Assistant/Associate Professor Entrepreneurship & Business Development

Maastricht University; Venlo; On-site; EUR 66,000 - 92,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Home office allowance

Flexible working hours

Pension ABP

Job summary

Maastricht University invites applications for a fulltime Assistant/Associate Professor Entrepreneurship & Business Development at University College Venlo (UCV). The role focuses on developing and teaching modules on entrepreneurship within a LAS curriculum and building a robust entrepreneurship learning line across Venlo programs.

You will collaborate with CEI and local partners to bridge academia and industry.

Qualifications

• PhD in entrepreneurship, innovation, business administration, management or related field.
• Solid teaching experience and an educational vision aligned with Maastricht's CCCS/PBL approach.
• Existing network in Venlo/Euregion business and innovation community or motivation to build one.
• Entrepreneurial, outward‑facing mindset with partnerships outside the university.
• Interest in agri‑food systems, food innovation, sustainability transitions or circular economy is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Develop and teach modules on entrepreneurship, innovation, responsible entrepreneurship and business within UCV's LAS curriculum, focused on sustainable food systems.
• Build and further develop a coherent entrepreneurship learning line through the UCV curriculum, including project-based learning and skills training.
• Translate your educational vision into concrete practice, in line with Maastricht's CCCS approach to student-centered, collaborative learning.
• Contribute to curriculum development within UCV and to entrepreneurship education in other Brightlands campus programmes.
• Build and maintain a network in the Venlo/Euregion business and innovation community.
• Act as a bridge between companies, researchers and students, identifying collaboration opportunities and facilitating partnerships.
• Stimulate real entrepreneurial activity by and with students, connecting them to practitioners and organisations in the region.
• Work with UM's CEI to align the UCV entrepreneurship line with CEI's offerings and connect Venlo students to UM-wide programmes.

Education

PhD in entrepreneurship

Job description

Welcome to Maastricht University! Do you want to shape how the next generation of Liberal Arts & Sciences students learns to think and act like entrepreneurs and help build the bridge between University College Venlo and the region's business community? We look forward to meeting you at Maastricht University in Venlo!

Assistant/Associate Professor Entrepreneurship & Business Development

Our goal:

University College Venlo (UCV) offers an interdisciplinary Liberal Arts & Sciences programme with a thematic focus on sustainable food systems. We want our students to develop genuine entrepreneurial skills and connect with the region's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Over time, we expect you to develop and bring similar entrepreneurship education to other Venlo-based Maastricht University educational programmes.

Your colleagues:

You join a small, close‑knit team of UCV lecturers and researchers working across health, food, behaviour and sustainability, in a fully international, small‐scale teaching environment.

What you do

• Develop and teach modules on entrepreneurship, innovation, responsible innovation and business within UCV's Liberal Arts & Sciences curriculum, focused on sustainable food systems.
• Build and further develop a coherent entrepreneurship learning line through the UCV curriculum, including project‑based learning and skills training.
• Translate your educational vision into concrete practice, in line with Maastricht's CCCS approach to student‑centred, collaborative and inquiry‑driven learning.
• Contribute to curriculum development within UCV and, over time, to entrepreneurship education in other Brightlands campus programmes.
• Build and maintain a network in the Venlo/Euregion business and innovation community.
• Act as a bridge between companies, researchers and students, identifying collaboration opportunities and facilitating partnerships.
• Stimulate real entrepreneurial activity by and with students, connecting them to practitioners and organisations in the region.
• Work structurally with UM's Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CEI): align the UCV entrepreneurship learning line with CEI's UM‑wide curricular and extracurricular offer, connect Venlo students to CEI's venture support and competition portfolio, and bring the Venlo/Euregion agri‑food network into CEI's regional ecosystem work.
• Support the valorisation of knowledge and talent arising from these collaborations.

What you bring

• A PhD in entrepreneurship, innovation, business administration, management or a related field.
• Solid teaching experience and a clearly articulated educational vision that fits Maastricht's CCCS/PBL approach.
• An existing network in, or genuine motivation to build one within, the Venlo/Euregion business and innovation community.
• An entrepreneurial, outward‑facing mindset — as comfortable building partnerships outside the university as teaching inside it.
• Interest in or experience with agri‑food systems, food innovation, sustainability transitions or circular economy is a plus.

What we offer

• A 12-month contract (1,0 fte) with the prospect of a permanent contract based on mutual satisfaction.
• A gross monthly salary between €5932,00 and €8199,00 (based on full‑time employment of 38 hours per week). 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year‑end bonus.
• 29 vacation days (based on full‑time), four additional days off (Carnival Monday and Tuesday, Good Friday, and Liberation Day), and the possibility to accrue up to 12 extra days through compensation hours.
• Flexible working hours, a home office allowance, and the option to work from home.
• Freedom and space to shape your work independently and develop your ideas.
• A close‑knit community of colleagues to collaborate and grow with.
• A solid pension plan via ABP, company fitness schemes, and access to various university sports facilities.
• An inspiring work environment in the heart of Europe.

Faculty of Science and Engineering

At the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE), we focus on themes such as circularity and sustainability, future farming, digitisation and (scientific) instrument development. FSE's leading projects, like the Einstein Telescope Pathfinder, are sure to grab anyone's attention. The faculty is a vibrant hub of education and research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS). At FSE, over 450 staff members and 3700 students gather to explore exciting interdisciplinary research and educational programmes. Feel welcome, be part of our team and put your brilliant mind to work!

FSE at the Brightlands Campuses

Maastricht, Sittard‑Geleen, Heerlen, and Venlo, the home of four creative Brightlands campuses, are bustling with 30,000 entrepreneurs, researchers, and students working diligently to solve global challenges. The Faculty of Science and Engineering is active on all four Brightlands campuses, and this is where our impact reaches its peak. To give you an idea of what is happening at each campus: Sittard‑Geleen is home to the largest chemical site in the Euregion, while Venlo is a large hub for agri‑food innovation. Maastricht is the site of the Health Campus, and Heerlen is the place to be for Smart Services.

Working with the Centre for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CEI)

You will not be building this alone, and you are not expected to build it from scratch. The Centre for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CEI) is Maastricht University's centre for entrepreneurship education, student venture support and ecosystem partnerships. Based at the School of Business and Economics, CEI works UM‑wide and across the Brightlands campuses, and is embedded in the regional innovation ecosystem through partnerships with the Province of Limburg, LIOF, municipalities, and SMEs. Its portfolio runs from curricular entrepreneurship teaching and international case competitions to incubation support and applied SME programmes.

Structural collaboration with CEI is part of this role rather than an optional extra. Concretely, we expect you to develop the UCV learning line in dialogue with CEI's existing offer, so that Venlo students gain access to UM‑wide programmes instead of a parallel, smaller version of them; to draw on CEI's expertise in entrepreneurship pedagogy, venture coaching and valorisation when designing your modules; and to connect the Venlo/Euregion agri‑food network you build to CEI's wider regional partnerships, so that the value flows in both directions. In doing so, you become the entrepreneurship link between UCV, FSE's Venlo activities and UM's centre for the field — a position with considerable freedom, and a corresponding expectation that you will use it to build bridges rather than a silo.

The interview process

The first round of interviews will take place on October 28 and October 30, 2026. The second round of interviews will take place on November 13, 2026.

About Maastricht University

At Maastricht University, we collaboratively seek solutions to help move the world forward. We do this with 23,300 students and 5,400 employees across 5 regional locations, 6 faculties, and more than 70 research institutes. We encourage you to push boundaries and discover new opportunities for yourself and the world around you. Together, we can find the answers for tomorrow.

The vacancy is open for internal and external candidates. In case of equal qualifications, internal candidates will be prioritised.

At Maastricht University, we prefer to contact potential candidates directly. We therefore kindly ask that no agencies or intermediaries submit offers or approaches.

Maastricht University is committed to promoting and nurturing a diverse and inclusive community. We believe that diversity in our staff and student population contributes to the quality of research and education at UM, and strive to enable this through inclusive policies and innovative projects led by teams of staff and students. We encourage you to apply for this position.