As an Alumni Association, connecting alumni is our mission. It's not always easy with such a diverse and international alumni community. So how do we do this? Read below more about our new initiatives that help you connect with other alumni who live close to you — no matter where you live on this globe.

After an un-Dutch warm and dry summer, the start of the academic year seems to have been announced by the customary and in this case keenly anticipated rain. The end of summer always brings a moment of celebration and an opportunity for new beginnings. We ended another successful year for the programme with a very fine ceremony at which we celebrated the graduation of 357 students with many parents and friends present. It was also a new beginning for our more than 500 strong 2018 cohort of students. They will start a new phase in their lives, for about half of them in a new country, for most of them in a new city and for all of them with new challenges and opportunities provided by our programme.

Grading is a delicate subject to discuss. Students most of the time are eager to know the mark for their assignments or exams, so the sooner the results are in, the better.

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.

Grading is a delicate subject to discuss. Students most of the time are eager to know the mark for their assignments or exams, so the sooner the results are in, the better. On the other hand, lecturers are less interested in the result, and feel that good feedback is the most important element of the grading process. After all, we 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. High quality feedback will result in longer periods of uncertainty for curious students.

Who is responsible for course evaluations, who (and what) are they for and what happens with student course evaluations after the course has finished? In this post, I will explain how the OLC deals with course evaluations, describe some general trends we have observed over the past years, as well as address some of the areas we focused on during the academic year 2018/2019.

Since the beginning of the academic year, there are two new student members on the Programme Board, who are they, what do they want to achieve and how can you reach out to them?

It is a terrible cliché, at the start of a new year, to come up with a statement about the uncertain times we live in. Every generation has a tendency to think that their time is marked by humanity’s largest challenges. It gives us pause for thought to realize that we are not the first, and will certainly not be the last, to think along these lines. Recently, two thought-provoking reflections appeared, which offer hope, especially when you feel troubled by bleak thoughts about conflicts and the future of humanity.

Stay updated! Did you know that International Studies has a lively Instagram account? In these coming weeks, the International Studies Instagram will give special attention to the ongoing third year PRINS (Practicing International Studies) course, following all involved (students, staff and participating organisations) along the way.

It is time to get to know a new face at International Studies. Sarah Wolff has been professor of International Studies and Global Politics since 8 January. She just started teaching in our programme in a thesis seminar. What is her field of specialty and what are her academic interests? Where else will we encounter her at International Studies?