1) Which areas do the respondents represent?

2) When did students decide on their area choice?
Most students (45,6%) already decided on their area of choice before they started the programme. Most other students made their final decision during their first semester. Only about 10% decided just before the start of the second semester.

3) What motivated the student to choose this area?

Current issues and the area where students grew up seem to play the most important role in the area choice:

a.    Current Issues in the media/ world news (21%), like
-    Brexit;
-    The economic growth of China ;
-    Conflicts in the Middle East / the mideast peace plan;
-    American politics and repercussions that American policies have on the rest of the world;
-    The (mis)representation of an area in the media;
-    Hong Kong protest;
-    Continuous tensions between North- and South Korea;
-    The Arabic spring;
-    Russia’s problematic foreign politics;
-    Environmental issues, social movements, technological development.

b.    The area I chose is related to the country/area where I grew up: 18%    
c.    Career perspectives (12%), like    
-    The European Union;
-    (Non) Government agencies;
-    Diplomacy;
-    An NGO;
-    Develomental organisations;
-    Journalism.
d.    The presentation at the Area Fair in October: 11%
e.    The information in the courses of the first semester: 8%
f.    Discussions with my peers: 8%
g.    This area was advised to me by relatives/friends: 5% 
h.    Other: 16%. Most students showed a strong interest in the area or specific area topics, due to personal as well as academic interests, travel experiences, family roots or having lived there. A considerable amount of respondents indicated that they wanted to learn the language.

Of the respondents, 19% did not seriously consider choosing another area. A large majority did however consider another area. Europe (16%) , Latin America (16%) an Middle East (16%) were the most seriously considered second choices. Arguments mentioned for the final decision were:
-    More interest in/ curiosity about the other area;
-    Language choices related to the area (varying from wanting to learn them, to too hard to learn);
-    Wanting to get out of their comfort zone / learning to look at things from a different perspective;
-    Career options/ seeing a future in traveling or living in the chosen area;
-    The presentation at the area fair;
-    The elements that the area courses in the programme focus on;
-    The professors teaching the courses.

4) Which language did the students choose?

6. Why did our students choose this language?
-    Prior knowledge of this language and wanting to develop proficiency even further:  
                                 27.0%    (N= 74)
-    This is one of languages most spoken throughout the world:                     
                                 22.3%     (N= 61)
-    It was the only choice I had. I already have a hight level of proficiency in the other languages offered in this area:                                               10.22%    (N= 28)
-    Looking for a challenge:                                     
                                 17.9%    (N= 49)
-    It is one of the easier languages to learn in the programme:          
                                 4.7%     (N= 13)

7. Is there anything the programme could have done more to help you with your area and language choice?
83% of the respondents answered this question with ‘no’.

However, the 17% of the respondents who answered this questions with ‘yes’, also provided some interesting suggestions:

-    Organising short pre-classes about the languages; 
-    Organising mini lectures for each area;
-    Allowing students to visit second year area specific lectures or tutorials; 
-    Organising guest lectures from different areas in the course Introduction to International Studies;
-    Provide more information on what choosing an area/ language entails. What can you expect on each subject? What are the practical implications of choosing a certain language in a certain area?
-    Being able to meet with second year students to discuss the area choice (also at the area fair);
-    Organise a platform to ask region related questions to students and teachers.

Thank you 
The Programme Board would like to thank the respondents once again. Their suggestions will be taken into consideration in the organization for coming academic years.

Inpsire yourself
The Mapping your future webpage provides additional interesting information on the choices you can make during your studies. Please contact your study coordinator if you have specific personal questions.

And if you want to find out more about what our graduates are doing, and how their area and language choices influenced them, you can also take a look at the Alumni dreams webpage. A good place to find some inspiration for your career as well!