Blog

UM's yearly university elections took place from 8th May to 11th May this year, with both student and staff candidates vying to represent their fellow schoolmates across the University, Faculty and Service Councils.

​

We are pleased to announce that voter turnout increased from 17% in 2022 to 20% this year!

​

Full results can be found here.

​

Following acts of unprovoked police brutality carried out on compliant students on the night between 11th and 12th February, MSU has taken steps to verify and contact all parties concerned.

​

MSU condemns the mistreatment and breach of rights, and extends its support to all students affected by the event. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us with your concerns and expectations going forward.

​

In 2022, we focused on improving a permanent part of the municipal's current house division and house conversion for room-by-room rentals.

 

Following stakeholders' meetings and feedback sent to the municipal, it has been decided that the Board will draw up a new list of streets that would be refused further expansion of room-based rental. 

​

The new list will take effect on 10 January 2023, simultaneously with the start of the 2023 application round for the quotas for splitting, converting to room rental and small-scale repurposing (40-40-40- rule).

We are currently working with RTV on the subject of student loans and invite students to share their thoughts, experiences, concerns and suggestions regarding the increase in interest for student loans here. 

​

​

All responses will be kept confidential, unless explicit permission is granted.

MSU is proud to announce that we are expanding our organisational structure to include officers for each individual portfolio. In the past, each board member juggled with multiple portfolios each. This change comes as we wish to motivate and give more students of Maastricht a platform to step up and fight for our shared causes.

​

We will be keeping applications open on a rolling basis here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSvlxWX_rMGBU-jJ3TpkHbr3bCGtCe3Wz8pzNaPztFDRRM3w/viewform?usp=sf_link

​

​

Following the municipal council elections of 16 March 2022 and the subsequent information phase, the parties SPM, D66, CDA, PvdA, PVM, VVD and Volt entered into talks to draw up an agreement for the course of the municipality during the next four years, including the members of the municipal executive to be appointed. The results of these talks are presented in the current document.

 

MSU's input has also been included in the form of policy evaluations, numerous stakeholder documents and interviews. We are proud of our continued effort for all students of Maastricht and thank our students for their continued trust and support.

​

Full Coalition Agreement in English:

https://www.gemeentemaastricht.nl/sites/default/files/2022-07/Coalition%20agreement%20EN%202022-2026.pdf

We were recently invited to The Class Regional Forum – Netherlands & Belgium by The Class Foundation in Amsterdam to learn and share our experiences regarding the Dutch and Belgian student housing markets.

​

As it stands, only 12% of student accommodations in the Netherlands, are privately owned and operated which exacerbates the Student Housing Crisis. Maastricht being situated at the Dutch and Belgian boarders means MSU takes on a greater responsibility in looking out for students in the Maastricht vicinity and beyond.

​

During our time at the forum, we participated in discussions with Loyens & Loeff Tax and Legalities and the Panel Discussion on Internationalisation of the Netherlands and Policy Reform. We rounded off the day by delving into data with Knight Frank, and leave as motivated as ever to fight for the rights of our students.

Chairman Cheryl Isabella communicated statements to the Maastricht Diplomat regarding the university and municipality electoral scene in Maastricht. 

​

Link to Maastricht Diplomat's article: https://www.maastrichtdiplomat.org/post/voices-of-the-uni-cipality

Our chairman Cheryl was recently invited to an interview with Companen (retained by the municipality of Maastricht) to review the current municipal policies for the creation of student housing.

​

The evaluation of housing division policy (Municipality of Maastricht) report will be made public shortly.