The theoretical contextualization of undergraduate research is undertaken, on the one hand, within the framework of research-based learning (RBL). RBL is experiencing an enormous expansion worldwide in the context of teacher training and is, on the other hand, located within the professionalization discourse, namely that teacher education must focus on the professional activity as a teacher and help to develop it further. For example, the central aspects of teachers’ professional knowledge consist of a combination of “pedagogical content knowledge,” “general pedagogical knowledge,” “curriculum knowledge,” and “subject matter content knowledge” within the disciplines. Accordingly, university education must enable students to acquire deep and flexible knowledge in order to create the necessary basis for successful teaching/learning processes and enable students to find professional solutions to complex pedagogical problems and social challenges, such as reducing educational inequality and establishing educational justice.

At the time of writing, there clearly is more research on undergraduate research than there are explicit efforts at formulating theory. However, any questionnaire designed to assess the effects of undergraduate research also contains theoretical assumptions; while these may not always become explicit, they can nonetheless contribute to theory-building.

This introduction has three parts. The first part will briefly introduce existing models of undergraduate research with theoretical significance, here in the context of the research–teaching nexus. The second part will introduce the four theoretical perspectives that provide the framework(s) for an understanding of undergraduate research in this handbook, namely: higher education policy, psychology, philosophy, and the sociocultural perspective. The third part will briefly discuss how we might develop a theory of undergraduate research.

Research is increasingly international. There is a rising awareness that sharing knowledge and perspectives contributes to finding solutions to global challenges. It thus seems logical for researchers involved in teaching to share this international experience with students and offer them an international research-based learning opportunity. In this chapter, we look at undergraduate research projects organized in cooperation with partner universities abroad. We ask what form these collaborations take, what challenges they meet in crosscultural teaching and learning settings, and what we can learn from their experience.

Undergraduate research and inquiry-based learning in economics are on the rise. In this chapter we discuss the benefits and costs of undergraduate research and provide examples of good practice. Our analysis shows that economics students are actively engaged in the research process through various curriculum-based and extracurricular learning opportunities. We also observe that research content is more emphasized than research process in economics students’ inquiry-based learning. Non-curricular research activities are best described by research-tutored activities according to the Healey model. Using the literature of distinguished economists and similar writing-based activities remains the most popular inquiry-based learning model in economics.

Part II describes how undergraduate research is put into practice. The first five chapters present implementation models of undergraduate research programs at the curricular and co-curricular level that are common in European and US institutions. Subsequent chapters outline key characteristics of these models as they relate to student mentoring, phases of research-based learning, assessment of student learning, and dissemination of scholarly work.

The Maastricht Research Based Learning program for Excellence (MaRBLe) is an extension of Maastricht University’s leading educational approach, that is, Problem-Based Learning (PBL). PBL emphasizes that learning should be constructive, take place in context, in collaboration with others, and driven by self-direction. The 4C/ID model has proven to be helpful to identify shared principles for Research-Based Learning (RBL). These principles has proven very supportive in the transition from PBL to RBL, and to work toward further harmonization of the RBL practices at Maastricht University without jeopardizing the way they are tailored to the needs of a particular scientific domain, students in this domain, as well as other conditions. RBL was introduced via a true bottom-up approach, giving room to early adaptors that functioned as pioneers in their faculty. Lessons learned vary from the necessity to have a stable community of practice as a basis for exchange and further development and the focus on empowering students in the development of their academic research skills.