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Jelle van der Duim | Face of FEB

The Faculty of Economics and Business is a faculty with great diversity of people. But who are these people? Within ‘Faces of FEB’ we talk to different students of the faculty and give a little peek into the world of these FEB students. This week: Jelle van der Duim who is combining the Bachelor of Arts programme Philosophy with the Business Administration programme at FEB.
Written by Jessica Paas

jelle van der duim

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Yes! I am Jelle van der Duim and I am 22 years old now. Currently I am in my fourth year of Business Administration at FEB, so this means it took me a little bit longer than it normally would take. And originally I come from Texel, which is an island in Noord-Holland!

From Texel! How did you end up in Groningen?

Normally everyone that lives on Texel moves to Utrecht or Amsterdam for their studies, because it’s just very well connected by public transport. If you compare it, Groningen is very far away. However, my sister started studying in Groningen, which made me very interested in the place. Eventually I went to my sister to take a look and immediately I was sold to Groningen. The city is very nice and the faculty was highly recommended as well. So, I had  to choose Groningen!

So it is more difficult for you to get home right? Do you often go back?

No, unfortunately I do not go back very often. When I travel home, door-to-door it takes me around 4 hours. But when something goes wrong with the public transport it can easily be delayed and it takes me even longer.  

But on the bright side: you do have a very nice holiday address in the summer!

Yes, every summer I take some friends back to Texel for a week, which is really nice!

jelle van der duim texel

And now you are following a second bachelor, right?

That’s right! My main bachelor’s programme is Business Administration and besides that I am doing the Philosophy programme of a specific discipline. Because I am doing my main bachelor at an economic faculty, this specific discipline is Social Sciences.

So can you do this with every programme?

Yes, for every faculty there is a different area on which you can apply philosophy!

That  is interesting! How does this work exactly?

When you start with philosophy you first begin with the minor. When you have finished this and you would like to continue, you will start with courses that are related to your faculty. But, after the minor you do have a certain degree of freedom. You just have to get the remaining 30 ECT’s, however you can decide for yourself what courses and when to take them.

And how do you combine the two now? What does your week look like?

Since the bachelor is only 60 ECT’s the programme can be easily combined with other programmes. However, they do highly recommend to spread out the courses you want to take for philosophy, so you have enough time left for the courses of your main bachelor programme. It is really something you do besides your main bachelor. So for example, last block I had two BA courses left, and I was only in 1 philosophy course. This block I have finished all my BA courses and I just have the philosophy courses!

How did you end up here?

In high school I had a friend that was really interested in philosophy and told me a lot about it. I think my interest in philosophy may have started there. Besides that, my house mate also did this combination and was very enthusiastic about it. Therefore, I started with the minor to look whether it would be something for me. Here I found out I really liked it and continued with the rest of the programme.

Good to hear! What can you do eventually within philosophy?

That is a good question, which I haven’t figured out myself yet! But, I am doing this mostly because I am really interested in philosophy and I think it is fun! And besides that I still have my BA programme in which I can go in many directions!


And what about after your bachelor?

I think I will go for my masters degree and I am thinking about the master in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. This is a master that combines all my main interests: philosophy, politics, and economics so I am really curious!


Last modified:31 January 2021 3.48 p.m.