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On Friday afternoon, 18 October, Minister Eppo Bruins (Education, Culture, and Science) paid a working visit to Maastricht. There, he was briefed by Limburg's educational institutions on current educational topics from the Education Manifesto. The minister also engaged in conversations with teachers and students. Through practical examples, Bruins gained a clear understanding of how education in Limburg is joining forces and taking advantage of the opportunities presented by its border location. In addition, the Province of Limburg and the educational institutions expressed their concerns about government plans that do not sufficiently take these regional opportunities into account.

On 15 October, education minister Bruins informed the Netherlands House of Representatives of his plans to reduce the number of international students in the Netherlands through the Internationalisation in Balance Act (‘Wet Internationalisering in Balans’). Maastricht University has serious concerns about this. The minister seems to completely ignore the need for appropriate policies that the education and business communities as well as the government of Limburg have constantly pointed out in recent times. Appropriate rules with an eye for regional differences are in fact a dire necessity to prevent educational barrenness in Limburg, and to train enough professionals for the tense labour market in the region and the Netherlands.

This year, the total number of students at Maastricht University will probably still increase slightly to more than 23,000. Due to an estimated 3% decrease in the number of new students, this growth will level off. The ratio of Dutch to international students is also stabilising: among the new cohort, the proportion of Dutch students is increasing slightly. A large proportion of students still come from within Maastricht’s Euregion; over 50% of students come from within a 100-kilometre radius of Maastricht.

In the coming years, the Venlo municipality and Maastricht University (UM) will make additional investments in the city's academic research and education. The goals aim to create future-proof solutions for food and its production while being healthy for people, the environment, and the economy. This relies heavily on technological innovation.

Four young UM researchers have received a Veni grant worth up to €320,000 from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This will allow them to further develop their own research ideas over the next three years.

Higher air pollution increases the likelihood of people voting for opposition parties rather than ruling parties. This is the major finding of research by Nico Pestel, a scientist at the Research Centre for Education & Labour Market (ROA) at the Maastricht School of Business and Economics.

Healthy nutrition, sufficient exercise and cultural and talent development are important for the growth of every child. These key elements will be an integral part of every school day, thanks to the concept of Healthy Primary School of the Future. Maastricht University was one of the initiators of this concept.

Scientists at the biomedical MERLN Institute of Maastricht University and the Maastricht University Medical Center have succeeded in growing an embryo structure of human identical twins purely from stem cells, without using an egg or sperm cell. Thanks to this culture, scientists are now seeing for the first time how twins are formed.

Scientists at the Maastricht MultiModal Molecular Institute (M4I) have developed an ‘intelligent surgery knife’, or iKnife. The European subsidy programme Interreg Flanders-Netherlands has made more than two million euros available for the further development of this technology.

Living brains in a laboratory and research on internet freedom –two of the ten nominees for the Klokhuis Science Prize this year are UM scientists. And you can also vote!