Testimonials

Daniëlle de Jonge

Third year BSc Biology and bachelor Honours College student

"I moved to Groningen to study Biology after living abroad for a couple of years. I was used to having a very broad curriculum, and therefore wanted to have a wide offer of subjects. I decided to apply for the Honours College because of its multidisciplinary nature and the freedom within the Faculty of Science and Engineering to conduct your own independent research. So far I am happy that I was accepted, for I might publish my first paper in population genetics soon, I have visited CERN, and I have met many other motivated students who are interested in learning from each other.

Not all parts of the Honours programme might feel relevant, especially if you have much other work related to your regular study programme, but it sure gives you food for thought and lets you view your own work from a different perspective. For students studying Science and Engineering it might sometimes be difficult to combine your regular work with Honours activities due to obligatory practicals etc. However, you learn how to plan and manage your work very well. The Honours College makes you an independent learner, a critical thinker and a creative student."

Irina Chiscop

BSc Mathematics and bachelor Honours College student

"When I first heard about the Honours College, it gave me the impression of a very challenging and exclusivist programme and so I got curious about it and decided to apply. In general, my experience in the Honours College so far has been pretty rewarding. I think the most important thing I gained through Honours was getting to meet people from so many different backgrounds and experience some things which are usually inaccessible to me. For example, in one of my broadening modules I got to see the UMCG laboratories where research on stem cells is being done. I actually saw at a microscope living hear cells! Also during my summer school I visited CERN together with the most amazing group of students! Thanks to the continuous networking I have been doing in Honours College, one of the teachers remarked me and asked me if I wanted to assist him with teaching honours modules to younger students. I mean, does it get better than that?"

Marije Been

Third year BSc Biology and bachelor Honours College student

"When I got the letter with the invitation to apply for the Honours College, I doubted for a long time. Would this really be something for me? I decided I could just give it a try to find out. Looking back, I am so glad I made this decision. The Honours College brought and taught me a lot. During my two deepening projects in my second and third year, I really got the chance to research something on my own, something of my own interest. Not only did I learn a lot of new lab and computer skills, I also had a lot of individual contact with Professors. These new connections can really help me in future projects like my master research. Finally, another important thing is that the monthly FSE lectures (and of course drinks) together with the summerschool and the HCSA left me some great friends!"

Tim Koopman

MSc Biomedical Sciences and master Honours College student

"The Honours Master's Programme…You can read all details about the programme on the website, therefore I made an overview of some personal reasons why I definitely would recommend this programme to any student who's interested, but also some things to reconsider.

To start with “The Pros”. The content is super interesting; the course materials, but also the assignments (who'd have guessed that?), and especially the lecturers. Because this is an optional programme only for people who are interested, all teachers are truly passionate and inspiring. And not only teachers, also your co-students. I have never seen a group of students who are so excited to work together, discuss and give presentations. It is really inspiring to work with such a group of people. Another nice thing: there are no exams. This means no extra studying hours. There are some assignments to prepare or finish a course or workshop, but these are quite easy and short.

Of course, to give an honest summary, there are also some “Cons”. Most important: don't expect direct guidelines on how to be a great leader or how to literally influence people. It's more about the psychology leadership, to change your way of thinking. You can use all this indirectly for your leadership abilities, and it is still very helpful. Next, the programme is not difficult, but it will take a lot of hours. You will have courses, workshops and projects on your free evenings and sometimes on Saturdays. Going there then is awful, but being there is not a problem at all. Also, sometimes it is hard to combine courses with your regular master's degree. Especially in beta programmes with lots of contact hours, it is not always possible to choose the courses you want due to time restrictions.

Nonetheless, looking back after just finishing the programme I would never want to have missed it and would like to recommend it to any student who is interested."

Camiel van Hooff

MSc Applied Physics and master Honours College student

"The Honours programme is diverse, both in subjects as in ways of learning. This gives you the opportunity to tweak and tune the content to your interests and doing so is strongly stimulated. For instance, do not expect a predetermined agenda of lectures and projects. In every of the three periods you decide which lectures, workshop, group project and final project you are going to do. Whether you choose lectures that enhance your own field of expertise or you want to broaden your view is up to you. The same goes for workshops, group projects and in particular the final project. Here you can come up with every idea you feel fit to help you develop the skills and knowledge that need improvement most.

The consequence of this freedom is a large independency and so you would have to manage and fix most things yourself. This means the progamme also involves a lot of planning, writing proposals, searching for mentors and supervisors, reporting, reviewing, evaluating and so forth. Thus initiative is a must and take above into account when applying to the programme.

Most success I had in the final project. I am an amateur brewer and choose to organize and held a symposium on craft beer and beer brewing. It was great fun and I learned a lot about organizing, consulting and presenting. This was such a great addition to the literature and book oriented learning from my study. Especially due to this project and the freedom in general I would recommend the Honours programme to everyone who not only want to learn from lectures, but also wants to improve on his professional and every day skills."

Thomas Hoeksema

First year MSc Computing Science and HTSM honours student