Dutch Honors Alumni Looking Back on the Impact of Honors on their Personal and Professional Development

This study considers the value of honors programs by investigating alumni perspectives of learning goals relative to personal and professional development. Using a longitudinal cross-sectional survey instrument, authors track participants (n = 79) for four consecutive years (2017–2021). Qualitative measures indicate the importance of freedom to develop within the curricula, stimulus to experiment and shape one’s own path, and insights and inspirations resultant of rigorous study. Respondents identify certain learning goals (i.e., ability to look beyond boundaries and show initiative and guts) to be critical in their personal and professional development but question the role of the honors certificate in job applications. While data indicate post-graduate employment (\u3c18 months) for the majority (62%) of alumni, nearly 23% in post-graduate study (a high percentage in Dutch universities of applied sciences), and 5% in trainee programs or apprenticeships, authors do not know to what extent employers use the honors certificate as a criterion for recruiting a candidate. Further investigation into the role and status of the honors certificate during job application is needed, including the viewpoint of employers

Mission, Performance Indicators, and Assessment in U. S. Honors: A View from the Netherlands

Amission statement that identifies the goals and aims of an honors program is a key step in program development. The NCHC’s Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors Program states unequivocally that a successful honors program “has a clear mandate from the institution’s administration in the form of a mission statement or charter document that includes the objectives and responsibilities of honors and defines the place of honors in the administrative and academic structure of the institution.” According to Mrozinski, mission statements are public definitions of purpose published in a college‘s catalog, website, or other planning documents and are generally required by accrediting bodies. Such mission statements have now become standard for honors programs and colleges

Qualities Honours Students Look for in Faculty and Courses

The main research questions that we answer in this article are: What are characteristics of honors students and how do they value teachers and courses? Does our theory-based learning context, which is supportive of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, actually correspond to the preferences of our honors students

Honors Education and Global Citizenship

An issue of JNCHC devoted to “Honors Around the Globe” is an important opportunity to consider the role of honors in creating international awareness and understanding. Honors faculty and administrators have become increasingly active in global cross-communication through, for instance, international involvement in the NCHC and the recent conference on “Evoking Excellence in Higher Education and Beyond” in the Netherlands that attracted participants from numerous countries. As we become more familiar with honors in all its manifestation across the globe, now is a good time to consider the value we provide in preparing students to contribute to our changing world

Qualities Honours Students Look for in Faculty and Courses, Revisited

In the eight years since the original version of this study was published, a lot has changed in the Dutch honours landscape. Stimulated by governmental measures, many new honours programmes were—and are being— developed, not only within academic universities but now also in more than half of the universities of applied sciences (UAS) (Wolfensberger, Jong & Drayer). Honours programmes, which we define as programmes that are specifically developed to offer educational opportunities that are more challenging and demanding than regular programmes, are recognized as one of the primary means to evoke excellence in talented students. They are meant for the more motivated and gifted students who want more and have the capacity to do more than the regular curriculum requires from them

Talent Development in European Higher Education: Honors Programs in the Benelux, Nordic and German-Speaking Countries

Higher Education; Educational Policy and Politics; International and Comparative Educatio

Talent Development in European Higher Education: Honors Programs in the Benelux, Nordic and German-Speaking Countries

Higher Education; Educational Policy and Politics; International and Comparative Educatio

Laboratories for Educational Innovation: Honors Programs in the Netherlands

In Dutch universities, honors programs are a fast growing development. The first such programs started in 1993. Twenty years later a large number of programs are implemented at nearly all research universities and also at many universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands. Recent data have revealed significant diversity in the types and structures of honors programs, many of which have functioned as laboratories of educational innovation within university- wide curricula and had positive spin-off effects on the regular curriculum and also on the transfer of talented students from secondary into higher education. Especially in the last decade, these spin-offs have had a strong influence on educational policy in the Netherlands at the primary and secondary as well as university levels