We live in uncertain times, isolated in our homes or student rooms. How to deal with a situation like this, in particular for those of you far away from your family, your loved ones? Currently we have no idea about the length of social distancing but at least until 28 April 2020.
A few months ago I wrote about the walls we build between ourselves in a blog post on this website. In the current situation, with the Coronavirus going around, we are faced with yet another barrier: physical distance. What does that mean for how we interact in our International Studies Programme?
In complex times like the ones we are currently living in, one might wonder whether writing about the mid-term evaluations outcome is still an essential topic for the Newsletter of our Programme. A short answer to that is yes, it is.
We know that students are eagerly awaiting more news about the way the various courses that normally would have had exams, will now be assessed, and we appreciate your patience.
Make sure to check the webpages below regularly on news & information surrounding the Corona virus & its impact on Leiden University and studying.
Choosing an area and a language is a very important moment for students in their first year of International Studies. The Programme Board of International Studies was curious to learn more about what influences students’ decisions in this regard. We also wanted to find out if there is more the programme can do to assist. That is why we asked our first-year students about their choice through a survey. An impressive total of 217 students responded (many thanks to all!). Below you will find an overview of the results.
Dear students, We live in trying times. There is much uncertainty about the virus that is spreading over the world, and at the same time much uncertainty about how and whether to proceed with our daily routines, insofar as possible. As you already know, Leiden University has decided to switch to remote education for the rest of the semester. The International Studies programme follows the guidelines of the university in this regard, which means that your education will be completely online. Our teaching staff has been busy preparing for the switch. Different courses and different ways of teaching (e.g. lectures vs. tutorials) ask for different ways of moving the course online. Your lecturers and tutors will let you know how to continue your studies for their particular courses.
When I became Chair of the International Studies programme in February 2016, I already knew it as a lecturer, who had taught History Europe from its inception, and as Director of Education of the Institute for History with responsibility for staffing many courses in the programme. In some ways International Studies was thus well-known to me, including the challenges it was facing, which were highlighted in the rather critical report of the mid-term review committee that had then just been published. Developing an answer to this was actually one of the main reasons why I was asked to take on the responsibility for the programme, so I knew there was something to be done.
In the 21st century skills articles we highlight tutors’ international and intercultural experiences. Leiden University strives to enable students to develop so called "21st century skills" which are defined as "the ability to work in teams, international and intercultural skills, entrepreneurship, leadership qualities and digital competences" Most of the tutors have acquired these skills during their studies, fieldwork for their masters or PhD and are happy to share their impressions and experiences. For this volume we talked to Natalia Donner, tutor at International Studies.
The results of the National Student Survey (NSE), in which 664 of our students participated (thank you!) showed a significant improvement compared to International Studies' last year’s results. This has convinced the Programme Board that we are on the right track with our restructured programme. Below we would like to highlight some of the results.
