Broadening Part

The aim of the Broadening Part

In the Broadening Part, honours students learn together, in small multidisciplinary groups, how to approach a problem relevant to science or society from different perspectives and develop their own approach to it, with vision and an eye to the future. At the same time, you develop a range of professional life skills, and by providing and receiving feedback attention is paid to the development of your personal skills in a multidisciplinary setting.

Content of the Broadening Part

The Broadening Part has a total workload of 15 EC. It consists of a training of competences and acquisition of professional life skills (5 EC) and one Broadening Module (5 EC) outside your own faculty, followed by a Summer school and Atelier (5 EC). The topic and classes for these broadening courses are offered by all faculties.

In Year 1, after enrollment, two general events are programmed: one Welcoming Ceremony (an opportunity for new students to get to know each other and engage with fellow students), and one Professional Life Skills Introduction event where students will engage in experiences with group work (i.e. working on different challenges).

In Year 2, students will work on professional life skills training and develop the interdisciplinary mindset needed for the Broadening Part of the programme. The ‘professional life skills’ trained are linked to working in interdisciplinary teams, for instance communication, collaboration, creativity, self awareness, motivation and social interaction. The ‘interdisciplinary mindset’ online activities will further prepare students to work in interdisciplinary teams, engage with new and unknown via challenges and games, work on creative solutions, and develop construcitve peer feedback. The interdisciplinary components mentioned above are addressed in various ways and in various parts of the broadening modules which will be taught by lecturers from different disciplines, and they will be linked to the themes addressed in the Summer School between year 2 and year 3. Different disciplines and multicultural groups of students will spend time together studying a topical social issue. This will be done at locations within or outside the Netherlands.

In Year 3, students will continue working on their topic in the Atelier. Here groups of students work together on their creative solution for a challenge, learn from each other (i.e. cultural and disciplinary view, concepts and approach), and provide and receive peer feedback.

The programme concludes with the Honours Festival. This is a public event at which all Honours students share their findings and knowledge to a wide-ranging audience in an interactive way, and engage in a debate about their work with a diverse audience.

Overall, the Honours programme stands out for its commitment to interdisciplinary learning, hands-on activities, and the integration of both deepening and broadening components.