10 weeks of summer continued with a trip to Breda in the Netherlands, I think this was my fourth trip and I've blogged about some of the others before. As you can see from the image of Liedewei and me they were all out for the Dutch World Cup effort at the time. I'm writing this post on the day of the third place playoff, featuring the Netherlands and Brazil: for many people this is always their high point of the whole tournament. Really. I'm sure.Also featured: they got me riding a bike through Breda. Very odd... an upright position, one gear, no brakes (you gently pedal backwards to slow down) and we were on the right (thus incorrect) side of the road skipping between bike lanes and city streets. Highly recommended.As in 2013 I was given the chance to head out to Breda, via Schiphol, to help with the end-of-degree interviews that their International Leisure Management students go through to finish their four year programmes of study at NHTV. The students deliver a ten minute presentation, then sit through 30-40 minutes of questions before we the interview panel decide upon a grade and congratulate them on completing their studies. It's a very rewarding experience. Some of the key things I took away from the 2014 experience were...
- The interview brings together some really interesting elements and it's hardly revolutionary in its content. Students are asked to reflect upon their thesis and their time at university, to deliver a vision of sorts for their industry (on a theme of their choosing), and to comment on how their studies have set them up for the future.
- While it has elements of interview, that's not really doing it justice. The presentations tended to use Prezi, with some incorporating video that they had made themselves. The questions and answers often became more of a conversation with different contributors putting forward their own perspectives on particular topics.
- Those topics varied widely, from co-creation of experiences to uses of technology and the sharing economy. Perhaps unsurprisingly there was some idealism in the ambitions of the students, but what's the point of a vision without ambition?
- I was also keen to ask the students about their experiences of a 'competency' based education process – where they develop a series of competencies during their time at Breda. This approach sees them cover areas such as internationalisation and imagineering at different stages of the degree. It is partly intended to help them show potential future employers that they have the skills and experience to fulfil the requirements of vacancies that they would like to fill. The students generally found that some points of the course were stronger than others in delivering on this, with the later years cited by some as particularly effective in competency development. As a way to thread the programme together I can see that it has great potential as an underpinning of the students' experiences and I'm glad I've been exposed to it in recent years.
- The last thing to pick up on is the international elements of the programme, by name and by nature. The students travel regularly, picking up credits and experience from a wide range of destinations, organisations and projects.
Breda really is a lovely place. If I was better organised perhaps I would have spent more time out there, but I'll be back one way or another.The trip to Breda left just enough time for Edinburgh Napier's graduation ceremony. There are some reflections here to ponder, but suffice it to say that the university does a good graduation. From the glorious Usher Hall to the relaxed and well supplied reception back at Craiglockhart it's a good day out. I recommend it.Then on Sunday I learnt a new piece of software which helped my draw some pretty social network analysis graphs. But more of that in the next #10wos.Colours: Breda: orange; graduation: black, red, white, greenish; social network analysis: lots!