Extra opportunities
Are you looking for an extra challenge?
Utrecht University offers several honours programmes for students looking for an extra challenge. Our Master's programme also offers extracurricular oppurtunities.
Honours education is followed on top of your regular Master’s programme and goes beyond the regular curriculum. This will allow you to go deeper into subjects or work on projects that transcend your own study programme. You can choose from three of the university-wide honours programmes below. In these interdisciplinary programmes you will work on varying social and academic issues together with students from other disciplines. By analysing issues from different angles you learn how you can navigate in current complex societies at a broad and connecting level. After completing these honours programmes you will receive an honours certificate during a festive ceremony.
During the Graduate Honours Interdisciplinary Seminars (GHIS) you will meet students from other disciplines in a series of small-scale seminars. Under supervision of leading UU researchers you will study socially relevant themes. These research themes vary from privacy and globalization to DNA and complex systems. You follow one seminar per study period and conclude the year with an interdisciplinary group project.
GHIS is offered in English and available for all Master’s students from the UU.
Young Innovators is an honours programme for curious and involved students that like to commit to challenges about sustainability and societal wellbeing. You’re a changemaker working for and on a better world. Young Innovators allows you to work in interdisciplinary teams on projects that shape social innovation.
Young Innovators is offered in English and available for all Master’s students from the UU.
In the Leadership Programme you discover what kind of leader you are or want to be. You apply knowledge from different disciplines to real leadership dillemas and get a better understanding about what it means to be a leader in a globalising world. You follow workshops (i.a. public speaking skills, conflict management) taught by experts ranging from UU professors and external lecturers. During the interactive and intimate College Tours you can engage with leaders from different domains in society. You finish the year by working with a leader as part of the Leader to Shadow component.
The Leadership Programme has both an English and Dutch track and is available for all Master’s students from the UU.
For more information on honours programmes at the UU, go to the Honours College website or Instagram.
Each year, supervisors nominate the best Master’s theses for the Master's thesis award, awarded to the best thesis in our programme for that year. Nominated theses are judged by a panel of renowned scholars and professionals. The winner of the Master's thesis award is announced during the graduation ceremony. The winner will receive a certificate, a monetary award, and an offer to turn the prize-winning thesis (with the help of the supervising lecturer/researcher) into a scientific article that will be submitted for publication to an English-language journal.
A number of students can conduct their thesis research in South Africa each year. You will have the opportunity to study the effectiveness of South African HIV/Aids intervention projects and governmental policy aimed at the support of families that require help.
You will be able to join various community activities, such as:
- Lectures and seminars by acclaimed experts
- Site visits to professional organisations
- Informal meetings between students and alumni
- Activities organised by the student association Versatile
