Season's greetings from International Studies
Have you ever wanted to 1-up your lecturer or tutor? Have you ever wanted to show them who really has the brains? Staff members: do you take up this challenge? Then come to the ground floor Cafe in Wijnhaven for a fun night of competition and community building on Monday December 2!
After conducting a survey in May, as part of a Students as Partners project, we received a lot of suggestions regarding communication strategies carried out by Leiden University and how they could be improved.
Grading is a delicate subject to discuss. Students most of the time eagerly await the results of their assignments or exams. The sooner the results are in, the better. On the other hand, lecturers are less interested in the speed of marking, and feel that good feedback is the most important element of the grading process. After all, we can only learn from our mistakes if we know what we did wrong. These different viewpoints can clash: faster results can come at the expense of the quality of feedback and qualitative feedback will result in longer periods of uncertainty for curious students.
Is International Studies on the right track when it comes to creating an inclusive, stimulating and challenging teaching environment? What is the programme doing well in this regard? What would you like to see changed?
The open dialogue that takes place between International Studies teaching staff and students is one of the aspects we are very proud of in our Programme. Due to the interactive learning environment in the tutorials, it is there that this open atmosphere is experienced most deeply. To make sure everyone is able to partake and profit from this open atmosphere, we continually encourage and measure how we are doing.
Career preparation, whether or not present in the curriculum, is becoming increasingly prominent in many educational institutes. Atse Fokkens (39) notices this in his work as a career adviser and internship coordinator. He welcomes the fact that more attention is being paid to preparing students for the labour market.
Have you already decided which Master’s you want to do? Or are you wondering which possibilities are out there? Come and find out what Leiden University has to offer at the Master's Open Day in Leiden and The Hague!
This semester, you have probably noticed a few new faces amongst your tutors and tutor-lecturers. We are happy to welcome them! Curious to find out a bit more? We have asked a few newbies to introduce themselves: meet Natalia, Teodora, Pelin, Brian and Daniel.
Mathes Raush and Sofie Victoria T. Hagen are the new student members on the Programme Board this year, representing student interests. You can approach them if you have concerns or suggestions concerning the design and implementation of the teaching programme. We have asked them to introduce themselves. What are they looking forward to in their new roles?
