News

Jargon alienates readers and increases confusion and conflict, particularly on issues of global concern. To address this problem, UNU-MERIT began work on a “jargon busting” glossary back in 2012. Now, having won a PREMIUM proposal from Maastricht University, it will turn this glossary in...

Dr. Khalid Koser was appointed Extraordinary Professor in Conflict, Peace and Security at the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences of Maastricht University on 18 September 2014. “When is Migration a Security Issue?” was the title of his inaugural lecture. About the speaker Beside his position at Maast...

UNU is delighted to be supporting the Climate Summit 2014 hosted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 23 September in New York. UNU will be hosting a thematic session on “The Economic Case for Climate Action” with global leaders and world renowned experts from China, India, Mexico, and the U...

In early September 2014, UNU-MERIT’s Director, Prof. Bart Verspagen, was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Oslo in Norway. The award came in the context of a long-term partnership between UNU-MERIT and Oslo’s TIK Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture. TIK is well known for i...

Today more than 100 students from some 40 different countries joined our Master’s in Public Policy and Human Development (MPP) for the 2014-2015 academic year. Welcomed by Maastricht Mayor Onno Hoes, Director-Dean Bart Verspagen and Education Director Lutz Krebs, they were given a chance to mix and ...

Researcher Martin Rehm and co-authors Wim Gijselaers and Mien Segers have received the outstanding paper award of the EdMedia 2014 Conference. Their paper ‘Unified Yet Separated – Empirical Study on the Impact of Hierarchical Positions within Communities of Learning,’ was presented...

It is the only master’s programme in the world where graduates receive a degree from both the United Nations University (UNU) and Maastricht University (UM): Public Policy and Human Development (MPP). The programme was awarded the top position in this year’s guide to master’s programmes in the Nethe...

Refugees are set to make up a third of Lebanon’s population by late 2014. But the UN’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is massively underfunded in the country, forcing it to do more with less. In this blog post, MPP Master’s student Alessandro Pezzano shares his first experiences from the f...

UNU-MERIT’s founding director, Prof. Luc Soete, has been appointed to the high-level group of experts for research, innovation and science policy at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research. He joins 37 other experts from among others academia, industry and science. The group gives...

In our third blog post for World Refugee Day, we learn why higher education is important to refugees and why this kind of provision deserves greater political and academic attention. World Refugee Day marks a global recognition of those who have been forced to leave their homes to find sanctuary abr...

While the ISIS insurgency creates new flows of refugees, rejected asylum seekers and Kurds with European passports continue to return. Five very different encounters in Iraqi Kurdistan in the last week illustrate the contradictions and complexities of migration. This is our second blog post in a ser...

Ninety-three fresh graduates, representing about 40 nationalities, gathered with their friends and family at St. Janskerk in Maastricht for the closing ceremony of our Master’s programme in Public Policy and Human Development on 3 June 2014. Together they looked back on an intensive year of le...

Navneet Bhargava is one of the 93 students who will receive our double Master’s degree in Public Policy and Human Development, issued jointly by Maastricht University and United Nations University. Navneet’s testimonial about her study year in Maastricht was a highlight of the closing ce...

June 20th is World Refugee Day; a day intended to draw attention to the plight of refugees worldwide. This year attention is likely to focus on Syria. Within just three years Syria has become the single largest origin country for refugees worldwide. Over three million refugees have fled the country,...

Local governments are key points of contact for refugees and migrants — especially when they are faced with deportation. For the launch of The Hague Process report on Migrant and Refugee Integration in Cities, 21 May 2014, this blog looks at a new campaign for a fairer children’s amnesty...

On 6 May 2014, Prof. Dr. Wil Albeda passed away at the age of 88. Albeda had a rich career as a national politician and university professor. In Maastricht, he was the founding dean of the School of Economics, which, in 1988, became the home of the research institute MERIT, which he strongly support...

Stalling growth and high unemployment are not the only problems facing Bosnia & Herzegovina. To ensure its long-term sustainability, the country’s social protection system needs a major overhaul. The “Introduction to Social Protection in the Netherlands” study tour was part of a project run with...

Democrats in the US have been calling President Obama’s recourse to Executive Orders for pushing a key social policy change (minimum wage rise) a case of "leading by example". It so happens that across the Atlantic, leading by example comes packaged as a well-worn policy tool rather specialized for ...

Prof. César A. Hidalgo, head of the Macro Connections group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spoke about “The Dynamics of Economic and Cultural Development” at a seminar on Monday 31 March 2014. He described economic development as the process through which society accumulat...

At what point do people start identifying themselves as refugees? What are the differences between refugee and migrant diasporas? Should we even make a distinction? Use of the terms “refugee diasporas” and “migrant diasporas” is shaped by various academic, funding and political issues. In academia, ...