Welcome back, everyone!

We have begun academic year 2020-2021 in fine style. To begin with, we held a unique graduation ceremony for our class of 2020, enabling the awarding of over 250 diplomas in person throughout the day on a rainy but joyful 28 August. We followed this with the online Introduction Days, bringing our new students into our International Studies Community (and, through the wise counsel of Andre Gerrits, introducing our non-Dutch students to the wonders of the Dutch language). Our student mentor groups are up and running – a major thank you to our second and third years who are taking on this important role of responsibility for us. And we have held our Opening of the Academic Year with the challenging lecture by Dr. Miriam Meissner (‘Don't mind your own business! Environmental mindfulness in a time of global risk’) on 18 September. This has laid the foundation for what I am sure will be another successful year for our programme.

Of course, this is not a ‘normal’ year. For the first time we have begun a new semester with a predominantly online schedule for our education programme. While this may not be what we wanted, it has definitely made us all reflect on how we teach, how we learn, and what we want to reach with our teaching and learning. And that is no bad thing.

It has made us reconsider basic things, like what an exam is for, and how best to organize assignments in general. It has made already-planned developments, such as the Things That Talk project discussed elsewhere in this newsletter, all the more inspiring as examples of the creativity that can be achieved through digital tools. As educator Heidi Jacobs has stated, we “need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an after-thought, or an event.” This requires a new form of pedagogy, beyond tech as gimmick or safety-net. We are not there yet, but we are on the way.

It has also made us realise how important our social contacts are, and how important sticking together as an International Studies community, both staff and students, really is. We can no longer take this community for granted - lack of direct contact can cause a social distance between us, and that can sometimes have negative consequences. We don’t always acknowledge this, but the online environment is different, sometimes leading us to behave in ways that would be unacceptable elsewhere. It is as if being online - at least, being in certain places online - can mean all barriers are down, all taboos are to be broken, and all moral guidelines are thrown overboard.

Sure, everyone needs to let off steam at some point, and where better to do so than an online forum with (predominantly) like-minded souls. That is the nature, maybe even the value, of online. But these sentiments can occasionally overflow into other channels and be directed against others in ways that are not acceptable. Here we have to draw a line. Everyone is adapting to this new educational environment, and it is understandable that there are going to be some adjustments along the way, be that in terms of software packages or social behaviour. But we also all know when we’ve gone too far. It is in this spirit that we put together the Code of Conduct for Online Behaviour as a guide for how we want to continue as an academic community. We trust this provides a positive foundation for relations of respect and understanding as we move further into this online semester and - who knows - beyond. For this reason, we are also delighted to welcome a new and important member to our team – Roos ter Elst, our Student well-being counselor, who will be a contact person for the concerns and needs of our student community this academic year.

This September, over 500 new students joined our programme, from over 50 different nations around the world. We know from a survey carried out in the Introduction to International Studies course that many joined to learn about other cultures, and they will encounter these as much within their own student community itself as they will while dealing with the lectures and the study materials. That is the attractiveness of this programme, as has been proven year in year out since it began in 2012. 

To all our students – have a great year, make the best of it, and see you around!