title: Education research at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Maastricht: fostering the interrelationship between professional and education practice.
abstract: An academic department of education serving the entire university and a strategic choice by the Faculty of Medicine to support educational innovation through education research are the historical cornerstones of the education research program of the University of Maastricht. Over the years, the department's initial exclusive research focus on the evaluation of problem-based learning has widened to include theory-based applied research covering the broad domain of education. The program focuses on themes: the learning of students and teachers, characteristics of powerful learning environments, and assessment and evaluation of learning and teaching. Although modest in terms of resources, the program is firmly anchored within the Faculty's organizational structure. Educational relevance and professional alignment are the most prominent determinants of the success of the program. These features sustain the institutional mission of educational excellence as well as the high ranking of the Faculty of Medicine's medical training program among the training programs of the Netherlands' medical schools. A break in this self-perpetuating mechanism--due either to internal politics or to staffing problems--forms the main risk factor for the continuation of the department.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. c.vandervleuten@educ.unimaas.nl
authors.forename: Cees P M
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: van der Vleuten
authors.forename: Diana H J M
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Dolmans
authors.forename: Willem S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: de Grave
authors.forename: Scheltus J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: van Luijk
authors.forename: Arno M M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Muijtjens
authors.forename: Albert J J A
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Scherpbier
authors.forename: Lambert W T
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Schuwirth
authors.forename: Ineke H A P
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Wolfhagen
mesh_terms: D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D009426:Netherlands; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D012109:Research Support as Topic; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*