16 January 2023

The Faculty Board strongly believes that preparing our students for life after graduation should be part of the curriculum. With that in mind, the What's Next? course, designed by Dr Bram Hoonhout, will be offered from next semester onwards, initially as a pilot at our Faculty. 

The extra-curricular course What's Next? equips students with the tools they need to think in an accessible and creative way about life after graduating. In the process, they learn to apply design thinking to their future. This course (2 EC) draws on literature from the fields of design, psychology and career development. Students work on personal issues in small sub-groups, guided by a student mentor. By completing various journaling assignments and networking, they build a personal toolbox to help them face their future with confidence. What students said in the evaluations:

‘Really gave me time to think about my choices, options, thoughts in life which otherwise I never would've been able to.’

‘I genuinely feel I learned skills that I'm going to use in my everyday life.’

Importance of preparing students for the labour market

The Faculty Board believes that the programme departments have a duty to prepare students for the labour market as part of the curriculum, within the parameters of the programme norms. Earlier discussions with the programme departments showed that there is interest in this course. The Board hopes that it will help the departments think about ways to prepare their students for the labour market.

Learning in practice

The plan is to offer the extra-curricular course, worth 2 EC, as a pilot for a period of two years in order to gain hands-on experience. What’s Next? will be offered for the first time in the new semester; Bram Hoonhout will teach the course to master’s students, and Madison MacKenzie (tutor at BAIS) will teach the course to bachelor’s students. In the coming period, Annebeth Simonsz and Sanne Arens (Educational Advice and Quality Assurance) will work in conjunction with the programme departments to look at how the course is organised, and review how the course content (or parts of the course) fits in with regular curriculum.

Registration for students is now open

There is space on the course for up to 40 bachelor’s students and 40 master’s students from various programmes at the Faculty of Humanities. Information about the What's Next? course and how to register will be communicated widely to students. They can use this form to register.

Further information

For more information, contact Bram Hoonhout, Honours College coordinator, or Annebeth Simonsz and Sanne Arens at the Educational Advice and Quality Assurance department.