Maastricht University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Bachelor in European Studies
Maastricht, Netherlands
Bachelor's degree
DURATION
3 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
01 May 2026*
EARLIEST START DATE
01 Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
EUR 2,695 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* EU/EEA-students: 1 May. Non-EU/EEA-students who need a visa and/or residence permit: 1 April
** the institutional fee for this program is €13,200
Key Summary
Does this suit you?
- You have a broad interest in European culture, history and politics
- You enjoy collaborating with students from different national backgrounds
- You like to combine small-scale interactive learning (12 hours) with self-study (28 hours)
The bachelor's programme in European Studies originated from one core idea: It is impossible to understand modern-day Europe and European integration from the perspective of only one discipline. Take the war in Ukraine, or the challenges presented by climate change, as examples. These crises can never be fully understood from an economic, political or legal perspective alone. In order to understand what is happening and to grasp how the European Union, European states, companies, and citizens respond to these challenges, we also need to analyse the historical developments and different political and cultural backgrounds of the actors trying to manage the crises.
Societal and political challenges can only be understood in the broader socio-cultural contexts. Politics, law or economics alone are not enough to solve the European 'puzzle'. Therefore, European Studies adopts a multidisciplinary approach, combining insights and methods from political science, history, international relations, law, economics, philosophy, and sociology.
Courses & curriculum 2025-2026
First year courses
- Language & Professional Skills: Student Support Programme
- Imagining Europe: The Development of European Identities
- Research and Writing in European Studies
- Ruling Europe: the Making and Unmaking of Political Orders after the French Revolution
- Working with Research Problems
- Research and Study Skills: The Academic Workshop I
- Constructing Europe: Institutions, Theories and Challenges in EU Politics
- Research Skills: Back to the Sources
- Globalising World: Contemporary Issues and Actors in International Relations
- Language and Professional Skills: Negotiation Skills
Second year courses
- Exploring Contemporary Challenges
- Discussing Contemporary Challenges
- Publishing about Contemporary Challenges
- Language & Professional Skills: Second Language
- Ordering Europe: the New Autonomous Legal Order
- Governing the European Economy: Between Market and State
- EU Law II
- External Relations of the EU
- Challenges in Contemporary Democracies
- Research methods: Introduction to Qualitative Methods
- International Economics and European Integration
- Policy Domains
- Urban Europe
- Authority, Expertise and Environmental Change
- Research Methods: Introduction to Quantitative Methods
Third year courses
Semester 5: elective units of study
Each student will compile an individual programme with a total study load of 24 credits. The individual programme may include:
- a minor or interfaculty minor offered in the programme (see Article 3.8.1);
- a study abroad via the faculty’s International Relations Office (see Rules and Regulations);
- an internship under the supervision of a faculty examiner (see Article 3.8.2);
- elective units of study offered by the faculty (elective courses, skills trainings, tutorials) and literature exams (see Article 3.8.3);
- electives outside the faculty (at another UM faculty, or at another Dutch or foreign university; see Article 3.8.4) and Rules and Regulations.
Semester 6 comprises 36 credits and consists of 2 courses, 1 skills course and the Bachelor's thesis:
- Bachelor Thesis
- Lifting the Iron Curtain: Central and Eastern Europe in the New Europe Social Change, Identity and Collective Action
- Othering Europe
- Research Methods: Interviewing
- Research Methods: Advanced Document Analysis
- Research Methods: Survey Research
- European Diplomacy in the 21st Century
- Regulating Crisis in the EU
- Philosophy and Real Politics: Core Debates in Contemporary Political Theory
Throughout the bachelor's in European Studies, you will be taught how to apply the knowledge you learn in the various courses. You will learn to critically analyse a variety of relevant European developments by using the toolboxes of various disciplines. The courses are designed to build upon each other, and there are implicit and explicit links between them. Each year has a core focal point, respectively:
- European diversity;
- European unity;
- Europe’s place in the wider world.
The courses of the skills trajectory supplement the regular courses to provide you with important language, professional and research skills.
As an open and accessible academic community, UM offers several scholarships to support top-performing undergraduate and graduate students with personal development potential that are experiencing financial difficulties to pursue a degree at UM. UM scholarship students function as important ambassadors of the university during and after their studies. UM scholarship students are selected on the basis of their academic excellence, extracurricular engagement, active citizenship and financial need. As the number of scholarships is limited, the selection process is highly competitive.
Professional fields
European Studies graduates often find work in:
- European government/institutions
- Consultancy
- Public administration
- Business and finance
- Education
- Research
- Management
- Policy
As a graduate of the bachelor’s programme in European Studies, you will be in high demand in a wide variety of places, from government and NGO’s to international institutes and corporations. Our European Studies programme has one of the best reputations in Brussels. That is because you learn not only facts and concepts but also the professional skills you will need in your career.
Along with a research-oriented attitude and critical reflection, you will learn skills such as: problem-solving, professional communication, result- and quality-orientated behaviour, the ability to prioritise and organise your own working/learning process, working with others in multicultural teams, and, perhaps most importantly, you will learn how to learn. These skills are highly valued by employers, which is why over 95% of our graduates are either employed or go on to do a graduate study or internship.