News

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, ...

A consortium led by our School of Governance has won a million euros to manage an EU project for “Innovating Teaching and Learning of European Studies” (INOTLES). Running from 2014-2016 under the TEMPUS umbrella, the project aims to modernize higher education in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Backgro...

UN University Rector David M. Malone signed the Host Country Agreement for a new UNU Institute on 4 March 2014 with Senegalese Foreign Minister Mankeur Ndiaye. This is a further step in a long-term process between UNU-MERIT in Maastricht and CRES in Dakar. Set to become a key UNU hub in Francophone ...

Our MSc in Public Policy and Human Development ranks number one in the category of Political Science and Public Administration, according to the 2014 Keuzegids Masters. Published by the Dutch Higher Education Information Centre, this evaluates and compares higher education programmes based on: ̵...

The United Nations University (UNU) announces the launch of the UNU Migration Network. Responding to the need of policymakers and scholars to better understand and cope with migration-related issues, the new network — coordinated by the UNU Institute on Globalization, Culture and Mobility (UNU-GCM) ...

Migration flows into Europe are changing. A decade ago most migrants entered Europe via North Africa, straight across the Mediterranean; but the main route is now through the Eastern Mediterranean, with many trying to cross through Greece. The violence suffered by asylum seekers in Greece is well-do...

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced 30 January 2014 the appointment of Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania as his new Deputy Special Representative and Deputy Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), where he will also serve as Resident Coordinator and Resi...

How can we nurture eco-innovation in developing countries? How can we support the market for renewable energy technology? How can we assist energy efficiency initiatives, particularly in agriculture and industry? At a conference in Berlin hosted by the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Developme...

The final conference of the IS Academy Migration and Development project was held in Maastricht from 22-24 January 2014, with sessions focusing on Afghanistan, Burundi, Ethiopia, Morocco and the Netherlands, and themes such as remittances, entrepreneurship and diasporas. Under the banner “A Wo...

There is a huge and mostly untapped market for organic solar cells, in everything from construction to consumer goods. But how can we improve the design, roll out and marketability of these advanced nanomaterials? And how do we bridge the gaps between research institutes and the business community? ...

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Khalid Koser has been appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) “for his services to refugees and asylum seekers in the UK”. The appointment was announced as a part of the British Queen’s New Year Honours List for 2014. The Order of the Briti...

UNU-MERIT has found a new home in the ex-Sphinx offices on Boschstraat, Maastricht. We will rent the property for 20 years and, after a renovation period, move in during the course of 2015. The new building will provide around 3,000 square metres, roughly a quarter more than our current facilities, ...

The conference ‘Sustainable Growth and Development in Africa’, Dakar, 25-26 November 2013, aimed to create a bridge between research, policy and practice and to promote evidence based policy making. It was attended by researchers from various countries, mostly African, as well as policy makers and o...

How is innovation being internationalised? How important are intellectual property rights for development? How well are these rights managed in developing countries? These were the questions driving the 7th annual conference on Micro Evidence on Innovation and Development (MEIDE), Santiago de Chile,...