Honours Programme: for Course Coordinators

As part of the Honours Programme and alongside a faculty component of 12 - 18 EC, students follow 12 - 18 EC in interfaculty honours courses at VU, UvA or AUC. These courses are interdisciplinary of nature and specifically designed for the Honours Programme. They are taught in small groups of similarly motivated and talented students, which results in a higher level and pace of the courses. Moreover, it allows for more in-depth study of the content, more individual attention, lively debates in class and a lot of interaction.

Click here for an overview of the interfaculty honours courses offered at VU.

1. The course offer is sufficient to offer the growing group of honours students placement in courses.
2. The course offer is interdisciplinary and consistent with the vision of the Honours Programme as well as the vision of VU.
3. The course offer is complementary to the interdisciplinary honours course offer at UvA.
4. Course coordinators have a tenure position at VU.
5. Each course has a coordinating faculty which provides an exam committee and, if necessary, a second proctor.
6. The course offer matches the interest of students and course proposals are partially developed through a bottom-up approach, in co-creation with students or social organizations.
7. The course offer is a proportional reflection of all faculties to guarantee the diversity and continuity of course subjects.

The objectives and characteristics of the Honours Programme are further mentioned in the 'Manual for Quality Assurance' of VU. Here you can also find an overview of the tasks of those involved in the programme.

The Honours Evaluation Committee reads new course proposals and advises teachers as well as the VU Honours Committee. The latter is responsible for the approval of new course proposals.

The exam committee of the coordinating faculty monitors the quality of assessment. As such, it is important to coordinate with the head of department (to ensure that time can be made available for monitoring the assessment quality). 

In case of new course proposals, please contact Eva Meijerink (honours@vu.nl).

Course coordinators of interfaculty honours courses should have obtained a PhD and have a tenure position at VU (i.e. UD or UHD). If this is not the case, there must be someone who can formally take responsibility and, as an examiner, guarantee the assessment for a junior member.

We do not impose any other requirements on the employment record of honours course coordinators.

Are you interested? Then contact us via honours@vu.nl!

The VU Honours Programme has its own budget from which payment is issued to the coordinating faculty of the honours course. Payment amounts to €80 per completed study credit, assuming that 20 - 25 students participate in the course.

Honours courses are mainly taught in the evening. The main language used in the programme and in honours courses is English. 

The Honours Programme is separate from the regular academic calendar and courses are not limited to one period in a semester. Assessment times are outside of the regular exam weeks.

The VU Honours Programme Team:

• Inquires with you which lecture rooms, teaching dates and teaching times you prefer. We also arrange the scheduling of lecture rooms. 
• Posts your course description online on our Interdepartmental Courses page, including all practical information about dates and locations of your lectures/seminars. Interdisciplinary honours courses are not included in UAS/the study guide (instead, their course descriptions can be found on our website).
• Places honours students from VU, UvA and AUC in your course and shares their contact information with you. Students do not register themselves for these courses: instead, they can indicate their preferred courses and are placed in a course by the VU Honours Programme Team. This is done once per semester (i.e., two times a year).
• Creates a course page on Canvas and adds the participating students to this page.  
• Processes the achieved grades of students in SAP/SIS. As an honours coordinator, you do not have to register the grades of honours students yourself.
• If necessary: supports you with requesting audio visual resources, teaching facilities, etc.
• Initiates the financial compensation by requesting an IC or invoice.
• Arranges the evaluation of your course.

• Commitment and involvement in the promotion moments of the Honours Programme itself and its programming (i.e. presenting your course during the Try Out Class at the beginning of December and/or June). 
• On time delivery of a course description for the next semester. 
• Flexibility regarding the number of participating students in a course.
• With regards to financial compensation: organizing/devising the internal division of resources amongst those involved in your course (e.g. student assistants, guest lecturers, etc.).
• A short written response to the course evaluation.

• Quality assurance and activity directed at this assurance is the responsibility of the exam committee/the coordinating faculty, as written in the 'Manual for Quality Assurance' (page 8, 11 & 12).
• The Honours Programme does not have attainment level because it is not a degree programme. However, the achieved end level does have to reflect the vision of the Honours Programme as well as its quality requirements. The VU Honours Committee sees to this.
• If necessary, the coordinating faculty should provide a course file to its examination board which includes relevant information such as a test matrix, exams/assignments including answer models and information about test analysis and peer review. 

As a coordinator you may need from time to time inspiration to develop or improve your style of teaching or skills? Or do you like to stay updated about new teaching tools to support your courses? In this segment we offer you suggestions about (new) courses on offer with the intention to create a practical overview for teachers to be able to find these kind of possibilities faster.

We like to mention that this information will be updated when new suggestions and opportunities reach us. Also we like to mention that this list may not be complete. We have searched the VU web to give you a complete as possible overview but we may have missed some items. If you have any complement suggestions please write to us and we will share it on this page.

Links for your attention:

• New employee page: Teaching at VU Amsterdam - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  This is a new employee page that has been added to the VU website. This is a very effective entry to start your search. Do not forget to also check their news page: Teaching at VU - News & Interests - More about - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• A Broader Mind: A Broader Mind in education at VU Amsterdam - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  In many of the most recent VU statements our university declares that all students graduate with A Broader Mind. This aim will be included as an attainment level in the Teaching and Examination Regulation (OER) for all Bachelor’s programmes by the end of 2025. Honours courses are already considered to ensure this level of education. We invite our Honours Course Coordinators to be updated about this (new) organization wide view on VU education.
• LEARN! Academy, Teaching & Learning Centre: sends about 4 times a year a newsletter with interesting teaching tips, background articles and blogs from faculty members, and news about VU courses aimed at teachers and other professionals in higher education.
  • Interested? This is the link to subscribe: <https://fd20.formdesk.com/vuamsterdam/Nieuwsbrief-hoger-onderwijs.png?v1>

Other interesting links / updates:

• Learning and Development: Learning & Development - VU Service Portal
• VU education Lab: VU NT&L - VU Education Lab - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Learn! Academy: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (vu.nl)
• Bildung Academie: The Bildung Academy (debildungacademie.nl)
• VU for professionals: VU voor Professionals - Deeltijd opleidingen en cursussen - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam / Cursussen en opleidingen voor professionals - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (vu.nl)
• Training and support Canvas: Training and support Canvas - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (vu.nl)