College Maastricht

This course introduces students in the various topics that are related to business administration so that students have basic knowledge for the more specialized courses in marketing, organization, finance, strategy, supply chain management, and accounting. The course is centered around a real-life management simulation: Market Place live.

The long-run economic development of countries, as well as inequality within countries are the major topics of this course. The course reviews the major conceptual approaches to economic development and applies those to the actual experience of countries. In this way, the global variety of development experiences becomes a central topic of the course, addressing topics such as investment, trade, building institutions, population dynamics, education, health, and migration. The material that we cover suggests that inequality of the distribution of income resulting from differences across the population in terms of access to education, health services, or infrastructure can be a major obstacle to economic development. Throughout the course, public policy options for stimulating development are made central, especially in the assignment that students carry out.  Prerequisite SSC1027 Principles of Economics. Knowledge of basic quantitative concepts such as reading and working with graphs and simple equations is also a prerequisite

This course provides students with a solid understanding of the key aspects in energy metabolism, and the effects of nutrients on (muscle) metabolism during exercise of different types. The course requires prior knowledge on some basic biochemical concepts (e.g. the structure and function of macromolecules, common forms of chemical reactions, basic cell structure, and metabolism of macromolecules). The course builds around a practical case study. With a group of students, develop a cohesive and evidence-based recommendation regarding nutrition and exercise for a client sports team. The first part of the course provides a theoretical foundation on the basics of exercise physiology and biochemistry. In the form of tutorial groups, discuss the physiology of muscles, the metabolism of macronutrients, the hormonal regulation of metabolism, the biochemical and physiological role of macro- and micronutrients in relation to exercise and fatigue, and adaptations of the body to endurance, and resistance training. You are expected to conduct a further search of the literature, as the theoretical foundation covers only part of the concepts important for developing a cohesive recommendation regarding nutrition and exercise. Prerequisite SCI2035 Biochemistry. Recommended SCI2009 Human Physiology and/or, SCI2037 Cell Biology.

In this course, students critically explore the scientific base of the degrowth paradigm. Is “green” growth indeed impossible, and how would we know? How is growth tied to global production-consumption systems and their destructive impacts? How does the economic growth paradigm influence not only countries and organizations but also individuals who strive for performance maximization and more productive and marketable uses of their time? Through the lens of three different academic perspectives, students explore and discuss what “de-growing” economic systems, policies, and individual behaviors could look like.

This is a course in intermediate microeconomics on markets for information goods and the economics of uncertainty and information.  The course begins with the concepts of pricing theory and game theory, building on SSC1027 Principles of Economics. Several topics, including pricing and network effects are studied. Special attention is paid to “platforms”, which often play an important role in markets for information goods. Prerequisite SSC1027 Principles of Economics.

Biology, the science of life, studies organisms as the basic units of life. How they evolved, how they are built up, how they act, how they communicate with each other, how they are related to the non-living environment, and how they reproduce. The course starts with biomolecules and reactions that enable life, followed by tasks about organelles, cells, DNA, and the protein machinery that results in the diversity of cells. The course continues with cell growth and differentiation, metabolism, and reproduction. The end of the course goes into organ systems and evolutionary mechanisms that ultimately provide the biodiversity on planet Earth.

This course considers histories and theories of modern and contemporary art. It provides an overview of the heterogeneous and experimental development of modern and contemporary art. Artistic responses to society, politics, science, and technology are discussed. The module also addresses the practices of governing institutions of the contemporary art world, such as art markets and museums. Furthermore, the course features visit to (local) art institutions, including the Jan van Eyck Academie.

Laboratory skills are essential for students who want to pursue a Life Science oriented master study. In this course, get acquainted with the basic laboratory skills in biochemistry. Training involves safety and Good Laboratory Practice, as well as some essential biochemical techniques like DNA isolation, enzyme kinetics, absorption spectrophotometry, and protein gel electrophoresis. Determine the presence of sugars and identify the types of sugars in unknown samples, solving a sugar-riddle. Work in teams of two and prepare your own protocol for each practical.  This course is designed to be taken in combination with SCI2035 Biochemistry. Students who wish to take this course should concurrently enroll in SCI2035 Biochemistry or have taken SCI2035 Biochemistry prior to enrolling in SKI2086. 

This course focuses on the institutions of the European Union. At the same time, this course provides an opportunity for students to be exposed to legal thinking. Law is central to the process of European integration, and it plays a greater role in European affairs than it does at national or international level. It is accordingly essential for students to become familiar with the ways of legal thought and legal reasoning, if they want to understand fully the European integration process, and European matters more generally.  Prerequisites: SSC1007 Introduction to Law and Legal Reasoning and at least one of the following courses: SSC2060 Comparative Constitutional Law (SSC2012 Comparative Government) or SSC2024 International Law.

This course studies factors that drive entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial process. The course starts by exploring the process dynamics of entrepreneurial activity.  Then explores the origins of entrepreneurial opportunity, reviewing how entrepreneurs screen and develop the opportunities that they discover, and unravel how entrepreneurs seek to appropriate the returns from their enterprising behavior and benefit from or contribute to entrepreneurial networks and ecosystems. Focus is placed on new venture gestation: the initial stages of the process that may result in a new company to emerge. Throughout the course, explore how entrepreneurs not only rely on generic business management principles, but also how they cope with the uncertainty, risk, scarcity of time, capital and other resources that is inherent to all entrepreneurial venturing. Prerequisites SSC1005 Introduction to Psychology or SSC1029 Sociological Perspectives or SSC1027 Principles of Economics or a first-year undergraduate business course.