The Netherlands: Focus on Excellence, Honors Programs All Around

Abstract

In the Netherlands, all research universities and most universities of applied sciences have set up one or more honors programs for their students over the last 20 years. Most programs have been developed for bachelor students, but there are also programs for master students. This development has been supported by subsidies through the national Sirius Program and a government focusing on ‘talent’. The attention for excellence in higher education is embedded in an education system where the focus on excellence has significantly increased over the last few years. This has led to a rich landscape of honors programs, with different aims, objectives and results. This chapter discusses the programs found at 14 research universities and 25 out of 37 universities of applied sciences. Programs have been firmly established at most Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and many HEIs run multiple programs. At least eight HEIs offer multidisciplinary honors education in so-called ‘university colleges’. As Sirius subsidies are discontinued at the end of 2014, HEIs are looking for new ways to finance their honors programs. An interesting recent development is the increased interest in community building formation among Dutch honors students, who have started to organize themselves in associations.