The Dean:

• operates on a mandate by and in strong cooperation with the Executive Board of the University, to which she/he reports. She/he is ultimately responsible and supervises the Faculty together with the Faculty board. The position of Dean bears integral responsibility, which means being responsible for the objectives in terms of education, research and societal impact, as well as for the financial, personnel and organisational solidity;
• provides guidance to the Faculty Board as Chair and is hierarchically responsible within the faculty;
• works closely together with the Executive Board and the Deans of the other five Faculties of Maastricht University to implement the overall strategy of the University;
• is a member of the Board of Deans which oversees academic quality and makes recommendations on research and education of the University;
• achieves support and mutual involvement within the Faculty by being visible to the staff and investing in an open and stimulating working environment throughout all departments of the faculty;
• establishes good relationships with the academic community and the Faculty representative advisory bodies (e.g. the Faculty Council);
• clearly communicates the strategic course of the Faculty in relation to the most important internal and external opportunities and risks, setting clear priorities in the process; knows how to maintain the balance between change and preserving what is already good;
• actively monitors the relationship between course and strategic personnel planning, including diversity;
• meets the Faculty objectives as they are described in the Faculty's long-term plan, together with the Faculty Board, department heads, programme directors and research institute directors;
• stimulates inclusiveness and interdisciplinary collaboration across the boundaries of the departments and schools;
• encourages employees’ own responsibility within the agreed framework of the Faculty, actively pushes to identify and utilise everyone’s talents and provides space for achieving results;
• pursues an active policy on the further development of the strategic vision on subsidy acquisition and external funding of research and education, and in the process also secures the financial position of the Faculty;
• contributes proactively and constructively to the management and strategic development of Maastricht University;
• invests in a strong representation of the Faculty and the University in the cooperation with external relations;
• is able to build and maintain an external network, with special attention to the (EU) region;
• invests in a coherent development of the various disciplines united in the Faculty in coordination and cooperation with fellow Deans in the country.

The Dean:

• Is a mature academic with broad experiences in the faculty’s field of research and teaching. She / he possesses excellent communication, leadership and organisational skills and broad administrative experience, including a sound understanding of financial processes in the academic world;
• Has a visionary perspective on interdisciplinary teaching and research and is able to translate this into daily practice at the faculty;
• Takes responsibility for the further development and implementation of the faculty strategy and visible co-responsibility for the development and implementation of the general UM strategy and UM policy;
• Has a good understanding of national and international developments in the field of teaching and research. He / she recognises and uses opportunities for influencing and responding to these developments in national and international bodies;
• Understands the importance of collaboration with the other UM faculties, other knowledge institutions, and a broad range of societal partners. He/she has a keen eye for the societal relevance and impact of teaching and research at the faculty;
• Has a mature vision of HR policies, including diversity and inclusivity as well as the variety of career paths within the university. She / he is willing to further develop faculty policies in this area;
• Is a person of undisputed integrity who appreciates the various disciplines and research traditions across the faculty. He / she motivates and encourages staff and students to live up to the best of their abilities.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > Support > UM employees.

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 18,000 students and 4,300 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

FASoS offers a place where scholars with different disciplinary backgrounds - historians, political scientists, literary and arts scholars, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers and others - are brought together in joint research. This interdisciplinary approach is predominant in our teaching as well; all of our programmes acquaint students with different disciplines and perspectives. At FASoS, we are also focused on creating an international environment, a place where our differences become our strengths. Every day, our students and staff are challenged with differing viewpoints and experiences as they interact peers from all over the world. All of the faculty’s programmes are taught entirely in English and with 79% of our students and 42% of our staff coming from abroad, FASoS is Maastricht University’s most international faculty. All of FASoS’ programmes are taught using Problem-Based Learning (PBL). Students work in small tutorial groups, and seek solutions to ‘problems’ taken from real-world situations. The yearly budget of the faculty is around 22 million euro. FASoS currently consists of about 1600 students and about 200 academic and support staff who work daily on education and research.