We are organising an alumni reunion taking place on Saturday, 10 August 2024 in The Hague for the graduation class of 2018* for the Bachelor in International Studies.
A couple of weeks ago, together with two colleagues, I acted as jury for a BASIS public speaking competition. There were four very engaged and brave public speakers. One of the speeches focused on the limits of language as a way of expression. There are so many human emotions that need to be expressed where words fall short. Humans have been struggling with these limitations for eons. One explanation for the emergence of music thousands of years ago is the idea of offering us alternative ways of expression.
Kenan Cruz Çilli (25) graduated from International Studies in 2019 and since then has continued to deepen his knowledge of the Middle East, and the wider world.
Leslie Albracht (25) graduated in 2020. The interest in the Arabic world that was nurtured in The Hague, brought her to her current job for an international NGO in Tunis.
On April 25th, International Studies's Latin America department hosted a multidisciplinary panel titled 'Beyond Narcos: Four Critical Perspectives'. Four lecturers who provide the Latin America courses within BAIS, joined forces to discuss the Narco phenomenon from the Historical, Cultural, Political and Economic perspective. This multidisciplinary allows for a deeper understanding of a complex phenomenon that expands the day-to-day studies of students in the area specialization.
The essence of our alumni network is staying in touch, keeping abreast of important developments, and cheering each other on. I recently came across the phenomenon of ‘kinkeeping’, which reminded me strongly of the relevance of alumni relations.
The annual Humanities Career Event and the Campus The Hague Career Event, organized by Humanities Career Service, once again captivated scores of enthusiastic and inquisitive students on April 10th.
LUGO, the green office of Leiden University, recently finished the transformation of the Schouwburgstraat community garden. The official festive opening will take place on May 8, between 15.00 and 17.30.
On March 22nd at precisely 16.45h, we excitedly opened the doors of Wijnhaven’s biggest lecture hall and watched more than 400 students and staff members stream into the many increasingly cramped rows of our long-awaited ‘North Korea Event’. At the grand desk below between the busy-looking organizers from BASIS, four calm and concentrated people in suits were checking their speeches and presentations one last time. Dressed in modest black, two representatives of the South Korean NGO PSCORE and one translator, seemed to direct the audience’s attention to the woman dressed in bright red. A peculiar prominence for all of us in International Studies knowing of the unprecedented enigma of the country of her childhood, family, and home – The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Let’s start with a quiz; what do Johan Sebastian Bach, Vincent van Gogh and Jackie Chan have in common? Can you guess the answer?
